Speaking to a group of Philadelphia high school students, Michael Vick warned against the danger of peer pressure and offered himself as a cautionary tale.
The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, who served two years in federal prison for running a dogfighting ring, addressed a rapt audience of 200 freshmen on their first day at Nueva Esperanza Academy, a North Philadelphia charter school.
In the latest stop on his apology tour, he urged the students to make the right choices and to be a leader, not a follower, resisting temptation along the way.
“I didn’t choose to go the right way, which led to 18 months in prison, which was the toughest time of my life,” the disgraced NFL superstar said Tuesday.
“Being away from my family, being away from my kids, being away from the game of football, doing something so foolish, I wish I could take it all back.
“I should have been a leader, not a follower.”
The 10-minute talk marked Mike Vick’s first anti-dogfighting public appearance in Philadelphia since he signed a one-year, $1.6 million deal with the Eagles.
At the time, he expressed a desire “to be part of the solution and not the problem” by speaking to children around the country about dogfighting.
Speaking without notes, Michael Vick told the hushed assembly Tuesday that his many poor decisions imperiled the life goals he had set for himself:
“My future was promising ... at some point, I got sidetracked. I started listening to my friends and doing things that were not ethical and not right.”
Vick visited the school with Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. Pacelle has said he met with Vick in prison at the quarterback’s request and that Vick sought to work with the group after his release.
Hopefully, more appearances like this will help Vick's message ring true to today's youths and, over time, inspire more good than the harm he wrought.
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1 Comment
September 17th, 2009 2:19 AM
Sad that Texans wouldn't let kids watch the President on TV but people subject their kids to this hype. Michael Vick "did his time" for Federal Racketeering, he served his prison sentence for Federal Racketeering - ONLY. The crimes, the heinous acts and crimes of Animal Cruelty - Michael Vick plead "Not Guilty". The crimes in which, Michael Vick, systematically, prepared, planned, participated and executed, repeatedly, against these animals, was left unpunished in the legal justice system. This is a known public record of fact.
"He did his time, he paid for his crimes" - think again. "We all make mistakes"? - perhaps you will feel differently knowing that children are sporting dog masks to football games mocking the dead victims of his crimes. Laughing - joking - making fun - in support of their great idol with their parents right behind them screaming "To hell with Dogs - we love Vick". If this would not lower your head in shame, then I fear for the monsters this has unleashed in division across this United States in support of this great American hero.
He has not and will not spend a single day behind bars for animal cruelty as his federal charges were for racketeering. And as for remorse, Vick pled NOT GUILTY to animal cruelty charges at his state trial – and it was dropped in a plea deal. How can this man be remorseful for his crimes if he does not even believe he was cruel to animals?
I'm not against second chances. I am against rewarding people who commit criminal acts by giving them million-dollar contracts. And that's what the Eagles and the National Football League are doing.