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!

Philadelphia Eagles QB Michael Vick met with a group of students in Snow Hill, Md., on Monday in his continuing effort to share lessons from his past.

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

I know this is uber late and I apologize for slacking on M-Vick.net as of late, but I promise y’all, I’m back…

If you were at the Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino in Hallandale Beach, Florida a couple weeks ago expecting to see Michael Vick, 50 Cent, Allen Iverson and/or Floyd Mayweather, you probably left disappointed.

None of them showed, including Vick, who was supposedly hosting the event. In fact, the Eagles backup quarterback wasn’t even in the state. Which would be one thing if Vick actually put up the money for the event. But he didn’t. Instead, party promoter Darnell Aponte spent $20,000 on everything from advertising to paying Vick for his time.

“For me to lose $20,000 hurts,” Aponte said. “This is like near catastrophic.” Vick’s booking agent, Fred Grant of Atlanta, said the controversial quarterback couldn’t make the party because his flight was canceled due to severe weather. “We did everything we could to get him there,” Grant said. “We’re not trying to be shady or stiff anybody.”

Vick was supposed to be at the party by 1 a.m. May 29. When he hadn’t shown, Aponte called him. “He wasn’t apologetic at all,” Aponte said. “He had a really poor attitude: ‘I missed my flight, what the heck do you want me to do about it?’”

Funny story: turns out Vick’s flight wasn’t canceled, just delayed. So he could have made an appearance and been just half an hour late. Upside: Grant said that Vick’s contract allows him to reschedule another party. You know, because he’s so reliable. “We’re willing to do everything we can to make it right,” Grant said.

Aponte didn’t seem impressed. “It’s not worth the risk. It’s going to be hard for me to get people to come out for him again.”

He has paid his debt to society and wants to start recouping the millions he forfeited while sitting in prison for all these months.

But who will throw quarterback Michael Vick a line?

I’m semi-seriously thinking it should be the Cincinnati Bengals, and here’s why:

1. Team owner Mike Brown describes himself as a redeemer, and what better way to polish that image than by hiring a cat who tortured dogs for several years.

Vick would fit right in with scofflaws such as Chris Henry, Tank Johnson and Bernard Scott, the rookie running back who’s been arrested five times.

2. Vick was quite an athlete before going up the river, and with the so-called “wildcat” formation now all the rage across the league, he could play some at running back or receiver in addition to backing up Carson Palmer.

Palmer might whine about it for a couple of days, but chances are he would get with the program once Vick started eluding tacklers in the open field in Week 5 (assuming a four-game suspension).

3. It would be a great story line for HBO. Let’s face it. A team that invites “Hard Knocks” to training camp can’t be all that worried about the distractions of PETA picketers and other protesters.

4. The fuss will subside eventually. If Vick stays clean and starts contributing to victories, the Bengals will be hailed as visionaries rather than villains for giving an ex-con a chance.

5. What does this downtrodden franchise possibly have to lose? It’s not like the esprit de corps of a winner is at stake.

Credit: The Oxford Press

Animal-rights activists say they will be outside a South Florida nightclub when Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick hosts a party there.

Vick, who served a federal prison term for running a dog-fighting business at his Virginia home, is scheduled to be at the MI-VI Club in Hallandale Beach Friday night, the Miami Herald reported.

“We don’t want him in South Florida,” Anna Nylander, one of the protest organizers, said. “We’re in disbelief that a local nightclub would want to have this man as a celebrity. What this man has done is horrendous.”

Nylander hopes hundreds of people will join her. But some animal lovers defend Vick, saying he learned his lesson and did his time and is now talking to young people about the evils of dog fighting under a program organized by the Humane Society.

“He has been effective in helping young men choose a better path,” said John Goodwin, in charge of animal fighting issues for the Humane Society.

Vick, a quarterback with the Atlanta Falcons when he was arrested, was suspended by the NFL. After his reinstatement, he signed with the Eagles.

Source: Post Chronicle

When the Eagles traded Donovan McNabb to the Washington Redskins, the Kevin Kolb era officially began in Philadelphia.

Shortly after the McNabb trade, Eagles owners squashed any Kolb vs. Michael Vick quarterback controversy when Kolb signed an eye-popping one-year, $12.26 million contract extension.

Last week, star receiver DeSean Jackson expressed the players’ confidence in Kolb when he stated, “I don’t think we lost anything, even with McNabb being gone.”

Not everyone in the Lehigh Valley is so sure. Read the rest.

What do you think?

Yes, M-Vick.net has a new layout! Not a whole lot to say about it. I was just looking for something a little different this time and I think I got it. Yeah it’s a little bright but hey, summer’s around the corner. Time to give the dark layouts a rest for a minute! Hope you like!

Also, I’m gonna try and get a fanlisting up and running – hopefully there are some Vick fans out there who will join!

(From WSLS.com, a television station on Roanoke, VA) Our coverage of Michael Vick’s appearance in Blacksburg had one viewer disgusted:

Steve Allen emailed, “I am so sick of hearing you people talk about Michael Vick as if he were a serial killer. Also it is DISGUSTING for anyone to think donating money to animal shelters is a worthy charity. When you live in a country with millions of homeless HUMANS, millions without jobs, millions without health care and countless others that have worked all their lives and still can not afford the medications they need on a daily basis, yet you people think it is admirable to give money to dogs and cats. This is an example of having your priorities screwed up.”

WSLS RESPONDS: Steve, no one implied that Michael Vick is a serial killer of humans. He is however a convicted dog fighter who admitted to abusing and killing dogs. Vick is trying to rehabilitate his image, setting an example that dog fighting is wrong and by donating some money to the humane society. We will simply have to agree to disagree on your point about animal shelters being a charity. There are many worthy charities out there that accomplish a lot of good work, some help people in the situations you listed. In our view, animal shelters are also a worthy cause.

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