Understand this: some overzealous animal rights activists and tree huggers are still coughing up fur balls over the fact that Vick, the repentant mutt mutilator, has been allowed back into the league. And some of those animal lovers are sports reporters who will vote for the award.
Vick, who is in the midst of a fairytale comeback that no one could have possibly predicted, will nevertheless fall short of the biggest individual award in the sport. I don’t care what miracles Vick pulls out of his derriere in the last two games of the year. Vick could rewrite all of the regular-season record books, end the war in Afghanistan and produce the virus that cures AIDS and he’d still lose the MVP Award to Tom Brady.
For some — and perhaps many — killing canines is an unpardonable sin that should hold the same penalties as premeditated murder or selling state secrets to Iran. There are many out there who value some animal’s lives, especially those of dogs, much more than people’s. Of course, this love doesn’t extend to deer, fish, cattle and chickens, but I digress.
To be fair and objective, Brady, one the greatest QBs ever, is having one of the best statistical years for a quarterback ever. He has been unconscious. It’s funny how a pretty boy with long locks and a supermodel wife suddenly looks like a hit man for the Mafia when he steps on the football field. If he executed the New England offense any better than he has, there would be actual executions of opposing teams on the field.
But Brady doesn’t deserve the NFL MVP award.
Nope. Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, whose most recent miracle was a 28-point fourth-quarter comeback against the New York Giants, is the deserving one.
“Brady is the familiar pocket passer, the most consistent we have ever seen. On the other hand, no quarterback in recent N.F.L. history has leveraged the double threat like Vick,” writes veteran NY Times sports columnist William Rhoden.
Rhoden reiterates the popular assertion that Brady also enjoys an advantage on the field because officials protect him: “Vick is on the ground, throwing, running, throwing on the run, taking several hard shots a game as a matter of course. Defensive players who even think about putting hits on Brady will be flagged — and financially flogged — by the N.F.L.”
There you have it. Brady is protected by the league and favored by writers and fans. He also overtook Vick for the league in the Pro Bowl fan voting. Brady wins. It would be better, anyway, if Vick won the MVP Award for the Super Bowl. I think he’d rather have that one anyway. –terry shropshire
