Goodbye, Philadelphia: My Eagles Fandom Is Done

"A prominent member of the Philadelphia Eagles walked away from the organization on Saturday just days after the team announced the controversial signing of Michael Vick. Eagles brass had no comment on the departure."—Philadelphia News Herald

Okay, so there is no Philadelphia News Herald and that quote is entirely fictitious.  But the Eagles have definitely experienced a significant pre-season loss, and, no, I'm not talking about middle linebacker Stewart Bradley's season-ending knee injury.  The loss to which I am referring is me—a passionate, die-hard fan who is turning his back on the organization after the signing of Michael Vick.

I am declaring myself a free agent football fan.

The rationale is quite simply really—I can't stomach Vick.  To clarify, I am all for forgiveness and redemption.  I am in complete agreement that Vick served his time, his punishment was more than generous, and he surprised me by seeming genuinely remorseful in his 60 Minutes interview.  There is no doubt he has earned the right to compete again the NFL.  Just not on my team.

As an Eagles fan I have stomached numerous signings (Terrell Owens, 2004) and firings (Brian Dawkins, 2009) over the years.  My loyalty never wavered. 

But with Vick, it's something else—we're talking about a man who not just killed dogs, but took pleasure in doing so.  A man who enjoyed it so much he developed a business around it.  So when I was taking my dog out for our daily hike just after learning of the signing, I realized I simply could never bring myself to cheer for Vick.

It's not possible, no matter the circumstance…

"The Eagles just needing another 15 yards to get into a comfortable range for Akers to try and send this game into overtime."

"Troy, we could very well be looking at the first overtime in Super Bowl history."

"Well hang on there Joe, ever since Donovan left the game late in the third this has been a different Eagles team with Vick in the pocket.  I know they only have 22 seconds left, but Andy Reid has two timeouts left and it's conceivable they could get off two quick plays."

"Third down and two yards to go as the Eagles are making up ground in a hurry, crossing the Patriots midfield.  Vick hurries his team to the line and takes the snap.  Flushed out of the pocket as Burgess penetrates the Eagles' backfield from the strong side and Vick is racing toward the sideline.

"Joe, he's out of the pocket now and he's just got to dump this one off and reset. His receivers are blanketed out there."

"And it looks like Vick is going to do just that, stepping out of bounds near the line of scrim—oh wait!  Vick spun off the outside shoulder of Richard Seymour, and has tucked the ball and makes a break down field!  Cutting back toward the middle field, he's sidestepping his way around trying to create some separation.  And, oh my God, he just hurdled over Jered Mayo!"

"Whooo-eyyy Joe, that was one heckuva move!"

"Vick has picked up some blockers and he's closing in on the red zone.  Jackson has Tank Williams all tangled up and it looks like Vick is going to score!  At the five, three…"

Click.

Can't do it. It's just not going to work out Philly.  Here's my playbook Andy.  I'm moving on.