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By: Denise Stewart, BlackAmericaWeb.com
Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick walked out of a federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas before daybreak Wednesday, renewing the debate over when or whether he should return to the National Football League.
“I think there is a likelihood we’ll see Michael Vick suited up and playing for a team this fall,” said attorney and former sports agent Darryl Washington. “What Michael Vick did was stupid. It was not criminal,” the Dallas-based Washington told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
But Drew Sharp, a columnist for the Detroit Free Press and USA Today, said in a Wednesday interview with radio’s "Two Live Stews" that Vick needs to be sidelined a while longer so he can “separate Michael Vick the ex-convict from Michael Vick the football player.”
Also in a Wednesday column published in the Free Press, Sharp said, “Vick has a right to make a living, but playing in the NFL remains a special privilege dutifully earned. Vick has the right to prove that he's reformed, that he's grown from his mistakes. But the NFL isn't constitutionally bound to provide him with that platform.”
Vick, who in 2007 was the highest paid professional football player in America, was suspended from the NFL indefinitely without pay after he admitted to participating in a dog fighting ring. Vick also admitted to killing dogs that did not perform well. He was sentenced to 23 months in prison.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Board of Prisons, confirmed Vick’s release and said his sentence will expire on July 20. She would offer few other details concerning the athlete’s release.
“He left today in transit, and once he arrives at his destination location, we can confirm it,” spokeswoman Traci Billingsley told BlackAmericaWeb.com Wednesday.
Larry Woodward, a member of Vick’s legal team, said his client is happy to be starting this part of the process. He's due to return to Virginia later this week to begin serving the final two months of his sentence under home confinement at a house he owns in Hampton.
Vick will be allowed to leave his house to work a $10-an-hour job as a laborer for a construction company and for other limited purposes approved by his probation officer. He will be handed a new set of rules when he begins serving three years of probation after his expected July 20 release from federal custody.
The transfer from the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth will allow Vick to begin rebuilding his life, repairing his image and working toward reinstatement to the NFL.
Vick wants to work with the Humane Society of the United States on a program aimed at eradicating dog fighting among urban teens, society president Wayne Pacelle said Tuesday. Pacelle said he recently met with Vick at the federal prison in Leavenworth.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said he will review Vick's status after his criminal case is concluded.
Several points of contention have emerged regarding Vick’s crime, punishment and possible return to the playing field.
“Mike has served his time. He has lost millions. How much more do you want him to bow down?” Washington said.
In their Wednesday broadcast, Doug and Ryan Stewart raised Leonard Little as an example of other athletes who made mistakes and were allowed to return to the field.
Little, a defensive end in the NFL, was drunk in 1998 when he got behind the wheel of a car and had an accident that killed a woman. He was charged with involuntary manslaughter and served 90 days in jail before returning to the game, according to published reports.
Ray Lewis, an NFL linebacker in 2000, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor following a Super Bowl party brawl in Atlanta where two people were killed. Lewis was present, but it was not proven that Lewis assaulted anyone. He was given a year of probation and allowed to return to his football career.
Political commentator Roland Martin, in a blog on Wednesday, said too that Vick should be allowed to return to his career.
“What's the point of sentencing someone to jail, then having them serve their time and be released if we still want to imprison them for the rest of their lives?” Martin said.
Boyce Watkins, a Syracuse University professor who often writes about black athletes, said Vick’s greatest challenge will be public opinion and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
“What Michael Vick did was stupid,” Watkins told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “I can’t condone it. But it does not call for life punishment.”
Watkins said he’d be surprised to see Vick suiting up when football season rolls around this fall, but it is a possibility.
“I think there are a lot of teams interested in hiring a person who may be the most talented quarterback in the world. Somebody will take a chance on him,” Watkins said. "He has paid his debt to society. He needs to be able to get on with his life. Michael Vick would bring controversy for a team, but he would also bring ticket sales and a tremendous television audience.”
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