By William M. Dowd
Consider the polar opposite lives of Vinny and Vick, a pair of professional football players separated by a lot more than their ages.
Vinny Testaverde will turn 44 next month and Michael Vick turned 27 in June. Testaverde probably will be throwing passes for the Carolina Panthers on Sunday while Vick spends his time trying to figure out how to pay back $20 million in bonuses to the Atlanta Falcons while he’s on suspension for at least the remainder of the season following a disgusting felony conviction involving dog fighting.
Testaverde attended high school down on Long Island and went on to college football fame at the University of Miami before embarking on a spectacularly long pro career that has put him on the rosters of Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Baltimore, New York Jets, Dallas, New England and now Carolina.
Along the way, he has run the gamut from rookie apprentice quarterback to starter to record-breaking superstar to veteran backup to the guy-you-call-anytime-you-need-a-brainy-player-who-stays-in-shape. Thus, it is no shock that when the Panthers lost their starting quarterback to a season-ending injury and their No. 2 man got badly banged up, they opted to go for Vinny as so many other teams have despite him being more than a decade beyond what is considered prime playing age for quarterbacks.
Over the years, Vinny has made a pile of money and is a multi-millionaire both from his football salary and from some very smart investments (Outback Steakhouses and other such things). He lives in palatial homes, like the one shown above that he recently put up for sale for $7 million. Playing football has become more of a hobby because he has nothing to prove and nothing to lose.
On the other hand, Vick — who is awaiting sentencing on his conviction and faces additional charges as well — chose to invest his money in a Virginia farm on which he and an assortment of goons ran a dog fighting facility where they trained animals to shred each other and where he helped his cohorts execute dogs that didn’t live up to their standards of ferocity. He has lost his primary job, his multi-million-dollar endorsement deals, his respectability (his old high school in Virginia had his jersey removed from a display case because of his legal situation), his millions of dollars, and a secure future. His next residence probably will cost a lot more than Vinny’s, but it will be a jail.
Very interesting what happens when two different people are presented with the same opportunities and make such wildly different choices.
Onetime First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was quoted as saying, “In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”
Nobel Prize-winning author Albert Camus put it more succinctly: “Life is a sum of all your choices.”
(Posted 10/11/07)
William M. Dowd is a Capital Region writer and photographer. He’ll help you keep up with information on food, drink and destinations at Taste for Travel and Dowd On Drinks.