The Michael Vick Experience

I thought I should start at the beginning and go back to the moment where sports became the love of my life. It was the first game of Virginia Tech's football season in 1999. My grandfather told me as we walking to our seats we had a new quarterback that season and he was supposed to be pretty good. Turns out Papa Bill read the right scouting report. We played James Madison University and it was a beautiful day in Blacksburg.

The only play from that game I remember is when the quarterback scrambled right and met a couple defenders a yard or two from the end zone. The quarterback decides to leap over the defenders and was upended, cutting a flip in the air. When he landed he came down awkwardly on his ankles but he was in the end zone and scored the touchdown. That play was the beginning of the Michael Vick era at Virginia Tech.

The moment occurred with seven minutes to go in the second quarter and we would not see Vick play anymore that game but the excitement was already there. When we hear Vick's name now there are a lot of other moments that come to mind, sadly most don't have anything to do with sports. But all it took for me was 22 minutes of football and Michael Vick had me hooked.

That season would be a magical one in Blacksburg as the Hokies would go on to play in the National Championship, the only time in the program's history. There was the last second field goal against West Virginia and a 62-0 drubbing of 14th ranked Syracuse but for me the play I will always remember from 1999 is Michael Vick flipping over three JMU players to score a touchdown. All it took was that one moment and I was all in.

Here's the highlights of that game and if you cut to 3:26 you will see the play. Surprisingly, I remembered it correctly and my childhood imagination didn't make it five defenders and two flips.