But all this week, I’ll be posting news (old and recent) in regards to Mike on and off the field, and I’m actually gonna try and get a decent layout for M-Vick.net’s first birthday. I’ll let you know how that goes. But please bear with me – that’s all I ask!

As he continues to rebuild his image, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick has joined the cast of sports themed reality show Pros vs. Joes.

According to FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer, Vick taped two episodes of the Spike TV reality series on Wednesday.

He was joined by fellow NFL quarterback Jeff Garcia.

The show features amateur contestants matched up against professional athletes in a series of athletic challenges.

Glazer and Michael Strahan host the show.

Vick spokeswoman, Judy Smith, said that Vick’s travel has been at the discretion of his probation officer since he was released from prison in a federal dogfighting case in May 2009.

The restriction follows a prosecutor saying this week that while Vick wasn’t involved in a shooting after his 30th birthday party in Virginia Beach, Va., that he was in a confrontation before the incident.

Vick missed the Michael Vick Celebrity Golf tournament in Georgia and also did not make a scheduled appearance at a youth football camp in Raleigh, N.C., this weekend.

Spokespersons for both events say they were notified Sunday morning that Vick would not be attending.

“They called early, like 2 o’clock in the morning, telling us he’s not coming,” said Cornelius Corprew, director of Camp Elite Sports’ two-day football camp. “And then we couldn’t speak to him. It was through one of his associates.”

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A Virginia Beach prosecutor said this week that Vick was involved in a nightclub confrontation before a shooting after his 30th birthday party in late June, but he was not in the area at the time of the shooting. A representative of Carpenter’s camp said Vick could not travel to Baltimore today because of the incident.

Vick played with Carpenter, a Baltimore native, on the Atlanta Falcons. Carpenter, whose camp ends Saturday, brings in former teammates and current NFL players to speak and help at his camp. He created “The Carpenter House” in 2005 to help low-income and single-parent households deal with housing and other issues facing them.

Vick, an NFL superstar before serving 18 months in a federal prison for animal cruelty, appeared in Baltimore in May to speak out against animal cruelty. He spoke to a group of 35 young people at the city’s downtown Juvenile Justice Center.

Last season, his first since 2006, Vick appeared in 12 games for the Eagles but played sparingly. He is expected to be the primary backup this season to starter Kevin Kolb after the Eagles traded Donovan McNabb to the Washington Redskins.

Source: The Toy Department

Commonwealth’s Attorney Harvey L. Bryant told The Associated Press Wednesday that Vick was not the shooter, nor was he in the area at the time of the shooting.

However, Bryant said the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback was in a confrontation that “involved shouting, words passing, some bumping, then left the scene “in the 3 to 5 minute range” before the shooting.

Byrant added that investigators did not find Vick had participated in “anything that would amount to aggressive or assaultive conduct.”

“He’s an athlete and an entertainer, but he’s also a human being, and things that would tick you and I off would tick him off,” Bryant told the AP. “But he extricated himself from those things and left with the help and encouragement of some of his friends and supporters.”

Vick is on probation for a 2007 federal dogfighting conviction, and the NFL is investigating if his actions at the party violated the terms of his 2009 reinstatement.

Bryant said they have uncovered no evidence that Vick was involved in the planning of the shooting. But he told the Virginian-Pilot that at one point Vick emerged from a limousine to confront another person.

“In terms of just using good judgment, at one point, he got in the limousine, and should have left at that point,” said Bryant. “He got out of the limousine, and with the help of several friends, he was returned to to the limousine and left.”

Bryant, who has declined to press charges at this time against anyone in the shooting, says the case is not closed.

Source: Eurweb.com

The person says the team might cut Vick no matter what police conclude during their investigation of a shooting that followed the quarterback’s birthday celebration in Virginia Beach last week. The person spoke to The Associated Press early Saturday on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

The Eagles issued a statement Saturday saying “any report or speculation that suggests the Eagles are considering releasing Vick are not true. We will continue to gather information and monitor the situation and we will not have any further comment until that process is complete.”

Vick has said he had nothing to do with the shooting. He also said he reported the incident to the Eagles and to the NFL. Commissioner Roger Goodell told the former Atlanta Falcons star after reinstating him last season that his margin for error was “extremely limited.”

Vick is entering his second season with the Eagles and is due to earn $5.2 million. A three-time Pro Bowl pick, Vick is Kevin Kolb’s backup and the most experienced quarterback on the roster following the trade of Donovan McNabb.

The Eagles were heavily criticized by animal rights activists and fans for signing Vick last summer less than a month after he finished serving 18 months in federal prison for his role in a dogfighting operation.

Team owner Jeffrey Lurie called Vick’s actions “horrific” and “despicable.” He said he did serious “soul-searching” before agreeing to sign him.

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Too much is being made of Vick’s conflicting, nightclub-exit timeline.

Depending on traffic, Vick might be telling the truth. He and his entourage could’ve been “long gone” when a bullet dropped Quanis Phillips outside the restaurant that hosted Vick’s 30th birthday party.

Vick and his lawyer told police and the media that the Philadelphia quarterback left the scene 10 to 30 minutes before Phillips, a co-defendant in Vick’s dogfighting case, was shot. According to the restaurant owner, video surveillance proves Vick and his crew departed just a few short minutes before bullets were fired from the same direction as Vick’s exiting entourage.

So what? Do we run the QB formerly known as Ron Mexico out of professional football because three minutes felt like 30?

I say no.

NFL commissioner/top cop Roger Goodell should not bail out the Philadelphia Eagles by taking action against the Avon Barksdale of football. The more appropriate punishment would be to leave Vick’s cancerous carcass inside the Philly locker room, a fitting payback for the way the organization treated classy QB Donovan McNabb.

Look, I tried to get on board with the Vick reclamation project. I’m sympathetic to the plight of ex-cons. Re-entry into mainstream society can be very difficult for a parolee. I was proud that Andy Reid and McNabb took on the challenge of trying to rehabilitate Vick.

Click here to finish reading | Thanks, Gena.

I’ve been just a bit busy with my non-Internet life, but I wanted to come one wish Mike a very happy birthday, with many, many, many more to come!

Vick, while stressing the importance of making good decisions to the students, told them that he did not know he was wrong when he entered into a years-long dogfighting operation. Vick served 20 months in prison for a federal dogfighting conviction from 2007-2009.

He told the students about dogfighting:

“I was doing it not knowing what I was getting myself into. As I got older, you’d think I would have stopped, but I never thought it was wrong.”

Vick returned to the NFL last year with the Eagles and has since expressed regret for his mistakes. He has said he’s committed to turning his life around.
And he told students he struggles to break the cycle of bad choices that helped lead to his incarceration:

“I’m very cautious in my decision-making. That’s an everyday struggle, because all day long you have to make decisions.”

Source: USAToday