BLOG: A Second Chance Hero
By: Andy Wheeler
So those of you that have some sort of issue with Michael Vick, just need to stop. Let it go. What's done is done, what's in the past is exactly that, the past.
Monday night, we saw arguably (and it wouldn't be much of an argument against) the greatest performance by a quarterback in a regular season game that has ever happened. He was unbelievable. He was so good I got tired of watching the game. Imagine that, I've seen the Eagles be so bad I wanted to turn off the game…but I've never seen them so good that I wanted to turn it off.
He has been amazing. While a good majority of Eagles fans have started talking Super Bowl, many are tempering their excitement because they don't like Michael Vick because of what he did, or who he is.
Those people are stupid.
Don't get me wrong, I respect your opinion, because everyone has a right to feel the way they feel…but you opinion is wrong.
You have to look at this for what it is. It is in fact one of the more socially significant events we've ever witnessed…and one of the greatest comeback stories of all time.
A guy going to jail, and coming out and proving that even though you get in trouble you can still attain your dreams.
How many people can you look around at in your life that you know could have done more and should have done more? How many failed talented people can you name that completely threw their talent away. How many lives have been ruined by one mistake, or multiple mistakes that in the end the individual couldn't recover from?
I'm a big guy for giving people second chances…another opportunity to prove themselves. How many second chances have you seen thrown away? How many second chances have people never gotten?
Michael Vick is proving all conventional wisdom wrong right now. He was a guy that was the highest paid player in the league, with a brashness and cockiness that impeded his development as a quarterback.
He'd been the best football player and athlete on any team he'd ever been on…and when that happens, you are often given things. In particular, you are usually given free passes on things others aren't.
When you get so many free passes, usually you don't think the rules apply to you anymore…because in most cases they don't. You end up surrounded by the wrong people, telling you what you want to hear instead of what you need to hear…then BOOM…it's all gone.
I'm not here to debate whether what he did to end up in jail is good or bad. It's obviously a horrendous thing, and he deserved to go to jail. He probably deserved to go to jail for longer than he did…but he went.
And he served his time. He paid his debt to society, and when you pay your debt that means you don't owe anybody anything.
Still, he has gone out in the community and done everything that has been asked of him. He has rededicated himself to maximizing his incredible ability. He studies hard, takes his craft much more serious than before, and generally seems to be enjoying himself while doing it.
More over, he actually seems to be rehabilitated by this whole experience, and is making the very most of his second chance.
How can this not be applauded? How can this not be celebrated? How can even the hardest against him among us not appreciate what has happened here?
This story, and not just because my team looks awesome with him under center, makes me feel really good on many different levels.
What's most impressive is the example he is setting for everyone everywhere. You can have a terrible thing you did haunt you for the rest of your life, and have your life just be about that…or you can change.
You can be what you know you can, you can make changes and stay with them…you can over come a mistake and still achieve your dreams. You can be a better person than the awful person you were…how are people not on board with this?
I for one, regardless of what he did, will celebrate what he's accomplished and what he's become. I will still look at what he did in an incredibly negative light, but it's about what he's doing now. That's what second chances are about.
