Fall From Grace

It's a long fall from "Highest Paid Player in the NFL" to "Inmate Hoping to Get a Job in Construction," but that's exactly how far former Atlanta Falcon Michael Vick has fallen.

And I have to say, in some ways I feel sorry for the guy. He was handed the world on a platter when he was very young, immature, and not ready for it, and he's paying the price now. He needed someone to mentor him along. Maybe the NFL needs an official mentoring program, where the older, better adjusted players could help the younger players along, talk to them about handling the press, handling the fame, saving money because there's only one Jerry Rice and they're most likely NOT going to still be playing in their forties. Talk about how to handle the off season, how to handle the press. For players like Vick, they could talk about how to surround themselves with the right kinds of people, people who aren't going to get them in jail for two years.

Sounds like a great idea, but the problem, of course, is that there's no way there are enough well adjusted players to be mentors. Would Randy Moss make a good mentor? Or Chad Ocho Cinco?

I think that would actually be humorous. I could see Chad's advice now: "The first thing you need to work on," he'd tell the rookie, "is how to do your touchdown dance, what kind of props to use! Later we'll talk about outrageous ways you can get a fine so that you can stay in the media's mind even if your performance is lacking!"