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Michael Vick:

Back from the

Dead

Vicks Early Years

The story of MichaelDwayne Vick is arollercoaster. It is full oftrials, failures, andtriumph. He was born onJune 26th, 1980 inNewport News, Virginia("Michael VickBiography."). He learned

to play football at anearly age and grew tolove it. His first shiningmoments were at HomerL. Ferguson High School(Wikipedia). When Vickbecame a sophomore, hetransferred to WarwickHigh School where hewowed college scouts(Wikipedia). When it

came time to choosewhich college to attend,Vick had two places inmind: Syracuse

University andVirginia TechUniversity. Heended upchoosingVirginia Techand went on to

have a great collegecareer (Wikipedia). Hewas so good in collegethat he was chosen 1st

overall in the 2001 NFLDraft by the AtlantaFalcons (Wikipedia).

Atlanta Falcons

After being selected 1st

overall, Vick became

one of the most excitingand fun players to watchplay the game. His greatathletic ability gave himgreat speed and agilitythat no one had seenbefore. A great exampleof his athleticism is agame against theMinnesota Vikings in theplayoffs in 2002. The

game went to overtimeand a vintage MichaelVick play wasborn. Vick ranfor 46 yardspast almost allof the Vikingsdefenders andsplit two ofthem rightbefore running into the

end zone to end the game(Olsen). He went to 3Pro Bowlsduring histime inAtlanta, andin 2003, heeven wonthe best

NFL player ESPY award(Wikipedia). Vick and

running back WarrickDunn became the firstrunning back andquarterback combinationto rush for 1,000 yards ina season (Wikipedia). Hehad great success inAtlanta, playing six

seasons there until it allturned around.

Vicks Low Point

While in Atlanta, Vickwas in a group calledBad Newz Kennels, adog fighting group thathe helped fund. Vickbecame a licensed dogbreeder. The grouphoused and trained over50 pit bulls to fight eachother ("Animal FightingCase Study: Michael

Vick."). Vick grew up inthe projects in Newport

Virginia. He saw manybad things happen, andgot involved in someof those things. One ofthose things was dogfighting. The dogsthey bred were tested,and if they did not

perform up to par, they

were executed. A lot ofillegal gambling went onduring this time in hislife also ("AnimalFighting Case Study:Michael Vick."). WhenVicks activities hit thenews, people wereshocked. It opened theeyes of the whole nationto dog fighting. The

federal governmentbrought charges to thecase, which is veryunusual for them to dobecause they do notusually get involved indog fighting cases. Vickgot 23 months in prison,

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was fined $5,000, had topay $928,073 and had totake a drug/alcoholtreatment program("Animal Fighting Case

Study: Michael Vick.").To say the least, this wasVicks low point of hislife. He was going tomiss two seasons of theleague he had dominatedfor six seasons. On topof that, he went bankruptdue to the massiveamount of money he hadto pay ("Animal Fighting

Case Study: MichaelVick.").

Vicks Redemption

Since being indicted,Vick has really tried tomake up for his pastactions. He has workedwith organizations likethe Boys and Girls Clubs

of the Virginia Peninsulatalking to children abouthis story and what he hasdone. He tries to getthem to understand thatthe road he went down isnot theone theyshouldgo down

(McGlone). Vick realizeswhat he has done in thepast is wrong, and he isfocused on making thefuture generations notget involved in the thingshe did. Vick has alsoworked with the Humane

Society. He goes aroundto different troubledlocations telling his storyand what people can donot to get involved in

bad organizations likethe one he was in("Michael Vick and TheHSUS Call on Feds toCrack Down on AnimalFighting Spectators : TheHumane Society of theUnited States.").

Vicks Comeback

As of now, Vick hasmade a completecomeback. His work inthe community and newattitude and behaviorhave impressed the NFLCommissioner RogerGoodell enough for himtoreinstateVick back

into theNFL. Notonly hasVick been reinstated, hehas been signed by anNFL team, the

PhiladelphiaEagles. He isnt justa backupquarterback either,he is now their

franchise quarterback,the face of the team, andis building a winningtradition in Philadelphia.He is also working withthe community inPhiladelphia steering

children in the rightdirection.

His first year in

Philly

His first year inPhiladelphia in 2009didnt go that smoothly.Much controversy arosefrom the public. Manypeople did not want himto play ever again due tohis past actions, andothers thought he hadearned his way back to

playing. He sat behindthe starting quarterback,Donovan Mcnabb, andgot limited playing time.He was not as successfulas the old Vick, and itlooked like he had losthis athleticism while

being in jail(Munson).

Becoming theFranchise

Quarterback

In 2010, things changed.The starting quarterbackwas going to be KevinKolb going into theseason, but after he got aconcussion during thefirst game, Vick got his

chance to finally startand he took fulladvantage (Munson). Hewent on to have amagical season, shockingthe whole football worldwith his speed andathleticism. It appeared

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as if the old Vick wasback, but this was a newVick. This Vick was notinvolved in anythingillegal, he wasnt in the

dog fighting organizationanymore, and he wasoverall a better personand player. He is stillworking in thecommunity with noobligation to do so. Vickis no longer the face ofdog fighting, he is theface of the Eagles, andthe community of

Philadelphia.

Sources used in this genre

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"Animal Fighting Case Study: Michael Vick."Animal Legal Defense Fund. AnimalLegal Defense Fund, Jan. 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2012..

McGlone, Tim. "Michael Vick Now Working for Peninsula Boys & Girls Clubs."

PilotOnline.com. The Virginian-Pilot, 1 July 2009. Web. 2 Mar. 2012..

"Michael Vick and The HSUS Call on Feds to Crack Down on Animal FightingSpectators : The Humane Society of the United States." The Humane Society ofthe United States. The Humane Society of the United States, 19 July 2011. Web.27 Feb. 2012.

"Michael Vick Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television. Web. 2 Mar. 2012..

"Michael Vick." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 2 Mar. 2012..

Munson, Lester, and The Associated Press. "With Eagles, Vick Gets SecondChance." ESPN.com. ESPN, 15 Aug. 2009. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.

Olsen, Doug. "Michael Vick: 5 Most Insane Runs of His Career." BleacherReport

. 16 Nov. 2011. Web. 2 Mar. 2012..

Annotation

I used some evidence from the first source in this genre. A lot of the evidence fromthis source was about the details of Vicks arrest. For example, I wrote about how the nameof the group Vick was funding was called Bad Newz Kennels. I used this evidence to writeabout Vicks arrest and the details of it.

I used evidence from the second source to write about one of the groups Vickworked with. The group was the Peninsula Boys & Girls Club. I used it to show that he wastrying to redeem himself for his past actions and that he was changing.

The evidence from the third source is about Vicks work with the Humane Societyof America. I used the evidence from this source to show that Vick changed as a person,and that he wanted to stop animal abuse.

I only used a little bit of evidence from the fourth source. The evidence I got fromthat source was Vicks date of birth and where he grew up. I used this for the introductionof my article and to start it off.

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I used a lot of evidence from the fifth source. This source had a lot of informationon Michael Vick like the college he went to, statistics, his time on the Falcons, and on theEagles. I wanted to make my article the story of Vicks life and a lot of this informationwas very useful.

I used some evidence from the sixth source. A lot of the evidence I got from here

was about Vicks time in Atlanta. I used this evidence to tell about his time in Atlanta.I only used a little bit of evidence from the last source. I needed an example ofVicks athleticism and the evidence from this source gave a great example of that.