UFL new fall football VICK to play??
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UFL will consider signing Vick for debut seasonAssociated Press
add this RSS blog email print Updated: July 3, 2009, 3:49 PM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) - When the United Football League debuts in October, Michael Vick could be one of its players.
Michael Huyghue, the commissioner of the new four-team league, says the UFL is willing to give Vick a place to play — provided there are no pending legal issues. His rights belong to the Orlando franchise.
"One of the things that is important in our premiere season is to showcase the quality of talent and the coaches, and to be able to show outstanding players who find themselves in this quagmire the NFL creates," Huyghue said. "Michael Vick might be that kind of player because he is ... a phenomenal talent, but he needs transitionining back into the NFL.
"Also gaining as much widespread exposure for the league as possible might be addressed with Michael Vick."
Huyghue said he will monitor the Vick situation closely and "if he is free and clear of legal issues, we will look at the situation."
Vick already has served an 18-month sentence in federal prison for his involvement in a dogfighting ring. He is under home confinement until July 20, after which the NFL is expected to announce whether the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback will be suspended.
Vick, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 draft, has not played football since the 2006 season.
The UFL will have teams in Orlando, New York, Las Vegas and San Francisco, playing games mostly on Thursday nights in October and November. The championship game will be Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving.
Orlando acquired UFL rights to Vick in an allocation draft of players not under contract in the NFL.
"I don't know if the NFL will suspend Vick," said Dennis Green, coach of the San Francisco team and the chairman of the UFL's competition committee - a role he also held while coaching in the NFL. "What he did was very wrong, and he paid his debt to society. He was a model inmate, otherwise he never would have made it out from prison early.
"Now he has to show he loves the game and is a responsible citizen. You can't show you love the game if you're not able to play the game. So if Michael Vick were to say, 'I will play for not a lot of money,' well, hello. We're here.
"If he is not allowed back into the NFL and he wants to show he is a model citizen and he loves the game, there is not a better situation for him."
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league would have no comment. Joel Segal, Vick's agent, did not immediately respond to a message left by The Associated Press.
While it sounds as if Vick will be welcomed into the UFL, Huyghue would not address the situations of Plaxico Burress, Donte' Stallworth or other NFL players with legal problems.
"Every player will have to be unique and different," he said.
Green reiterated there have been no UFL discussions about those players, and he emphasized the UFL will not be an outlaw league.
"We don't want to be known as a league where if guys are in trouble, that is where you go," Green said.
add this RSS blog email print Updated: July 3, 2009, 3:49 PM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) - When the United Football League debuts in October, Michael Vick could be one of its players.
Michael Huyghue, the commissioner of the new four-team league, says the UFL is willing to give Vick a place to play — provided there are no pending legal issues. His rights belong to the Orlando franchise.
"One of the things that is important in our premiere season is to showcase the quality of talent and the coaches, and to be able to show outstanding players who find themselves in this quagmire the NFL creates," Huyghue said. "Michael Vick might be that kind of player because he is ... a phenomenal talent, but he needs transitionining back into the NFL.
"Also gaining as much widespread exposure for the league as possible might be addressed with Michael Vick."
Huyghue said he will monitor the Vick situation closely and "if he is free and clear of legal issues, we will look at the situation."
Vick already has served an 18-month sentence in federal prison for his involvement in a dogfighting ring. He is under home confinement until July 20, after which the NFL is expected to announce whether the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback will be suspended.
Vick, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 draft, has not played football since the 2006 season.
The UFL will have teams in Orlando, New York, Las Vegas and San Francisco, playing games mostly on Thursday nights in October and November. The championship game will be Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving.
Orlando acquired UFL rights to Vick in an allocation draft of players not under contract in the NFL.
"I don't know if the NFL will suspend Vick," said Dennis Green, coach of the San Francisco team and the chairman of the UFL's competition committee - a role he also held while coaching in the NFL. "What he did was very wrong, and he paid his debt to society. He was a model inmate, otherwise he never would have made it out from prison early.
"Now he has to show he loves the game and is a responsible citizen. You can't show you love the game if you're not able to play the game. So if Michael Vick were to say, 'I will play for not a lot of money,' well, hello. We're here.
"If he is not allowed back into the NFL and he wants to show he is a model citizen and he loves the game, there is not a better situation for him."
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league would have no comment. Joel Segal, Vick's agent, did not immediately respond to a message left by The Associated Press.
While it sounds as if Vick will be welcomed into the UFL, Huyghue would not address the situations of Plaxico Burress, Donte' Stallworth or other NFL players with legal problems.
"Every player will have to be unique and different," he said.
Green reiterated there have been no UFL discussions about those players, and he emphasized the UFL will not be an outlaw league.
"We don't want to be known as a league where if guys are in trouble, that is where you go," Green said.
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I think our priorities are *just* a bit screwed up.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Only a few months away from beginning his U.S. football league's inaugural season, the United Football League's commissioner is already talking about overseas expansion.
The UFL, set to begin play in October with four teams competing in seven cities, is eyeing teams in Europe for next year or the year after, Commissioner Michael Huyghue said.
"Foreign expansion for UFL very likely for year two or three," he wrote in a Tuesday post on Twitter, a fast-growing micro-blogging service. "Some fantastic soccer stadiums that would work perfectly."
