Vick's $100 million contract with Eagles a puzzler

When I first heard about Michael Vick's $100 million contract, I had a simple, one-word reaction.

"Really?"

I knew that Vick was cemented as the Eagles quarterback and with that he had become the face of the franchise, and that the front office all along had been working on a long-term deal.

But $100 million? That was stunning. As The Inquirer pointed out in a box on the front sports page last Tuesday, Vick's average yearly payout over the life of that contract places him second behind only Peyton Manning in quarterback salary rank and ahead of Tom Brady.

Yeah, I know the last year of the contract is likely to be voided based on the amount of snaps Vick takes in the first three years of the contract, and hence its total worth is more like $80 million. And only something like $40 million is guaranteed to Vick, and the Eagles can always cut him after two or three years of the deal. Blah, blah, blah.

The bottom line is that this is a plateau contract, and in giving it the Eagles are telling the world that Michael Vick, whom I rank right now as the eighth-best quarterback in the league, is worth almost as much as Peyton Manning and more than Tom Brady. And that is way out of whack.

It's a compelling and interesting redemption story. Former Pro Bowl player goes to prison for a heinous act and puts his professional football life in jeopardy. Finances in total ruin, he emerges from behind the steel bars to find his athletic abilities have atrophied. He gets his edge back little by little, is thrust into a game where he wows the entire league and turns the previous starter into trade bait, and thus winds up with a $100 million contract.

But you don't get paid for redemption stories. You get paid for accomplishment. And Michael Vick simply doesn't have enough accomplishment in the second phase of his career to get that kind of cheese.

In fact, to be fair, you would have to say that at the time of this new contract, he is trending a little down. After taking over in Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers, Vick had a passer rating of 101 or more in four of his first six games. Over his last six, Vick had only one game with a passer rating of 100 or more. He was mediocre against the New York Giants until that bombastic fourth quarter, and horrendous against the Minnesota Vikings the following week at home, where he actually seemed to regress to his old ways in nonrecognition of defensive schemes and blitzes. Against the Packers in the playoffs, his passer rating was a less-than-dazzling 79.9, made to look worse by the pass-from-hell to Riley Cooper.

By giving him this kind of contract, the Eagles are banking that Vick's best days are still ahead. And that very well could be the case. Even at 31, Michael Vick is still evolving. He is still learning to play the quarterback position in a more conventional vein, helped by a willingness to study more film and allowing himself to be coached by experts. And I really like the guy as a player.

But this $100 million thing? History suggests that it could be a curse. Before Vick, seven quarterbacks in NFL history had hit the $100 million jackpot in a long-term deal: in chronological order, Brett Favre, Drew Bledsoe, Donovan McNabb, Daunte Culpepper, Vick (in phase one with Falcons), Carson Palmer, and Ben Roethlisberger. Only two - Roethlisberger, who won a Super Bowl after the contract, and (maybe) McNabb, who got to a Super Bowl - can boast justification to that payout.

For the folks who tell me that Vick's worth can't be measured just in his statistics to this point and that his marketability and his ability to recruit other players has to go into the equation, I have retorts. There is merchandise revenue sharing in the NFL. The Eagles don't make any extra money because kids in the Philadelphia area are stocking up on No. 7 jerseys. Yes, more people might flock to their television screens to watch Vick play for the Eagles. But the networks have already paid out their rights fees and they're the only ones making advertising money on Vick, not the Eagles - save for maybe a couple of preseason games. You want a guy who recruits players, then go hire John Calipari's assistants.

My sources tell me that the Eagles really wanted to pay Michael Vick a maximum of about $13 million in yearly average on a new contract. The quarterback must have a heck of an agent.

The unwritten rules of baseball came into play last week in the Red Sox-Yankees series. Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli hit a Fenway Park home run to left field off John Lackey, and when he touched home plate he clapped hard in celebration, right in front of Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Lackey noticed.

So the next time Cervelli came up, Lackey planted a fastball in his back.

I love it. That's why baseball is such a great game - it polices itself.

Many fans seem to be confused by the unwritten rules of baseball. But the tenets are really simple: Don't disrespect the game by doing something obnoxious and don't disrespect the opponent by trying to show him up.

I mean, you can break it down further than that.

Don't pose at the plate after you hit a home run. Don't bunt to break up a no-hitter (unless it's maybe a one- or two-run game and bunting is part of your thing). Don't steal a base when it's late in the game and your team has at least a six-run lead. Don't plow into a catcher if he doesn't have the ball, unless he's blocking the plate. I can go on forever.

But I'm also starting to think that there should be some unwritten rules published on things that go on at the ballpark away from the field. Such as this:

Keep your hands and arms out of the field of play when a ball is headed your way.

What are we talking about here, chasing gold bullion? I understand you'd like to get a souvenir baseball for your kid. But you are interfering with the game! What's it going to take, teams installing an invisible fence that gives people a shock if they reach into the field of play during a live play, like people do with their backyard for their dogs? Players give away balls these days like penny candy from a parade. Eventually, you'll get one.

Stop throwing opponents' home runs back on the field.

It's not our tradition. It's stolen from Wrigley Field. Have a little dignity. And stop with the peer pressure to force the guy who catches the homer to throw it back.

No one over 18 should bring a glove to a game.

I don't care if you have a seat in the first row. It just looks bad. Man up and snatch that bullet with your bare hands.