Remember last month when Michael Vick appeared on Speak for Yourself with Colin Cowherd and the king of black self-hate himself, Jason Whitlock, and when asked about what Colin Kaepernick could do to get back in the NFL’s good graces, the first thing Vick said was, “First thing we gotta get Colin to do is cut his hair,” and we all rolled our collective eyes because, “Sir, for real?”
A lot of us were wondering what could make Vick speak on Kaep like that. How do you, a man who almost lost his NFL career behind dogfighting, twist your lips up to speak against a black man who is losing his NFL career because he is fighting for black lives? How, Sway?
The Root’s own Stephen A. Crockett Jr. thought that perhaps it was related to Baller Wives, a VH1 show that premiered on Aug. 14 and features Vick’s wife, Kijafa, but another, more telling, possibility has surfaced.
USA Today is reporting that the former four-time Pro Bowl quarterback has been hired as a broadcaster for Fox Sports, and the network plans to make an official announcement Sunday. Vick will be a studio analyst for Fox NFL Kickoff, a program that airs before the network’s pregame show, Fox NFL Sunday. He will also regularly appear on FS1 studio shows.
So, is this why he was spitting all that hate at Kaep? So he could impress the big bosses at Fox and let them know he was a respectable Negro worthy of hiring?
As The Root’s Angela Helm pointed out so eloquently:
Vick, who was famously jailed for almost two years in 2007 for his involvement in a dogfighting ring, had cornrows himself in his last year with the Atlanta Falcons before he got shipped off to the pokey for 21 months. When he got out, he cut his hair and had a career with the Eagles and a few other teams for a few years, and ostensibly lived happily ever after.
It’s entirely possible that Vick was trying to be helpful to Kaep when he said, “Listen, I’m not up here to try to be politically correct, but even if he puts cornrows in it, I don’t think he should represent himself in that way in terms of just a hairstyle. Just go clean-cut. Why not? You’re already dealing with a lot of controversy surrounding this issue. What he needs to do is just try to be presentable.”
Unfortunately, his words were dripping with the sweat of respectability politics, and he later backtracked on his wife’s VH1 show and on Twitter, where he wrote: “Colin Kaepernick’s hair has nothing to do with him not being on an NFL roster right now. Let’s be clear! I wish only the best for Colin. I stand by what I’ve said about him being signed at some point this season to help a NFL club. I think he is a great kid who has a bright future and I’m looking forward to seeing him on the field again. Trust and believe what I said was not in malice.”
I’m sure Mike will fit in well with his new overseers ... overlords ... bosses at the Fox network. He actually seems excited about the job.
In an interview with USA Today on Friday, Vick said: “I’m very excited. Over the last seven or eight months, I’ve done a lot of interviews, and I think I’ve gotten better as I’ve been put in those situations more often. Things really came together [with Fox] over the last couple months. They have shows that I have always watched and admired. My friends and family are thankful and proud of me.”
I’m happy that despite the unfortunate events of 2007, Michael Vick was able to bounce back and reclaim his football career. I’m even happier that he has found a new opportunity in life after football because it doesn’t happen for everyone.
I’m just hoping that in his quest to stay at the top, he didn’t kick another black man down just to get there.
Read more at USA Today.