UFL spokeswoman Rachel Gary confirmed Huyghue's comments and that he is in Europe. She said the UFL is looking at expansion both overseas and in the United States over the next two years.
Huyghue previously said the league will expand by at least two to four teams in 2010, and the UFL has discussed putting a team in Mexico.
Huyghue, who wrote he had visited London, Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin and was on his way to Barcelona, Madrid and Italy, said there was strong interest in American football despite the failure of the National Football League's European league.
The NFL, which has played regular-season games in Mexico and England, launched an American football league in Europe in 1991 but closed it in 2007.
The UFL in February announced plans to kick off its inaugural season with a smaller slate of teams -- it had initially targeted six to eight teams -- due to the U.S. recession.
Investors in the UFL include W.R. Hambrecht + Co CEO William Hambrecht; the former head of First Boston Corp, William Mayer; Google executive Tim Armstrong, and Paul Pelosi, the husband of Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The UFL is the latest in a series of leagues to compete against the NFL since the 1970s. Its predecessors -- the World Football League, the United States Football League and, most recently, the XFL -- all failed.
However, Huyghue and UFL officials have vowed not to overspend or set unrealistic expectations -- mistakes of past NFL rivals. Huyghue has said the UFL will complement the NFL and not try to compete for top players.
UFL games will air on Versus, a network owned by Comcast, and will take place primarily on Thursday evenings. The season will end with a championship game over Thanksgiving weekend in Las Vegas.
The initial UFL teams are in New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Orlando, Florida, although the first three clubs also will play individual games in Hartford, Connecticut, Los Angeles and Sacramento, California, respectively.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Steve Orlofsky
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<< <i>Vick kills some dogs which is a terrible thing, but gets 2+ years in jail and loses everything, and is widely reviled as the most hated player in the NFL. Dante Stallworth, while drunk at 7am, kills a guy with his $300,000 car, gets a month in jail, and nobody cares.
I think our priorities are *just* a bit screwed up. >>
i dont think know one cares but yeah seems a bit off....but unlike vick he did not mean to kill anyone...sarcastic smile...
looking for low grade t205's psa 1-2
I think our priorities are *just* a bit screwed up.
What Vick did and did for an extended period of time, was vicious, cruel and inhumane. Stallworth, on the other hand, certainly didn't intend to hurt anyone and though his sentence was quite light, it was approved by the victim's family due to a financial settlement, so they obviously signed off on it. You can't compare the two cases, IMO..
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
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R.I.P. Barstow 24 April 1999 - May 15 2009
<<< he initial UFL teams are in New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Orlando >>>
First mistake among many...no regional rivalries here to stimulate fan interest. They would have been much better off say starting with all their teams on the East Coast or some other geographical area, and then expanding from there...that would have also reduced travel expenses, etc.
And even mentioning signing a "pariah" such as Michael Vick - just pathetic beyond belief.
Better hurry, this league has about as much of a chance of lasting as the XFL..
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
If he wants to have another chance give up football and spend the rest of his life working to help
animals from people like himself.
Thank you and have a nice day.
James
Unbelievable that that is the case...
Unbelievable that that is the case...
I'd doubt any drunk driver gets behind the wheel "intending" to hurt anyone...I'm not saying that a drunk driver who kills someone while driving drunk should not be held responsible for his or her actions, but it's inappropriate to compare dogfighting and drunk driving, IMO...not even sure why you'd want to do so in the first place...
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Everyone's priorities in both cases are way, way, way out of whack.
That being said Vick has more than served his debt to society, he's working with the humane society to bring to light the wrongness of abusing animals, and he's as deserving as anyone of a second chance.
Are you saying that Vick did not deserve to go to jail for what he did?
If so, I'd say that it's your prioriries that are "out of whack."
Yes, Vick will undoubtedly get a second chance, but that doesn't mean that she should not be reviled for the sickening acts he committed.
Obviously, you never had a pet dog, either, or as suggested above, maybe you're holding on to a hoard of Vick RCs that you're hoping to unload.
Either way, Vick was and is a slimeball dirtbag...
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Hes doing all this because hes BROKE!.I hope he never plays again.
And not get another chance? Really? Since when did we become a society of people totally and completely unforgiving?
As I am.
People act like Vick was Peyton Manning or something. He was basically mediocre as a starter and was way to inconsistent to be considerred top flight QB.
His career was already going downhill before the incident.
<< <i>I doubt Stallworth ever plays again in the NFL where Vick could just nobody wants him to play for them.
People act like Vick was Peyton Manning or something. He was basically mediocre as a starter and was way to inconsistent to be considerred top flight QB.
His career was already going downhill before the incident. >>
Revisionist history at its finest. Nobody ever stated he was Manning, but he was the best athlete in the NFL and was a successful QB before the jailtime. To suggest, however, that 'nobody' will want him to play for them is wishful thinking...he'll have more than one team competing for his services when he comes back. He may not come back as a QB, but I could easily see his returning as a RB/WR, especially given how many teams will be implementing the 'Wildcat' offense that Miami saw such success with last year.
I don't see Vick missing the entire year this year. He's already effectively served a 2 year suspension, so I could see a 4 or 8 game suspension all he sees this year.
BTW, Hello, Axtell...
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
So I'm watching the Redwoods of California v the Cho-Cho Trains hailing from Las Vegas on VERSUS.
Uh... It's football and... Good background noise and.... They interview players, during the game, on the sidelines.
Yup.