I’m no doctor (except in Greenland, where you can get a medical license for three freshly-caught brook salmon), but I assume that when you suffer a concussion, it’s best to rest your brain for a little bit before being thrown back onto a football field. But don’t tell Mike Vick that. Vick has yet to be subjected to the concussion tests needed to assess whether or not he can play on Sunday against the Giants, but he’s already pushing hard to get back on the field, according to SalPal over at ESPN:
The Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback "desperately wants to get back on the practice field as soon as possible." That means Wednesday morning, when (offensive coordinator) Marty Mornhinweg installs the game plan against the Giants.
In fact, Vick was quite intent on returning to LAST WEEK’S game after nearly getting decapitated by his own teammate. NBC’s Mike Florio says Vick argued vehemently with the training staff when they wouldn’t let him back in. The Eagles even had to take away Vick’s helmet and shoulder pads to prevent him from sneaking back out there and doing further harm to his already tender noggin. No word on if there was any cake-fighting in the training room.
Now Vick is passionate about football and loves to compete and all that nonsense, but his urgent need to get back out onto the field isn’t just about him loving football. It’s about him NEEDING football, perhaps more than any other player in the league. Football is what saved Vick after he got released from jail. It’s what has given him a second chance in life, and, in fact, it embodies the only good thing he has going for him. Even people who still hate Mike Vick will concede to his brilliance out on the field. Football defines him now, it’s the one tool he has to change his brand image and show everyone (including himself) that he has value as a human being. Football is the beginning and end of Mike Vick right now, which is why he will apparently chew you out and subject himself to further harm if you keep him from playing it.
It’s almost as if he’d prefer to play hurt, to throw himself to the wolves because, of all people, Mike Vick should be shown no mercy. Mike Vick needs to be tougher and better than everyone else, and playing with a dinged head is a good way to do that. The man needs football, perhaps too much so.
We’ll see if the doctors let him have it.
