Feely on Vick
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- May
- 9
Michael Vick will not be the Jets quarterback this season, but when his name was in the mix I believe more than one of you said that bringing Vick in would be the end of your tenure as a Jets fan.
But Jay Feely would welcome him back, and explains why.
The Jets kicker had a locker next to Vick’s when they played for the Falcons for four years, starting in 2001. Where many people see a clear cut issue of right and wrong, Feely sees a man he calls a friend who did something terrible, and an opportunity to forgive.
“The price he paid was great and we’ve been kind in allowing people second chances,” Feely said.
Feely doesn’t need anyone to speak for him. He has written a defense of Vick here. He might seem an unlikely defender at first. Feely hopes to go into politics after football, and is conservative in his many of his views. On Thursday, he said that Vick will need allies when he gets back to the NFL, and Feely wants to be one of them even if it means he takes some heat for his views.
“I never worry about what reaction people have to me,” Feely said. “I just do what I think is right.”
Feely spoke to Herm Edwards before and after the former Jets coach visited Vick in prison, and Feely said they both want to publicly support Vick. In his essay, Feely doesn’t mix words about what Vick was found guilty of with dogs. What Vick did sickened people who had never watched a Falcons game.
It’s easy, Feely said, to pass judgement on someone you’ve never met, but he said that in our actual lives we forgive people for all kinds of transgressions—and uses as examples drunk driving and prolonged physical abuse. We can see people we know as complicated people capable of straightening out their lives, which is how he sees Vick.
“I think he has a good heart,” Feely said. “I really do.”
Photo of Feely from the Feely Kicking School website run by Jay’s father Tom Feely Jr., and photo of Vick from the Associated Press.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, May 9th, 2009 at 5:42 pm by Jane McManus.
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Jane McManus 
I just saw a report on ESPN that the Jets are showing interest in Pacman Jones.
OMFG…I’d sooner have Vick or Burress on my roster, than that pointy headed waste of space. Aside from his off-field problems, the guy wasn’t even very good in Dallas last year. The Jets should leave that piece of trash on the ground, because it’s radioactive…
Yeah, whatever David. A team that didn’t mind having the biggest lockerroom cancer ever in the league in diva Brett Favre should welcome a Pacman, Burress or Vick.
David and I and others didn’t like the Favre move last year, but don’t tell me, Fred, that any of the three losers you mention will ever see the Hall of Fame. Favre is already as good as in. He was a better guy to roll the dice with than those three, though I wish no dice had been rolled at all with any of the four.
Good answer, Alex…thanks for saving me the trouble.
[...] Jets kicker Jay Feely plans to support Mike Vick when he tries to return to the NFL. [...]
Vick now and Sanchez later
found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it