Len Berman, WNBC Sports Anchor
When we were kids, we loved Superman because he was invulnerable. Other than that Kryptonite stuff, which wasn’t floating around Queens back in the day, nothing could touch him.
I suspect that’s how star athletes must feel. In a way, you can’t blame them. From the time they could walk, grownups where telling them how great they were. The older they got, the more attention was heaped upon them. And eventually, all the money they could ever imagine gets thrown their way.
Throw in women, cars and anything else a young man dreams about, and it’s an orgy of riches. He can do no wrong — or so he thinks.
That’s the only rational explanation I can come up with as to how someone like Michael Vick, on top of the sports world, is now at the very bottom. I’ve never met Vick, so I admit this is all pure speculation. But if only a portion of the reported allegations are true, what was he thinking?
Obviously not much. And he certainly wasn’t getting any help from the people around him. Did no one think to tell him, just once, “Hey Mike, maybe this dog stuff isn’t such a hot idea”?
You have to believe his NFL career is over. Of course, the way these things work in America is that he’ll spend some jail time. He’ll get out and go on Larry King. Drum up some sympathy and then get signed by the Oakland Raiders.
One problem with that theory: There’s a new get-tough sheriff running the league and he is primed to make an example of Vick. He wants to send a clear message to every young stud in America that Vick is not invincible.
Kryptonite isn’t the problem. The ability to possess just a modicum of common sense apparently is.
