Posts tagged MichaelVick at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Getting busted for DUI by a cop on a bicycle sounds like the perfect end to a perfect evening. As MDS noted yesterday, New Mexico was arrested and charged with driving drunk after leaving a club with his girlfriend/model Delicia Cordon. The Daily Press has the moving pictures to prove it.

Perhaps the most amazing thing in all this is that when Mr. Investigative Reporter went to Marcus Vick's house the day after the arrest (shockingly, Vick didn't answer), we learn that he lives in a mansion (roughly 2:00 into the video).

I remember hearing rumors that Ron Mexico gave his younger brother $1 million as a birthday gift a few years ago, but I figured it was just the internets run amok. Maybe not. Unless, of course, guys recently out of college with no job prospects can afford such luxurious living as a former NFL practice-squad player.


Whatever, the Palm Beach Post's Tim Graham has a detailed takedown of Vick's ladyfriend.

The video report includes a look at the wannabe beauty queen (but heretofore half-clothed eye candy) Vick was with. She claims to be an actress, but that would be like Vick claiming he's a football player.

Delicia Cordon is a deadbeat, according to court records KTKA says have been filed in Virginia and Florida.

But she reportedly has six racy MySpace pages in her name, and this arrest might actually turn out to be good for Cordon's career as a celebutant, what with all the page views she must be getting.

Glad to see somebody still has an outside shot at a celebrity career.

Marcus Vick, the former Virginia Tech quarterback and Miami Dolphins wide receiver who until last year was known as the more troubled of the Vick brothers, has been arrested and charged with DUI today, the Virginian-Pilot reports.

According to the Norfolk Police Department, a bicycle officer approached a couple arguing in a car around 2 a.m. When the officer asked for the man's identification, the car sped off, but another officer later stopped it.

Vick was driving, and he failed a sobriety test, so he was charged with DUI, misdemeanor eluding police, reckless driving and driving on a suspended license. The woman in the car was charged with being drunk in public.

Marcus Vick had several off-field problems at Virginia Tech and was ultimately kicked out of school. Older brother Michael Vick is currently serving a 23-month prison sentence for operating a dog fighting ring.

Hue Jackson is probably best known as the target of Chad Johnson's affections shortly after Johnson had been knocked silly during a 2006 game against the Browns. Jackson, then the wide receivers coach, left the Bengals after the season to take the Falcons offensive coordinator job under visionary Bobby Petrino. That gig didn't last a year, and now Jackson is the Ravens quarterback coach.

Jackson, speaking this week on Sirius Radio's The Opening Drive, says he still corresponds with the currently incarcerated Michael Vick. Via MMQB:

[Jackson] has sent Vick tips and reminders about what to do in third-down situations and in the red zone, and he says he thinks Vick is going over them in jail. Jackson thinks Vick will play again, and play very well, when he gets out just more than a year from now.

"In my opinion,'' Jackson said on The Opening Drive program, "Michael Vick was the verge of turning this league upside down.''

That's a lot to digest. First, Leavenworth's football team will feature the most complex offense in the federal prison system. Hopefully Vick fares better in it than he did in the West Coast Offense under Jim Mora.

Clearly, Michael Vick is the impetus for all of the world's ills. It goes way beyond puppy murder. Last week, the former Falcons quarterback was ordered to repay $1.1 million to Wachovia Bank, and today, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Ron Mexcio was cited by owners as one reason to opt out of the current labor agreement.

Goodell said expenses brought on by the current economy, stadium and operating costs and teams' inability to recoup bonus money from suspended players were among the reasons to opt out of the deal. The Falcons' inability to recover any more than $3 million of the nearly $20 million in bonus money they sought from suspended/imprisoned quarterback Michael Vick was cited as a drawback by owners.

"That's money that could go to players who are playing," Goodell said.

Ironically, owner Arhthur Blank was instrumental in getting the 2006 labor deal reached, although he (along with everybody else) voted to nix the current agreement yesterday.

One solution -- and this would be more the exception than the rule, I think -- is to garnish Vick's wages should he return to the NFL. It would send a clear message that the league won't tolerate conduct-policy violations. And if there's anything players hate, it's having their wages garnish-ied.

Ya know, when I wonder aloud about where I want to go to have a nice glass of wine ... I usually end up thinking of Michael Vick.

In an effort to diversify his debts, Michael Vick was loaned $1.3 million from Wachovia Bank in order to open Atlantic Wine and Spirits and the adjacent Tasting Room Restaurant. Both are located in the Atlanta area -- slightly north of Buckhead (or, as the official website reads, S.N.O.B.). Now, he needs to pay those loans back.

a summary judgment in favor of Wachovia against Vick was granted in the amount of $1,117,908.85. The figure represents the initial principal balance outstanding ($937,907.61), interest accrued as of Dec. 4, 2007 ($14,596.97), additional interest accruing from Dec. 4, 2007 to May 13, 2008 ($32,507.51 â€" 161 days at $201.91 per day), outstanding fees ($305.83), overdrawn accounts ($34,064.72) and attorneys fees ($98,526.21). Further interest could be accrued.

Vick is currently serving a nearly two year bid for some dogfighting ring or something. Last week, Vick was ordered to pay $2.5 million for a defaulted loan to the Royal Bank of Canada.

My favorite line in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's article was the final one:

Phone numbers for Atlantic Wine and Tasting Room restaurant have been disconnected.

