Michael Vick Gets Sho-Nuff Religion
March 27, 2010
Michael Vick got convicted for being involved in dog fighting. He went to jail. He declared bankruptcy. He had it all. Then he was in solitary confinement.
It meant little to me. I don't watch NFL football. I thought he was stupid for being involved in an illegal activity.
He served his time. He says he is now a Christian. My view: "Let's wait and see."
I have waited long enough. Michael Vick is serious.
How do I know? Because he is doing what he ought to do. He is working with a ministry to inmates.
He can have an impact on some of them. He was one of them. He hit rock bottom. He is out. He is back on top.
He is rich and famous. They aren't. They won't be. But everyone can get his life turned around if he does what Vick and Abe Brown Ministries recommend.
He is working with a mentor, former NFL coach, Tony Dungy. This is wise. Vick has someone who can guide him.
I was impressed by the article on all this in Sports Illustrated. The writer pretty much has the picture. The test will be how Vick handles the renewed adulation. So far, so good.
So I saw him doing the right thing, and he's been doing the right thing in Philadelphia. Those who monitor Vick, including Dungy and commissioner Roger Goodell, think he's doing well.I'll tell you what concerns me: the adulation and the nonstop attention. That contributed to Vick thinking before his conviction he could live by different rules than the rest of the planet, and the adulation hasn't stopped. He was swarmed in the morning by men desperately happy to see him. In the evening, when he went with Dungy and the former coach's wife, Lauren, to a fundraising banquet for the Abe Brown Ministries, one of Dungy's favorite causes, a constant procession of people to Vick's seat in the crowd made it hard for him to eat -- and he finally gave up trying to do that.
At the end of the night, Dungy and Vick had to disappoint scores of people by not signing or posing for photos with every last one. "This is not just today,' Vick said. "It's every day.'
The people were nice, to be sure, and well-meaning. But we saw what happened to Vick when the daily treatment of him like Michael Jordan in the public was combined with having money. And if he keeps playing football like he played in his reborn 2010 season, he's going to have money again, even after he takes care of his debts from bankruptcy court. Lots of money.
He appears to be on his way to changing his life. But time will tell if the change can stick. I just know if I were being told every day how wonderful I am -- not once, but 300 times -- my wife telling me to take the recycling out might fall on deaf ears.
This is good journalism, because it is grounded in reality. Vick has got to keep his balance ethically. It won't be easy. But he is in good hands. He has a mentor with good judgment.
Driving back from dinner Friday night, Dungy, looking to make a slight adjustment, came to an intersection with a U-turn prohibition. He took a left into a parking lot, turned around, and got back on the street going the right way."That's the kind of thing I used to just say, 'I don't see a cop, I'm doing the U-turn,' ' Vick said. "That happens now, I'm wrong, I get picked up, and I'm on the front page. It's not a big deal, but if I do it, it is. I understand. That's OK. To alleviate any chance of a problem, I've always got to do the right thing now. But it's a good thing. I've got to hold myself accountable in everything I do.'
Accountability is the name of the game. It's a Big Game.
I have been inside the walls, ministering to prisoners. I appreciate what Vick is doing.
Back to Avon Park. Vick brought his message to about 700 prisoners, to loud applause. "I can tell them the theoretical,' Dungy said on the ride to Avon Park. "Mike can tell them what it's really like, and how to use this time in their life to prepare for the world again.'When Vick arrived, he looked at the gleaming wire and the sprawling white-bricked complex of cellblocks. "Don't look like Leavenworth,' he said. "It's nicer.'
Most of the men wanted to talk to him about football, and he did a lot of that. But when Dungy got him on stage in the courtyard, following some rousing spiritual songs by the volunteers from Tampa, he was intent on delivering a message, with Vick's help. Dungy has been doing this for 15 years, going to prisons several times a year. It started by following the lead of the late Abe Brown, a high school football coach in Tampa who saw the crushing cycle of imprisonment badly affecting men from Tampa Bay.
The men inside need someone to pay attention to them, other than the officers who police the prison. They greatly appreciate any donated time from average people on the outside, but when a star shows up, it's a big deal. When a star who has been an inmate shows up, it's a very big deal. It does not happen often.
Now, about sho-nuff religion.
I work with John Schaub from time to time. John gives advice on this site's real estate forum.
He worked with Habitat for Humanity for years. He works with another home-building ministry these days. He told me this story.
He was working on a project in a ghetto area. The Habitat crew came in to fix up a house. There were skilled people doing specialized tasks, like concrete work.
All the while, a man across the street sat on his porch, watching. After a couple of days, he came across the street. He asked what was going on.
Someone explained Habitat. It builds homes or repairs old ones with volunteer labor and donated materials. Then it lets poor people buy them at zero interest.
The man listened attentively. Then he said, "That's sho-nuff religion."
It surely is.