Vick rewarded for hard work

While listening to a sports radio show this morning, the question came up of who had restored their image more, Michael Vick or Ben Roethlisberger? The hosts of the show had various answers, and I just wanted to weigh in on this one.

One of the hosts said that he thought Vick had been restored more and his reasoning was because of how “out front” Vick has been in speaking out about his mistakes and about animal cruelty. While I definitely agree that Michael Vick’s image is more rehabbed than Big Ben’s, I think so because of a different reason.

My reason is this: Michael Vick has restored his image more because he has had to come back from much farther than Big Ben. Even if Vick isn’t all the way back, if you look at how far he’s come then you can really see how amazing the last two years have been. I mean, think about it. This guy was suspended by the NFL, went to jail for almost two years, went bankrupt, lost all of his money, lost all of support and most importantly, lost all of his respect. Vick being basically kicked out of the league and put in jail is the same as a lawyer being disbarred and put into prison. But he owned up to his mistakes (even if it not immediately), did his time in the clink, faced down the backlash from Eagles fans, NFL fans and dog lovers across the world and two years into his return to football has met President Obama, been mentioned in MVP talk this past season, secured an endorsement deal and is on the cusp of a major payday.

Ben Roethlisberger on the other hand, seems to be a bit of the “same old, same old.” Popular athlete gets in trouble, beats the rap, takes a slap on the hand, comes back and wins some games and the fans love him again. Big deal. What did he do to rehab his image? He kept his head down and let the time pass because he knew that that was all that it would take.

I think the bigger lesson here is what would you rather see? An celebrity mess up and work his way back into your good graces? Or an athlete mess up and disappear his way back into the positive light of the public eye?