Last year, as evidence that Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was involved in dog fighting went from circumstantial to overwhelming, Nike remained in Vick's corner.

In fact, Nike still kept its endorsement deal with Vick going even after Vick had been indicted and the NFL had suspended him, even though Nike's deal with Vick specifically stated that the company could get out of it if Vick were charged with a felony. It was only after pressure from groups like the Humane Society intensified that Nike executives finally faced the reality that Vick was costing them a lot more money than he was making for them.

Nike got a PR black eye from the Vick ordeal, but the company hasn't been scared off endorsement deals with Atlanta Falcons quarterbacks. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that new Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan has signed a contract with the company.

No financial details of Ryan's contract were reported, but it's fair to say he's making less than the estimated $5 million a year Vick was making from Nike. The apparel maker, which also signed Darren McFadden to an endorsement deal, had a big Vick-oriented marketing campaign planned last year that had to be scrapped. Ryan and McFadden represent the next generation of Nike NFL stars, and I think it's safe to say these deals will represent a better long-term investment.

Three years ago this weekend, Aaron Rodgers spent the better part of his Saturday sitting in the green room at the 2005 NFL Draft. He was expected to be a top-10 pick, but as it turned out, Alex Smith was taken first overall, and Rodgers spent the next six hours looking like Michael Vick had just murdered his dog.

The Packers finally ended the agony when they selected Rodgers 24th overall, and three seasons and one official Brett Favre retirement later, he'll finally get a chance to be the team's starting quarterback. And although a lot of draft nerds/experts weren't crazy about Rodgers coming out of California, opinions have softened. Take ESPN's Ron Jaworski, for example.

"I think he has gotten better, and I give him a legitimate shot of doing a solid job of replacing Brett Favre," Jaworski said ... "Hard to say you are ever going to replace Brett Favre. But he is going into a situation where they have a solid offensive line, excellent wide receivers, a very good running game and now a defense he can lean on. He will not have to win the game by himself."...

"I was not a big Rodgers guy," Jaworski said. "I liked him. I didn't love him. I thought it was a little bit of a reach in the first round when the Packers went and got him. I thought he did well in Jeff Tedford's system, which is a terrific system. But at that time, I did not see a lot of throws that projected to him having success in the [NFL]."

Michael Vick, star quarterback of the Mean Machine, ended up being just a little too good to be true.

A reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found on Monday that no matter what Arthur Blank may say, Michael Vick couldn't be playing in the Leavenworth prison league because the season was over before he ever got to the prison.

That doesn't mean that he didn't throw a football around, but the story of Vick staying in shape by dodging fellow felons just isn't true.

A spokesman at Leavenworth's U.S. Penitentiary, adjacent to the minimum-security facility where Vick is incarcerated, sounded incredulous. "I don't know what you're talking about," spokesman Kevin Johnson said.

Billingsley offered a possible explanation. 'It's not unheard-of for inmates to toss around a football," she said. "But there just are no games until the fall."

Vick will almost assuredly be the first pick in the prison's football league next fall (and the basketball league and any other sports league the prison plays), but for now, he's still months away from even flag football.

In a report that sounds like the set-up to a Longest Yard joke but is apparently completely serious, Gary Myers of the New York Daily News writes that Michael Vick is playing football in prison.

Vick, the Atlanta Falcons quarterback who pleaded guilty to felony charges related to his Bad Newz Kennels dog fighting ring, is in a minimum security satellite prison camp at the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. And Myers reports that Falcons owner Arthur Blank has received letters from Vick that detail his prison football games:

Blank says Vick is playing football at Leavenworth. That's one way to pass his time and keep his arm loose. He's likely the first player picked when the inmates are choosing up sides or the guards are choosing up sides for them. Vick's sprinter speed surely comes in handy just in case a dog-loving inmate thinks it's cool to sack an NFL quarterback and break his shoulder.

"He is staying in shape," Blank told The News. "Apparently, there was a prison football team and he played quarterback for both sides."

Vick will likely get out of prison some time in 2009, at which time NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will have to determine whether to end his indefinite suspension and let him play football in somewhat more favorable surroundings than those in Leavenworth.

UPDATE: Vick Not Playing Prison Ball After All

Michael Vick may be in federal prison, but that doesn't mean he's still not a part of Arthur Blank's life.

The Falcons owner, who may be most famous for wheeling a wheelchair-bound Vick around the sidelines during one game, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he keeps in touch with Vick through the mail while Vick whiles away his days in prison.

Michael has written a couple times. I've written him back. We have that kind of relationship. Despite the mixture of frustration, anger and disappointment in him, I believe in second chances and redemption. I would love to see Michael pay his debt to society and come out and play again in the NFL. I think he could also be a big help to ... speak to people about some of his choices.

Blank wouldn't say one way or another whether Vick would ever play for the Falcons again. The good money has always been on the Falcons dumping Vick as soon as they could. But whether it's to give Vick hope or just to keep his options open, Blank wouldn't go nearly that far.

I would not say yes. I would not say no. At this point, Michael is in a federal penitentiary [on a dogfighting conviction] and is suspended from football. We have to move forward. We are moving forward. We have to assume he's not coming back. I do wish him well. I'd love to see him play again. It would be good for the NFL

It's still hard to believe that No. 7 could ever wear a Falcons jersey again, but I guess anything's possible.