Narcing On Michael Vick And His Fruity Alcoholic Beverage

Vick was recently spotted sipping a fruity and legal adult beverage, a non-story in any league that isn't run by a guy who thinks he's Father Flanagan in Boys Town, which is to say, any league but Roger Goodell's NFL.

A brief summary, for those of you not up on your Pro Football Talk: A couple weeks ago, the New York Post spotted Vick nursing a Grey Goose and pineapple shortly after his first workout with the Eagles. Mike Florio pounced, noting that the terms of Vick's reinstatement prohibit the use of drugs and alcohol. This occasioned the Eagles' response yesterday in which they denied that Vick had violated his probation. No matter. People tsk-tsked anyway. "Michael, you can't do that," his mentor, Tony Dungy, told him. And here came Florio, waving around the royal "we" like some sort of sceptre:

Still, at a time when Vick is expected to be "proactive" in his off-field pursuits, we think Vick is taking a huge risk by drinking any alcohol — especially since Eagles owner Jeff Lurie has made it clear that the decision to give Vick a second chance could potentially be reversed at any time.

I don't know what Vick's reinstatement has to do with drinking alcohol, much less fruity adult beverages. Nor do I know what risk a fruity adult beverage might pose, except to Vick's reputation in some quarters as a man perhaps not given to fruity adult beverages. But this is Roger Goodell's NFL. And the fact that this rose to the level of a story in the first place is testimony to Goodell's influence on the culture of the league. This is the same NFL that once upon a time gave us Bachelors III, Raider "Camaraderie," Peter Gent, Semi-Tough and Michael Irvin snorting the Medellin cartel off a stripper's tits, but now is so fully imbued with the infantilizing spirit of its commissioner that a lone vodka and pineapple is deemed, even by normally sensible outsiders, a "huge risk." It's a league of narcs now.

Has Vick already violated the terms of his reinstatement? [PFT] Eagles respond to Grey Goose report [PFT] Eagles respond to Vick alcohol report [Philadelphia Inquirer]