Jesus Christ, the NFL and The Lonely Grave of Ron Mexico

Back when the egg on Michael Vick's face only came from his alter ego's genital luggage, the Mexico moniker was a source of extreme embarrassment for the NFL and it's somewhat paradoxical sense of purity. However, since the real bomb dropped and the Eagles have taken their perplexing leap of faith, that very same alter ego could be a manifestly useful symbol. To hear all parties involved, from Roger Goodell to Jeffery Lurie down to Donovan McNabb, Vick is going to bury the dark half and what could be better than having a name on the tombstone. I watched the press conference live by chance on August 14th, and it whacked me like a hammer just how important this game has made itself to America.

Lurie was first to sit and after laying down the rules of engagement, he made a well thought out and impassioned speech about Michael Vick. He and his organization were offering Vick a hand up, and he wanted to make damn sure nobody left the room thinking it was a hand out. Success in this endeavor would not be measured on the field, but in the community where Vick would be making a real difference all the while suffering the slings and arrows of his justifiably angry detractors. Only if that happened would the chance the Eagles took be a good one. America is a place for redemption, and Michael Vick would get his chance to be redeemed, but it would not be automatic and it would not be easy (though in fairness a seven figure contract might offer some cushioning). Lurie said that this wasn't about football, it was about giving Vick the chance to right wrongs and the evidence would give the claim some credence. The Eagles have a dedicated, image friendly and clearly spectacular quarterback in Donovan McNabb, who had not only signed off on the idea of acquiring a potential rival, but instigated it. While one cannot ignore the benefits of getting a back up of Vick's calibre on the cheap, Vick's landing in Philadelphia is sure to cause a measure of distraction a team bent on a Super Bowl can always do without.

Vick appeared next flanked by Andy Ried and Tony Dungy who each spoke afterwards and fielded questions. Dungy, the league's answer to Jimmy Carter, was of course the perfect and perhaps only person to be the spiritual representative of this ceremony. His character and moral standing are beyond reproach and more impressively, genuine. If Lurie evoked America, Dungy cut deeper into the matter and talked about the Lord and Christian forgiveness. Dungy has formally stretched his neck out real real far on Vick's behalf, and if that alone isn't enough pressure to make #7 walk the line, one is led to believe nothing else will be.

Andy Ried may have looked like he'd rather be at the dentist than the press conference, but all parties insist he was willing to take on Vick. Even though it might have been on account of McNabb's insistence, Dungy told the cameras that Ried called him (though he was ambiguous enough to suggest "about a dozen coaches" had expressed some measure of interest). It's worth mentioning that Ried was the only handler to talk about his abilities on the field as more than tertiary to Christian philosophy and the SPCA.

Clearly embarrassed and ashamed of himself, Vick spent his time at the microphone thanking all parties involved in his return and repeated his boss's talking points about helping more than he had hurt in his "pointless activity". Vick said all he could be expected to say and gave no indication of insincerity. The stage is set and now he has to prove good to his word.

A good many important people have circled the wagons around Michael Vick where they could as easily have left him to the crows. A black superstar quarterback may be one of the rarer commodities in the National Football League, but its hard to believe that it could trump the league's good name and image. The cynic in me screams that this is a matter of dollars and cents and saving face, or that the league in the end just didn't take his crime seriously, but I can't rule out that X factor my gut says can move mountains, just maybe they did it out of love.