Yesterday’s big New York Times article on Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick saw him shrouded on the sideline with a big warm jacket, much like any other player who wasn’t acting on the command of a snap. But NYT opportunist, err… journalist, Juliet Macur used a chance photo to manipulate her audience to describe him as “…a spectator on the sideline, looking helpless and anonymous…”
No writer reaches the NYT without an immense command not only of the English language, but also an understanding of how to use those words much like an artist. Macur’s gifted in the sense that if given an audience, she can make a subject look either triumphant or, in the case of Vick, defeated more by his realization that his time in Philly is up, than as a member of the Eagles who lost Sunday’s NFL Wild Card game to the New Orleans Saints.
Macur, who normally covers cycling for the respected publication, like most of us, knows Vick’s past. But with her platform, she viciously attacked a man who has paid for his wrong doings and done nothing but openly attempt to right his wrongs. I won’t do her the favor of linking her article in this column, because that’s exactly the attention she sought to gain from beating a dead horse. If you really want to read it, google it. If not, here’s what she said:
The NFL owes it’s fans better role models than Michael Vick, who was convicted of felony dog fighting in 2007.
Macur painted him as a “mastermind” behind the dogfighting ring.
Vick, and any other offender of a crime or social snafu, shouldn’t be given a second chance at the game they’ve dedicated their lives to.
Ms. Macur suggests that NFL teams should draft or sign players based more on their morals than their abilities on the football field. Sorry to inform her, but athletes make it to the NFL because of their talents not because they’re nice guys. A current example of that is Texas A&M star quarterback, Johnny Manziel who’s friends with rappers, is no stranger to controversy and has been known to have fun on and off the field. By her standards, NFL teams should bypass Johnny Football for players of higher moral standings, pro qualities be dammed.
The public fell in love with Vick because he was a weapon on the field like no other. A new notch on the evolutionary chart of the quarterback, who had a a golden gun of an arm, the swiftness of Lynn Swann and the foot speed of Barry Sanders. I mean, he did things on the football field that couldn’t even be done on Madden. Before news broke of Vick’s dogfighting days, he was judged solely on his ability to disrupt defensive coordinators game plans. As it should have been.
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Image Credit: Getty Images To cover all her grounds (and avoid being called out on the article’s racially charged undertones), Macur made sure to mention Vick’s teammate Riley Cooper, who was in deep shit after making some serious racial remarks about his teammates, as another example of an NFL bad boy who organizations should overlook if they publicly mess up. What she failed to mention, was that Vick was the first one to openly forgive Cooper and even broke up in-house fights between the wide receiver and other teammates when things got heated in practice. Had it not been for Vick’s leadership, the Eagles easily could have been a team that watched the Wild Card game from home, much like the controversy plagued Miami Dolphins.
Macur also made it a point to detail Vick’s financial earnings after his return to the NFL, highlighting his $100 million contract he earned by 2011. However, she left out the fact that despite incarceration, Vick came back as a better player who helped revitalize the Eagles franchise. She also neglected to mention that not only did Vick have to file for bankruptcy in 2008, but he lost most of his endorsement deals (Nike would eventually re-sign him as an athlete). So much of that money he earned, was used to restart his career earnings.
Vick has been as much of a model citizen as he can be. He’s donated money to the local Boys & Girls club of Philadelphia, $200,000 to renovate a football field for a local youth football team and even works with the Humane Society of the United States as an activist against animal cruelty, primarily dog fighting but that’s not enough for Ms. Macur. We have to ask ourselves why would the very people who should still use Vick as an example of evil forgive him, but not her?
Perhaps this was all a ploy. Macur has a book coming out in 2014 about Lance Armstrong, which she claims definitively profiles Armstrong’s rise and fall. Cycling enthusiasts know that, but others in the sport community might not. What’s the easiest way to create a buzz for yourself? Latch on to the hottest sport of the moment: football. The BCS Championship was last night and the NFL playoffs will be the most talked about thing for the next month until the Super Bowl.
Macur’s story was the second most emailed story in the NYT’s sports section today (it was posted yesterday), has 310 comments and, most importantly for her, has introduced her to a broader audience. Whether the public agrees or disagrees with her take on Vick is of no importance, it’s simply that they now know who she is. To close out her piece, after forcibly rushing in little points about Vick’s charitable works, she says that the Eagles should make it easy for their fans by replacing Vick “with someone devoid of a dark past.” Well, I think the Times owes its audience a similar standard: offering unbiased sports coverage from a journalist with integrity, instead of one with a personal financial agenda.