Feels bad, think of the kids who he brandished the gun at. Feels bad, think of his fellow student's at Tech. Feels bad, think of his coach, Beamer, that I am sure tried as he could to help this kid turn into a productive member of society along with being an excellent football player.

His mentor, Johnson, says he knows the "man." He is NO MAN. At least not now, a thug, maybe but NO MAN. , They love him at the Boys and Girls Club. Hmm, than give him a job and show the rest of the world that he is indeed a good "man."

1 posted on 01/12/2006 6:31:13 PM PST by Former Military Chick

To: No Longer Free State

2 posted on 01/12/2006 6:31:43 PM PST by Former Military Chick (If you use FR, give to FR, it is the right thing to do.)

To: Former Military Chick

From what little I know of him he comes across as a real thug.

3 posted on 01/12/2006 6:33:07 PM PST by yarddog

To: Former Military Chick

we don't need to use the word thug to describe him right now I don't think....

SOME on this forum have construed it to mean another term which would normally get them banned....

That said, IF Marcus Vick wants to prove that he is something other than what we have seen, i.e. the giving-alcohol-to-minors, lettuce toting, gun flashing type, then he needs to start ACTING like it.

4 posted on 01/12/2006 6:33:32 PM PST by MikefromOhio

To: Former Military Chick

Well, I had my doubts, but the guy mentored Allen Iverson, so...

5 posted on 01/12/2006 6:34:39 PM PST by Billthedrill

To: No Longer Free State

Rouse rises to defense of Vick, Hokies players
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 12, 2006
Last updated: 12:19 PM

VIRGINIA BEACH — Aaron Rouse may be the worst person to ask about Marcus Vick.

Or the best.

You be the judge.

When Rouse was looking for a godfather for his 2-year-old son, the Virginia Tech safety and Virginia Beach resident asked Vick, his teammate and good friend.

“People don’t understand who he is,” said Rouse. “He’s very humble.”

Rouse remains supportive of the former Tech quarterback, even if taking up for Vick right now is like trying to say something nice about bird flu.

Vick already was being ripped by the media and mocked on the Internet after his dismissal from the team when he was arrested for allegedly brandishing a firearm in a McDonald’s parking lot in Suffolk. Rouse was one of the first to call him.

“I try to tell him, 'Marcus, be more careful,’” Rouse said. “He’s under a much more powerful microscope than we are.”

Vick is the primary focus of Tech criticism. But almost every real or perceived flaw in the program has been magnified since the Gator Bowl, when the out-of-control Hokies were thrown for a loss of poise in the first half, and when Vick stomped on the leg of that Louisville lineman.

As excessive as the amped-up Hokies’ actions were that day, the reaction from the public and media has been equally extreme. It bothers Rouse that he and his teammates are being casually portrayed on the Internet as “thugs” and “punks.” As the son of a man serving a 50-year prison term for murdering another man, Rouse has always done whatever he could to avoid nasty stereotypes.

“I don’t want to be another statistic,” he said. “That’s all I heard as a kid, 'You don’t want to end up like your father.’ ”

A good student, the 6-foot-4, 225-pound junior is on schedule to graduate next December with a degree in sociology, and envisions himself playing in the NFL.

“I want to be known for something positive,” he said. “I want to be looked up to.”

Which is what brought him to the Seatack Recreation Center early Wednesday evening. Printed fliers at the front desk advertised his appearance at a workshop for parents and teens sponsored by the Beach public schools and First Colonial High, his alma mater. Discussed were educational opportunities and the availability of college scholarships and grants. Rouse said he was there to tell the kids, “You don’t have to be the smartest kid in the class to get ahead.”

Because of the heat being directed at Tech, Rouse welcomed the opportunity to appear in public. Even if it doesn’t fit with the current opinion of Frank Beamer’s players, Rouse’s relaxed, friendly manner makes a positive impression.

“We’re good guys,” he said of himself and his teammates. “We try to do what’s right in the community. If everybody knew our real lives, they wouldn’t think we were punks.”

However harsh the treatment of Tech’s image, nobody can say that the Hokies didn’t help bring this on themselves. Bad publicity, Rouse said, “kind of blurs the season, like a foggy windshield. Because of Marcus and the Gator Bowl, people can’t see through the windshield. They can’t see that we won 11 games.”

In time, they will. Until football stops being a bottom-line business, it’s those 11 victories that Tech alumni ultimately will remember.

