The Dallas Morning News Tim Cowlishaw Column: Apology a Tough Step for Vick

Aug 28, 02:06 AM

Current Headlines: By Tim Cowlishaw, The Dallas Morning News

Aug. 28--Michael Vick had a good day Monday, his first in a long time. Now he needs to find a way to have a whole lot more of them.

It's not for me to judge the level of a man's contrition. Let me say only that Vick's public apology for his involvement in dogfighting activities in Virginia, activies that will now send him to jail, had to be an extremely difficult one.

Consider how hard it is to tell friends or family that you have done something really stupid. Expand that to an entire nation of sports fans, including thousands of kids whose most prized possession is a Michael Vick jersey.

Add to that the trappings of celebrity, the fact that you have been coddled since you were a star quarterback in Newport News, Va., then at Virginia Tech and for six years with the Atlanta Falcons.

People with that kind of background aren't accustomed to having to admit to flaws.

Vick did not read a prepared statement. He appeared to speak from the heart. He apologized to commissioner Roger Goodell, Falcons owner Arthur Blank, coach Bobby Petrino, his teammates and mostly to his young fans.

That seemed to disturb him the most -- how his actions had let down so many kids.

"Use me as an example to using better judgment and making better decisions," Vick said.

It was remindful of Mickey Mantle's news conference at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas a month before he would die of rapidly spreading liver cancer. The news conference wasn't much more than a public apology for having lived such a life of excess.

"I'd like to say to kids, 'This is a role model,' " Mantle said. " 'Don't be like me.' "

Mantle paid for his heavy drinking with his life.

Vick will pay for his involvement with dogfighting with something in the range of 12 months in jail. And almost certainly the loss of his pro career.

Sincere or not, Vick's attempt at contrition is designed to get him back into the NFL. I don't think it will have much impact on his sentencing on Dec. 10.

But Goodell's letter to Vick that informs him of his indefinite suspension from the league says that "your conduct going forward" will be considered when the commissioner evaluates the suspension once the legal proceedings are done.

Vick is trying to win his job back by winning back at least some of his fan base. That's why we probably haven't heard the last from Vick, who's likely to plead his case on a variety of talk shows and in interviews.

Ultimately, I think Vick's campaign to regain his public appeal will fail. And so will his attempt to return to the NFL.

Teams today are more nervous than ever about negative publicity. So much money is at stake, so many corporate sponsors are so heavily involved with teams, that I can't imagine there's an owner out there who's willing to sign a convicted felon, guilty of these despicable acts we no longer need to detail.

It's not simply a matter of finding an owner willing to give a player a second chance. We're talking about a quarterback, and a very different one at that. A team has to change its entire offensive philosophy and tailor it to fit Vick's running skills and his lack of passing efficiency to make it work.

It wasn't going that great for the Falcons before Vick's arrest.

After an absence of a couple of years, it's going to work better somewhere else? What owner is going to embrace the media circus Vick's return would create while gambling (not literally) that Vick can do what he hasn't done in Atlanta?

Eventually, there will be forgiveness for Vick on some fronts. I hope that it won't simply follow racial lines, but know that to some degree it will. These things inevitably do.

But the forgiveness he wants most -- the kind that would put him back in an NFL uniform and have little kids buying Vick jerseys once again -- just won't be forthcoming.

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