[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by 12thMan

SS33, you're weaving the dog fighting charge into this argument which I have no interest in discussing.

It's not the dogfighting issue, but the mindset in his letter to the judge. I have experiences with young people who have done some dumb $hit, all while having it pretty good. The type of responses and justifications I've heard are similar to Vick's.

The title of the thread seems a little disingenuous because it singles out Mike Vick as soft or whiny and I don't feel he has a history of whining about being hit late or when things on the gridiron don't go his way.

Him and Reid were whining back in Dec. 2010. Here's another link: Reid, Vick want more protection from officials - Philly.com

As SS & Matty mentioned, work the refs on the field, not in the media.

I take issue with folks saying Vick is so "tough". He's no tougher than any other QB in the league. Is he completely soft, no. He's a smaller guy that absorbs some hits, but it's because of how he plays. Let's not make it like he's FB tough or something. This whiny-baby stuff in the media in itself is soft.

My final point is, who in the hell are you ---or any of us-- to say Michael Vick has been coddled all of his life?

Has Vick improved recently, yes. Before his exit from the NFL did he "work his ass off", absolutley not. He's admitted as much.

I'm sure his upbringing prior to folks looking at him for his football abilities wasn't the best. But once he got to HS as a star athlete of his caliber, the rules and treatment are different, I've seen it first hand (not him specifically but with other D1 level athletes). In HS, if he was working harder (and coached better) it could have been him and Warwick in the State Championships instead of Ronald Curry and co. At VT, Vick was the team at the time, and Beamer and co. took care of him. If Vick was "working his ass off" he would've been a lot more prepared to read an NFL defense. It's not all Vick's fault, as VT certainly wasn't/isn't anywhere close to a good NFL development program for QBs. But again Vick's work ethic likely didn't go from stellar in college to crap with the Falcons.

If Vick doesn't have the physical gifts he's been blessed with, he'd be forced to work hard to be the starter. But with his talent, Vick was better than any other QB the Hokies had, or pretty much any QB in the NCAA at the time. In the NCAA (just like HS) players with great talent can get away with not putting in the same work and have a different set of rules from everyone else (coddled).