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The best thing about this Super Bowl is that Michael Vick won't be in it. Seriously, you'd think Michael put the Vick in victory the way people gush about him. The cover of last week's Sporting News kind of said it all. It had a picture of him, ball tucked under his arm, leaping over a fallen St. Louis Ram.
"THE NEXT HURDLE," the headline read. "Michael Vick leads the Falcons into Philly."
THE NEXT HURDLE. That's the problem I have with Vick — and with the way many perceive him. I mean, when exactly did quarterbacking turn into the decathlon? Funny, but I don't remember Renaldo Nehemiah leading the 49ers to any titles; Joe Montana, I'm pretty sure, did that. Renaldo was just somebody who was told, occasionally, to "go long."
Don't get me wrong, I have tremendous appreciation for Vick's talents. I voted for him for the Heisman Trophy when he was at Virginia Tech and consider him one of the most exciting athletes in the hemisphere. (In fact, I'd probably rank him No. 2, right behind Super Dave Osbourne.) I just don't think, at this point, that he's all that great a quarterback — and I wonder whether his admirers are doing him any favors by telling him he is.
Ever since Vick broke into the league, people have talked about him "reinventing" the quarterback position. But the only way somebody is going to reinvent the quarterback position is if they reinvent the game itself. The QB is, first and foremost, a passer, a deliverer of the football. This has nothing to do with running a 4.3 40 or leaping tall buildings in a single bound. It's an act that requires vision, precision and — since large, malevolent men are often bearing down on you — no small amount of guts. But you don't have to be Bruce Jenner.
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"THE NEXT HURDLE," the headline read. "Michael Vick leads the Falcons into Philly."
THE NEXT HURDLE. That's the problem I have with Vick — and with the way many perceive him. I mean, when exactly did quarterbacking turn into the decathlon? Funny, but I don't remember Renaldo Nehemiah leading the 49ers to any titles; Joe Montana, I'm pretty sure, did that. Renaldo was just somebody who was told, occasionally, to "go long."
Don't get me wrong, I have tremendous appreciation for Vick's talents. I voted for him for the Heisman Trophy when he was at Virginia Tech and consider him one of the most exciting athletes in the hemisphere. (In fact, I'd probably rank him No. 2, right behind Super Dave Osbourne.) I just don't think, at this point, that he's all that great a quarterback — and I wonder whether his admirers are doing him any favors by telling him he is.
Ever since Vick broke into the league, people have talked about him "reinventing" the quarterback position. But the only way somebody is going to reinvent the quarterback position is if they reinvent the game itself. The QB is, first and foremost, a passer, a deliverer of the football. This has nothing to do with running a 4.3 40 or leaping tall buildings in a single bound. It's an act that requires vision, precision and — since large, malevolent men are often bearing down on you — no small amount of guts. But you don't have to be Bruce Jenner.
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