The Vicks

Wow ... what a proud mom Marcus and Michael must have. I mean, she taught them that they needed to become someone. Need to seek fame and money and notoriety to get out of poverty. I remember watching VT games, and they would always pan to a shot of her standing there proud wearing whatever son was playing at the time's jersey. Bet she's not proud now. One son is a criminal who got kicked off VT's team (which must be pretty hard to do given some of the hoodlums that are still playing on that team), gets arrested for either drugs or alcohol or violence (I can't remember, although it may be all three), but at least the other son was making it big in the NFL. That is until his dirty (and bloody) little secret about the dogfighting surfaces. Now he is pleading guilty (which I must say is a bit admirable given that he is forcing himself to take some responsibility ... must have been some pretty strong evidence against him) and facing jail time. He probably will end up kicked off the team (remember, he isn't playing for VT anymore) or traded. What is sad is that he has talent. For some reason these athletes think that talent is enough, and character is not required. This should be a wake up call to athletes that character is important. Or at least it should be a wake up call to their mothers to try to instill some value for things besides money and fame. And the fathers? I don't know whether the Vicks had a father at home, but their father(s) should be ashamed of how they raised their boys (or the lack of raising that they gave their boys). Even more sad is that some parents will continue to allow their little boys to be fans of the Vicks in spite of their reputations and lack of character.