In the wake of the godfather’s embarrassing problems, some damage control is called for. But don’t expect a great deal of breast beating behind the scenes in Blacksburg. Asked if he thought defensive coordinator Bud Foster will have to change anything, Rouse said, “I know what Coach Foster will say. He’s going to say, 'No, we’re not going to change anything. We’re going to play Virginia Tech football with discipline and focus.’ ’’

If Tech had taken the field at the Gator Bowl with real discipline and focus, people wouldn’t be calling the Hokies thugs and punks.

To the team’s detractors, Rouse suggests, “Come up and have a conversation with us and see what we’re really like. Get to know us before you judge us. We’re actually nice guys.”

Reach Bob at 446-2373 or bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com

6 posted on 01/12/2006 6:34:49 PM PST by Former Military Chick (If you use FR, give to FR, it is the right thing to do.)

To: No Longer Free State

End of Vick reign marks change at VT

David Teel

January 10 2006

Marcus Vick is gone, off to Suffolk's courthouse and perhaps the NFL. The competition to replace him will take months. Now the story becomes palace intrigue. Now the issues confronting Virginia Tech football involve trust, supervision, image and probable staff turnover.

Frank Beamer, the Hokies' head coach for 19 seasons, craves stability and believes it a cornerstone of his program's success. He's going to hate this offseason. He's going to hate it because change is a comin'.

Much of the change figures to be internal, concealed from prying ears and eyes. But it's this change that will most affect Tech, and may determine how much longer Beamer leads his alma mater.

Beamer shed tears last week when he told Vick, the first-team All-ACC quarterback, that he was banished from the program. And considering Beamer's forgiving nature and history, it's reasonable to guess he doesn't endorse the decision.

But he had no choice. When university president Charles Steger and athletic director Jim Weaver learned Friday of Vick's recent citations for speeding and driving with a suspended license, they dismissed Vick summarily.

This, of course, in the wake of Vick's stomping of a prone Louisville defender in the Gator Bowl. This in the wake of Vick's past legal entanglements.

Vick's legal present turned thorny when Suffolk police Monday charged him with three misdemeanor counts of brandishing a firearm the night before at a Suffolk McDonald's. But Vick's murky future and his fast-food etiquette are topics for another couch session.

Of more pressing concern to Hokie Nation: Did Beamer and his administrative hammer, John Ballein, fray relations with Steger and Weaver by not keeping them current on Vick's behavior? If so, how badly? Might Weaver or one of his assistants more closely monitor a football program that enjoys relative autonomy and a football coach who wields substantial power? If so, to what degree?

And what of Beamer's reputation? Charming as he is, might that good-ol-boy image be tarnished?

Some background: Vick began the 2005 season on double-public probation. Screw up once more, Tech officials told him after his 2004 transgressions with liquor, marijuana and under-aged girls, and you're done.

Vick responded with an all-conference season. Though his flipping off fans at West Virginia was boorish, Tech let him skate with a public apology.

Prior to the Hokies' Gator Bowl against Louisville, Hampton police cited Vick for speeding and driving with a suspended license. According to Tech officials, Vick then informed Ballein that his license was suspended because of a misunderstanding over insurance payments. Vick did not, officials insist, mention the citations.

Beamer and Ballein neither explored further nor informed higher-ups. They should have. After all, Vick didn't deserve an inch of wiggle room, and a phone call or two would have revealed the truth.

But the truth would have benched Vick for the Gator Bowl. Indeed, the truth might have ended his Tech career. Did Beamer and Ballein not want to know the truth?

"It never, never came across to me that way," Beamer said during a Saturday news conference. "If it should have, I apologize."

Beamer also pledged to reverse his team's play in the ACC championship game and Gator Bowl. Infrequently penalized during their first 11 games, the Hokies were flagged 24 times combined in those contests. "We've got too much pride in this program and we've done too many good things for us to not play the game the right way," Beamer said.

The right way means not only fewer penalties but also less (zero?) tolerance of throat slashes, sack dances and other taunts. This is a far cry from the 1996 season, when a television graphic compared the Tech and Nebraska rap sheets, but there's no denying the Hokies, including some in the 757 bunch from Hampton Roads, need to tone it down.

And if Beamer doesn't have enough worries: His staff may soon splinter.

