Reply #9: Ahem. I am a Mike Vick fan. And I love you all.

[sofa king]

I am now a grizzling Hokie, and it's impossible to explain what a phenomenal positive influence Mike Vick had on the football program at Virginia Tech. His career there continues to give Virginia Tech its pick of the best quarterbacks in Tidewater, and Vick acts as an informal adviser to most of them. Virginia Tech football players now liberally sprinkle the NFL, meaning that their college experience is properly preparing them for professional careers.

Here's a nice thing I'll bet you didn't know Mike Vick did. When he was shooting to stardom in the NFL at Atlanta, Mike convinced the Falcons to give ACC champion quarterback Bryan Randall a chance. Randall made the practice squad for a few months, securing himself good contacts within the NFL with Vick's backing, and bounced around a little even though Randall wasn't considered enough, somehow. Finally, this year, Randall landed on both feet in the Indoor Football League, where he threw for 2,000 yards, scored 70 touchdowns, and won league MVP. Now he's got another shot at the NFL and you can guarantee Mike Vick will be pulling for him.

Yeah, what he did was inexcusable and I know for some of you it's unforgivable. But he did his time and his personality is complex enough to be both good and bad off the field.

On the field, as I have been saying since 1999, he should be wearing a cape.

So you can hate Mike Vick all you want, but you have to hate him the same way you hate Ty Cobb, Pete Rose, O.J. Simpson, and other sports geniuses whose mastery of the field did not translate to a mastery of their personal lives.