A bizarre story happened in the sports world this past week. It was reported that Michael Vick, the star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, was trying to use the alias “Ron Mexico” to get test results from a doctor because a woman is suing him, claiming he knowingly infected her with herpes.
The NFL also announced they were going to block orders from Falcons fans wanting to personalize a number seven Falcons jersey with the name “Mexico” on the back. Another story recently happened where a former college professor of New England Patriots’s defensive back Randall Gay, wanted to order a Patriots jersey from the NFL’s online store with the last name “Gay” on the back of the jersey. The NFL originally said that this would not be allowed, but recently announced that this name will be a word that people can order as a personalized name on the back of a football jersey.
This exemplifies the behavior that some professional athletes are taking on these days. There are some good, modest, professional athletes out there.
However, you’re always going to get some bad behavior that comes from some fans. Vick’s younger brother is Marcus Vick, the starting quarterback for the Virginia Tech Hokies. University officials suspended him all of last season when he was charged with a misdemeanor for providing alcohol to two underage females.
The Vick boys have definitely had their fair share of brushes with the law.
Wouldn’t you know that somehow someone found the real Ron Mexico, the alias that Vick was using. Ron Mexico is a blue-collar guy who lives in Michigan and operates an auto parts supplier shop. It has got to be a living hell for this guy right now. Can you imagine the phone calls and interview requests he is receiving right now?
For being the No. 1 sports league in America, the NFL has had some bad athlete behavior in the past couple of years but does a good job of policing this behavior.
From Joe Horn’s cell phone touchdown celebration to Randy Moss’ “mooning” incident, these players have received their fines and Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has made it public that this type of behavior will not be tolerated. This league has done the best job of using the substance abuse policy rules and used this effectively. It will be interesting to see if and when he brings any fine against Vick, but it is highly unlikely because this is a case of something happening far from the NFL gridiron.
Even though “Mexico” is a banned name, Falcons fans can use the old technique of using masking tape and a Sharpie and making the name “Mexico” appear on the back of a number seven Atlanta Falcons jersey.