Quarterbacks coach Kevin Rogers, who publicly blistered Vick for the Gator Bowl cheap shot, interviews Wednesday with the Minnesota Vikings. Rogers and new Vikings head coach Brad Childress are connected by Donovan McNabb, Rogers as McNabb's position coach at Syracuse, Childress as McNabb's offensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Moreover, Danny Pearman, Tech's tight ends and tackles coach, has been linked to an opening at Clemson, his alma mater. If either leaves, former Kecoughtan and Heritage High coach Curt Newsome, now assistant head coach at James Madison, could move to Blacksburg.

Begin to address these concerns and then Beamer gets to ponder a 2006 season without Marcus Vick.

David Teel can be reached at 247-4636 or by e-mail at dteel@dailypress.com «

7 posted on 01/12/2006 6:36:47 PM PST by Former Military Chick (If you use FR, give to FR, it is the right thing to do.)

To: Former Military Chick

"...but I know the man.

"Poo" don't know sh*t!

8 posted on 01/12/2006 6:37:08 PM PST by cincinnati65 (Just up the road a piece.......)

To: Former Military Chick

The "Are You Marcus Vick?" Quiz

http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/?p=1599

9 posted on 01/12/2006 6:38:56 PM PST by sassbox

To: Former Military Chick

Vick needs to do what every real man faces: to get down on his knees and open his heart up to the Lord, acknowledge his need for a Savior and Lord and ask Christ Jesus to do a work in him. We've all come to that point once or more and had to make a decision. For Vick, it's decision time. God bless him.

10 posted on 01/12/2006 6:42:41 PM PST by DoNotDivide (Were the American Revolutionaries rebelling against Constituted Authority and thereby God? I say no.)

To: Former Military Chick

Re: "James “Poo” Johnson said, "I'm not condoning what he did, but I know the man. I know that Marcus wishes he could go back and undo a lot of things.” He added,"I know marcus, I know his heart and I know his soul and he's not the monster that's being portrayed."

Is he talking about Vick or Teddy Kennedy?

11 posted on 01/12/2006 6:45:03 PM PST by Bender2 (Even dirty old robots need love!)

I'd call a punk kid who waves a gun at a bunch of teenagers at a McDonalds a thug without hesitation. I don't know what others might construe it to mean, but it fits Vicks behavior this past month or two.

12 posted on 01/12/2006 6:45:55 PM PST by No Longer Free State (No event has just one cause, no person has just one motive, no action has just the intended effect)

13 posted on 01/12/2006 6:46:24 PM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (Don't buy Bose. Their warranty is no good.)

To: No Longer Free State

I'd call a punk kid who waves a gun at a bunch of teenagers at a McDonalds very, very lucky he's still alive.

14 posted on 01/12/2006 6:48:40 PM PST by ErnBatavia (I post in slang..live with it or ignore it - reader's choice.)

To: Former Military Chick

Kevin Rogers left the Hokies this week to go work for the Minnesota Vikings. I'm not sure I'd want to be the VT quarterbacks coach this coming season, either.

15 posted on 01/12/2006 6:53:18 PM PST by No Longer Free State (No event has just one cause, no person has just one motive, no action has just the intended effect)

To: Former Military Chick

James “Poo” Johnson said, "I'm not condoning what he did, but I know the man. I know that Marcus wishes he could go back and undo a lot of things.” He added,"I know marcus, I know his heart and I know his soul and he's not the monster that's being portrayed."

Well, Mr. "Poo", he may not be a monster, but he is a turd...

16 posted on 01/12/2006 6:55:13 PM PST by danneskjold

What a thoughtful comment. Advice Vick should take. I just do not think he is prepared to hear that at this point in his life.

17 posted on 01/12/2006 6:55:42 PM PST by Former Military Chick (If you use FR, give to FR, it is the right thing to do.)

I thought the word "thug" was being pretty mild. What is the other meaning of the word beside the obvious one?

18 posted on 01/12/2006 6:56:19 PM PST by yarddog

To: Former Military Chick

Awww...boo-hoo "Poo". Watcha gonna do when Vick pops a cap in you?

19 posted on 01/12/2006 6:58:27 PM PST by Niteranger68 ("Spare the rod, spoil the liberal.")

That is exactly what I am saying.

just watch some of the threads that go on.

One guy started out saying "thug" but then graduated to calling him a NWA....he's been banned.

20 posted on 01/12/2006 6:59:13 PM PST by MikefromOhio

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