Has there even been a fall like Vick's?

[fastfish 0]

I'm trying to think of another sports star who fell this far, this fast and this hard. OJ comes to mind but he was done as a player. Rae Curruth fell hard but he was not a star player. Mike Tyson could qualify but boxers almost always end up in the hurt locker so it's not really a surprise. Maybe Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry would count, although both of them went down slowly. You might have to go as far back as the Black Sox scandal of 1919 to find an example as spectacular as Vick's.

 

I think Vick stands alone as the biggest loser we have ever seen with respect to having it all and then pissing it all away.

[xxx 0]

I'm trying to think of another sports star who fell this far, this fast and this hard. OJ comes to mind but he was done as a player. Rae Curruth fell hard but he was not a star player. Mike Tyson could qualify but boxers almost always end up in the hurt locker so it's not really a surprise. Maybe Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry would count, although both of them went down slowly. You might have to go as far back as the Black Sox scandal of 1919 to find an example as spectacular as Vick's.

 

I think Vick stands alone as the biggest loser we have ever seen with respect to having it all and then pissing it all away.

 

hell hath frozen over.... I agree with fastfish! absolutely a huuuuge fall from being the nfls poster boy/darling to there being talk of never playing again.

 

And for what, booze? drugs? women? nope, for dogfighting

[Cuse9 128]

Shoeless Joe was only 31 when he was banned for betting on baseball. It was huge at the time, but if it happened now....holy cow!! This would blow away the Vick trial. Can you imagine if we found out ARod, Jeter, Posada and five others all took money and threw the World Series.

 

Maurice Clarett is in the top ten.

[Walter34 3]

Rastah Williams?

[newjackwhitsy 0]

Shoeless Joe was only 31 when he was banned for betting on baseball. It was huge at the time, but if it happened now....holy cow!! This would blow away the Vick trial. Can you imagine if we found out ARod, Jeter, Posada and five others all took money and threw the World Series.

 

Maurice Clarett is in the top ten.

 

Hollywood Henderson certainly took a fall, but there's no one even close to Vick. ESPN keeps showing clips of interviews with MV throughout the last 10 years, including one where he mentions how much he "loves animals" and "is cutting ties with certain people" - yikes.

 

Just based on economics, he's the new gold standard for idiocy - he makes Marcus look harmless.

[nicewolf64 0]

Pete Rose

[Cuse9 128]

Hollywood Henderson certainly took a fall, but there's no one even close to Vick. ESPN keeps showing clips of interviews with MV throughout the last 10 years, including one where he mentions how much he "loves animals" and "is cutting ties with certain people" - yikes.

 

Just based on economics, he's the new gold standard for idiocy - he makes Marcus look harmless.

 

I'll agree to an extent. Do you think if ARod, Jeter and others on the Yankees took money to throw the world series and then the following year they all got banned for life would be bigger.

 

That's exactly what happened with the Sox. The difference is athletes were normal people back then. They made salaries equivilent to the common man. Nowdays athletes are immoral and maks such rediculous money that it's inconceivable that anyone would take money....they have enough.

[santa*69 0]

I know you dismissed OJ but I think it was a harder fall. First of all murdered people. But he was not only one of the greatest RB of all time but get this.....White people liked him. He was doing commercials for corporate America before many Black men were doing that. He made movies etc a lot like Jim Brown. I think OJ fell harder than Vick.

[Captian America 0]

Art Schlichter !st round pick from Ohio State the All American Quarterback threw away a NFL career because of gambling.

[Mad Brad 0]

I think all the vick apologists need to get in line and say sorry to FASTFISH.... Go ahead you know who are, get in line... MB

[roroco 75]

Maurice Clarrett... His fall happened before he ever touched the field.

[sirensong 111]

I know you dismissed OJ but I think it was a harder fall. First of all murdered people. But he was not only one of the greatest RB of all time but get this.....White people liked him. He was doing commercials for corporate America before many Black men were doing that. He made movies etc a lot like Jim Brown. I think OJ fell harder than Vick.

 

now THAT is a really interesting idea. no kidding--there's a sociology master's thesis in there somewhere.

 

[ditka's hip 0]

Yet to come: Barry Bonds

[JT 137]

Rose & OJ.

 

Rose is the all-time hit leader, a multiple World Series winner, and was as revered as any baseball player during the final era that baseball was America's sport of choice. Imagine guys like Montana, Marino or Gretzky being banned from their respective sports, excluded from the Hall of Fame.

 

Simpson, as mentioned earlier, was the first black athlete to be a viable, marketable face for corporate America. There were no black faces on tv ads before he ran through airports. Only a handful of white football players had lucrative endorsement deals. Nobody knew the faces behind the face masks. Additionally, he's a Heisman winner, held the single season rushing record, and was the first (if memory serves) to break 2000 yards. At the time, that figure was mythical, like the 4:00 mile had been a decade earlier.

 

There was nothing about Vick's career to think he was getting into the Hall of Fame without a ticket. He has never won a title or set a record of significance, at either the college or pro level. He was a creation of Nike and ESPN. His fall is unusual, in that American pro athlete's regularly operate outside of and above the law. But he never had a role in his sport anywhere near that of Rose & Simpson. The only things that make it even close are the dominance of the NFL in the public eye, and the proliferation of tv networks clambering to devote endless hours of coverage to the disgraced fall of a mediocre player.

[Mad Brad 0]

Berman just called him a marquis player... I'd say the comment about the ESPN hype machine, was right on, especially after just hearing that comment... I'd say he was a pretty good player, but never lived up to the hype... Welcome to OJ land Mike enjoy the stay... MB

 

 

ps. He is now available in all by 1 of my 5 dynasty leagues... Ouch, had FF value and now worthless...

[Captian America 0]

Rose & OJ.

 

Rose is the all-time hit leader, a multiple World Series winner, and was as revered as any baseball player during the final era that baseball was America's sport of choice. Imagine guys like Montana, Marino or Gretzky being banned from their respective sports, excluded from the Hall of Fame.

 

Simpson, as mentioned earlier, was the first black athlete to be a viable, marketable face for corporate America. There were no black faces on tv ads before he ran through airports. Only a handful of white football players had lucrative endorsement deals. Nobody knew the faces behind the face masks. Additionally, he's a Heisman winner, held the single season rushing record, and was the first (if memory serves) to break 2000 yards. At the time, that figure was mythical, like the 4:00 mile had been a decade earlier.

 

There was nothing about Vick's career to think he was getting into the Hall of Fame without a ticket. He has never won a title or set a record of significance, at either the college or pro level. He was a creation of Nike and ESPN. His fall is unusual, in that American pro athlete's regularly operate outside of and above the law. But he never had a role in his sport anywhere near that of Rose & Simpson. The only things that make it even close are the dominance of the NFL in the public eye, and the proliferation of tv networks clambering to devote endless hours of coverage to the disgraced fall of a mediocre player.

 

Well Said.