Michael Vick's Long Journey Back

There are some things in life that no matter what you do you can't redeem yourself from. There are some people that are going to have an opinion of you that you won't be able to change no matter what good deeds you do. If Michael Vick isn't in a no-win situation, he is pretty close to it. Vick is trying to resurrect not only his NFL playing career but also his life and his public perception. The former Atlanta Falcon took another step towards both by signing a one year contract today with the Philadelphia Eagles with a team option for a second year.

Vick was recently released from prison after serving eighteen months of a twenty three month sentence for funding and running a dog fighting ring. Vick's name first came up in April of 2007 about his potential involvement in the ring. By August, he had come to a plea deal with the district attorney and by November of 2007 he started to serve his prison term. During his time in prison Vick was visited by numerous people, but the person that seems to have made the biggest impact is former head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, Tony Dungy.

During Friday's press conference Dungy recalled the first time that he visited with Vick in Leavenworth prison. "I asked Mike, where was the Lord in all of this? He kind of explained to me his spiritual walk growing up, and the fact that when he got to the NFL, that was one of the mistakes he made. He felt that he didn't need the Lord anymore." Dungy went on to add, "With some of the things that happened, he felt like he needed to turn back, and that's when I really felt that this young man is going in the right direction."

Obviously Dungy's assessment of Vick's mentality now and his want to correct the many wrongs in his life played a significant role in the Eagles signing him. Eagles owner, Jeffrie Lurie still sounded like someone that wasn't completely convinced of Vick's new attitude when he said, "I needed to see a lot of self-hatred in order to approve this." Vick showed plenty of that during his press conference on Friday at one point stating, "I know I've done some terrible things, made a horrible mistake. No I want to be part of the solution and not the problem."

The question now to answer is will the general public forgive what Michael Vick did? They will never forget what he did, but can they accept his apology? Bill Smith, founder of Main Line Animal Rescue in the Philadelphia suburbs said that they will be renting three billboards blasting the Eagles for signing Vick. "I'm really shocked that he is coming to Philadelphia. He keeps talking about second chances. The dogs didn't get second chances." True, that dogs didn't get a second chance, but Michael Vick is. Are we going to allow him to redeem himself?