It’s been an eventful week for our old friend, and recently released convict Michael Vick.  The Big Lead reports Vick spent Monday night – his first night of freedom – hanging out with Allen Iverson in Virginia Beach. At a strip club. Of course, Vick flatly denies this rumor.

Meanwhile, ESPN tells us that Vick met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday to discuss his possible reinstatement.  League sources say that Goodell is expected to grant a conditional reinstatement of Vick as early as next week! If this is true, it would  mean Vick would be allowed to sign with an NFL team this season, attend training camp, and then would be suspended for the first 4 games of the regular season.

Well that didn’t take very long, did it?  The guy has been out of prison for less than a week, and he’s already rolling out to the strip clubs, and on the verge of reinstatement.  It’s like it’s 2005 all over again!

For their part, the league office says no decisions have been made, and Goodell is quoted as having said, “this is not about me”.

“This is a serious matter. We are engaging in a careful and thoughtful process and no decisions have been made,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.

Does Vick deserve to be reinstated so quickly?

But even if Goodell does reinstate Vick, does it matter? Are there any teams that are desperate enough to sign Vick after sitting out for 2 years, and having to sit out 1/4 of the upcoming season?  As of now, no teams have expressed any interest in signing Vick.

A handful of teams have publicly declared no interest in Vick, citing a multitude of concerns. Giants owner John Mara and Jets owner Woody Johnson were emphatic in saying their teams’ quarterback positions were filled.

“On a lot of levels, no,” Mara said when asked if the Giants had any interest in Vick.

Don’t worry, there will be more than a few clubs willing to take a chance on Vick.  Just wait for week 2 of pre-season, when starting QBs start dropping like flies, and season ticket sales are down.  GMs will be scrambling to get Vick in uniform.

Michael Vick is out of prison, and now has a lot of work to do in order to repair his image.

Former NFL QB and convicted dog murderer Michael Vick left Leavenworth Prison in Kansas early this morning, managing to evade the throngs of media waiting for him outside the jailhouse. Vick headed to his home in Hampton, VA, where he will finish serving out the last 2 months of his 23-month sentence under home confinement.  He will also work a $10-an-hour construction job and remain under federal surveillance.

Vick’s PR machine is already full swing, trying to make a case to Roger Goodell that he is worthy of reinstatement.  Oh, to be the soulless devils who make their living working on such a noble cause … I bet they sleep well at night.

Anyway, there’s TONS of coverage on this story out there this morning, so I figured I’d pass along a few links to some of the most interesting pieces we found:

• ESPN’s John Clayton speculates on the 5 teams Vick could end up with
• Falcons Owner Arthur Blank says Vick Needs To Get New Friends [NFL Fanhouse]
• Shutdown Corner examines 4 other NFL Athletes who may or may not be worse than Michael Vick. Jerramy Stevens, anyone?
• Humane Society to work with Vick after his release [Sports Illustrated] … let’s just hope they have the same common sense as PETA did.
• Is Vick seeking a deal for a post-prison reality show? [Reuters]

Dogs everywhere are training to exact their revenge on Vick upon his release from prison

HOORAY for common sense! USA Today reports that PETA has denied that it has any plans to do public-service advertisements with Michael Vick after the disgraced quarterback is released from prison.

Yesterday’s reports that PETA was in discussions with Vick to be a spokesman for the group were refuted in a statement issued late Friday:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said it withdrew any offer about doing the ads after a U.S. Department of Agriculture report on Vick’s dogfighting operation found “he enjoyed placing family pets in the ring with fighting pit bulls and that he laughed as dogs ripped each other apart,” according to Dan Shannon, the group’s assistant director of youth outreach and campaigns.

Whew.  My head was starting to hurt from the stupidity of that idea.  Then again, PETA doesn’t exactly have a sparkling reputation in the animal rights community, so it wouldn’t be an altogether surprising move on their part.

In a March 4 court filing, Vick’s attorneys say he “has every reason to believe upon his release, he will be reinstated into the NFL, resume his career and be able to earn a substantial living.”

“He is hopeful to play quarterback,” Daniel Meachum, an attorney and business manager for Vick, said in an interview. “There is no person with his talent in that position in all the league.”

Under the plan he submitted to the court, Vick would keep the first $750,000 of his annual income over the next five years. After that, a percentage would go to his creditors based on a sliding scale.

Hmmmm.  $10 million a year, huh?  Assuming he gets re-instated by Goodell, Mikey (and his agents/leeches) are then banking on the fact that some team is willing to take a chance on him after not playing football for 3 years, and having one of the worst public images in sports.   Maybe a touch of wishful thinking there?  I could potentially see Vick getting a super-incentive-laden, back-loaded deal somewhere desperate (Detroit, Washington), but he’s probably not going to be seeing that kind of money any time soon after his release.

The AJC article suggests that he’d have a better chance trying to return to the NFL as a RB.  I suggest that Vick work on not being such a collossal failure as a human being first, and then he can worry about raking in the benjamins.

Of course, Vick probably owes a lot of money to a lot of angry people, and he hasn’t proven himself to be particularly bright, so I don’t really expect this to turn out too well in the end.  I can see Mike making in appearance in the WWE, or hawking Snuggies on late night TV in the not-too-distant future.