Atlanta-Journal Constitution Blogs

For some reason, I felt interested in doing some research on the Atlanta Falcons yesterday. Their first game is tomorrow night against the New England Patriots and I'm excited about the upcoming season. I guess there's been some media speculation that quarterback Michael Vick has a joint in his hands in a picture on myspace. A writer at the Atlanta-Journal Constitution wrote about this speculation. Following the article were hundreds of blog comments regarding the article, the speculation, and then, what turned into being, mostly about race.

It has been concluded that Michael Vick had a black & mild cigar in his hand, which he has admitted to smoking once in a while, along with drinking a beer once in a while. In the picture, he was wearing a New York Yankees hat (come on Mike, why the Yankees?), a t-shirt, jeans, and held one hand up which appeared to be a sign of some sort. He was also sitting next to a gal, perhaps his girlfriend.

The first comment I read dealt with his hand gesture, claiming he was afraid that it was a gang sign. Evidently, the gesture was in accordance with the fraternity he was associated with at Virginia Tech. Many bloggers referred to Vick as a "thug" and "hip-hop." One said the hand gesture meant he was gay. Another said that it didn't matter if the gesture was a fraternity sign or not, if the majority of the population thought it was a gang sign, it would then make it a gang sign. Some complained about his clothes and one even called his girlfriend ugly. A person spoke out and claimed that back-up quarterback Matt Schaub had accomplished more in his NFL career than Vick had (Schaub is 0-2 as a starter, meanwhile Vick has won over 30 games, including 2 in the playoffs). Another stated that the newly-drafted quarterback out of Georgia, D.J. Shockley, would take over the reigns from Vick this year. Some complained that whether the rumor about Vick was true or not, that he was a bad role model. One kept claiming that Vick was a bad quarterback, because his QB rating is not up there with the likes of the Mannings and Bradys. When one responded by noting Vick's winning percentage, the original poster claimed there was no such stat as a quarterback's winning percentage. After that, the blog started to turn ugly really fast, as all it was about was race. An African-American college student wrote about how African- and Anglo-Americans differ and that has to be accepted. Some Anglo-Americans then wrote about how African-Americans are the only people killing and robbing people, that they're the most dangerous group of people out there, and bring our nation down. They wrote about how African-Americans don't speak proper English and how they're all "thug"-like, because of their baggy pants, t-shirts, jewelry, and hats. One Caucasian from the area noted that after reading the blogs, he was ashamed to be from Atlanta and said that southerners still have a long long way to go when it comes to equality.

It was very sad to read these blogs. I lived in Atlanta very briefly when I was young, so I was not exposed to such discrimination while I was there, but it's hard for me to fathom that there are still parts of the country like this.

For starters, just because the majority of the population believes the capital city of Australia to be Sydney does not make it Sydney. The capital is still Canberra. So, just because some people might think the hand gesture Vick made was "gang"-related, it does not deny the fact that it's associated with a fraternity. Also, just as a reminder, none of us actually speak proper English. If you want to hear "English," then travel to England for a while. But we in America do not speak proper English, regardless of what our ethnicity is. There has always been a stat for quarterbacks regarding records and winning percentages. Does this person think that we don't keep track of records for pitchers, only E.R.A.? The quarterback rating uses a formula that isn't favorable to quarterbacks like Vick. It includes: completion percentage, touchdowns, interceptions, yards per attempt, etc. It does not include rushing yards, sacks avoided, and plus yards on heavy blitzes. While Vick's quarterback rating has been pretty average when using the directed formula, if you add in what all he does outside of the formula, that's what makes him a great quarterback. He's already average inside the formula, but if you expand your perspective to look inside and outside the formula, he is anything but average. It is also not "thug"-like to wear a hat, t-shirt, and jeans. If that's the definition of "thug"-like attire, then I'm in trouble.

I never really thought about Vick and all the turmoil and criticism he'd face because he played in Atlanta. Donovan McNabb has been criticized at times (Rush Limbaugh), but at least plays in a fairly liberal state who just wants to win football games, regardless of their quarterback's skin color. The same was true in Minnesota when Daunte Culpepper lead the Vikings. But, things are different in Georgia. Just ask the proponents of the Confederate Flag there. While I would think and hope that most Falcon fans in the Atlanta area would be content on their team winning, I unfortunately believe that there are some just hoping for Vick to slip up, so that they can start Matt Schaub. Hopefully Vick can ignore the homegrown criticism and shut the majority of their traps up by winning football games.