I’m not a big fan of conspiracy theories.  I mean, I loved X-Files back in the day, but that’s really the extent of it.

However, after watching what has transpired with the Philadelphia Eagles the past two weeks, I have a conspiracy theory of my own.

In the last offseason, the Eagles traded Donovan McNabb, an all-time great quarterback and possible Hall of Famer, to their hated division rivals, the Washington Redskins.

At the time, the organization said that young Kevin Kolb was their QB of the future and the future was now.  A statement like that is exhilerating and frightening all at once – trading your present to clear way for your future.

Michael Vick, the former face of the league just one year removed from a prison term for dogfighting (discussed on this blog here, here, here and here) was named the backup, with no training camp competition.

That’s a STRONG statement, with the unproven kid given the keys to the proverbial kingdom and a long leash.

Just 10 passes into the season, Kolb sustained a concussion and Vick filled in admirably.  When symptoms forced Kolb out of their Week 2 game, Vick got the start and performed very well.

A few days later, Eagles coach Andy Reid, known as one of the most stubborn coaches in the league, pulled an about-face and announced Vick as the permanent starting QB from here on out.

Say WHAT?

If Kolb was the reason you traded your franchise QB, you let him play as long as he’s healthy.

Which got me thinking: Was Michael Vick ALWAYS the #1 QB on this team?

Was Kevin Kolb a PR smokescreen from the beginning?  Was he set up to fail, allowing Reid to insert Vick into the starting lineup, PR fiasco-free?

Eagles fans would be clamoring for Vick after Kolb didn’t perform.  And nothing Kolb has ever done would lean one to believe he WOULD perform.

So, the question is: Do you think an NFL head coach would not put out his best players for one week in order to start a convicted felon?  Do you think this was a shrewd PR move?

Last week, when NBA superstar LeBron James decided to bolt Cleveland to join the Miami Heat, I, along with many others, compared it to Hulk Hogan turning evil and joining the NWO.

That got me thinking about other notable “heel turns.”  In wrestling terms, when a good guy goes EVIL, it’s called a heel turn, referencing inside labels for good guys (babyfaces) and bad guys (heels).

So what constitutes a turn?

Well, it’s usually easy to pinpoint the moment where the person does something heinous or a revelation about them emerges which drastically changes our perception of them.  Someone that has always been controversial or had wide-spread negative perceptions surrounding them doesn’t qualify.  Basically, lifelong jerks don’t count.  A heel turn is a fall from grace that is difficult to ever recover from.

With that said, I present to you the Top 5 Real Life Sports “Heel Turns:”

Honorable Mentions: Jack McDowell flipping the bird to Yankee Stadium, Lance Armstrong splitting with Sheryl Crow during her cancer treatment (I mean…REALLY?????), Roberto Alomar spitting on umpire John Hirschbeck

#5 – Michael Vick Bankrolls Dogfighting Operation: Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick

was arguable the most electrifying player in the NFL.  His unorthodox style kept fans on the edge of their seat – would he throw a touchdown or get sacked for a 30-yard loss?  Both outcomes happened quite often, but everyone wanted to watch.  He played the position like millions of video game players manipulated their controllers.

He was the face of his franchise, one of the most marketable players in the league.  Under his direction, the Falcons became a premiere team in the league.  Their signature win came on January 1, 2003, when Vick and the birds upset heavily-favored Green Bay at storied Lambeau Field in the playoffs, the Packers’ first home playoff loss ever.

While his demeanor soured slowly as the team struggled, the summer of 2007 was when he went full-blown heel.  That summer, evidence of Vick bankrolling a large dogfighting ring, with harsh imagery from rape stands to drownings to hangings, blew up…and so did his career.  Vick went to jail, and while he has returned to the league, his reputation is irreparable. (Note: I previously discussed Michael Vick here)

#4 – Rafael Palmeiro Wags His Guilty Finger: There are several ways to get into a sport’s

Hall of Fame.  Be GREAT…or be REALLY GOOD for a long time.  Baseball star Rafael Palmeiro, sitting on nearly two decades of REALLY GOOD, was finishing out his career, with a ticket seemingly punched for Cooperstown, NY.

There are, however, ways to block your own induction to the Hall of Fame.  Embarrassing yourself and your sport in front of Congress is pretty decent way to do just that.

Testifying under oath on March 17, 2005, Palmeiro swore to Congress he had never done steroids, famously wagging his finger at them, almost shaming them for even considering that fact.

That August, Palmeiro tested positive for the steroid stanozolol.  He was immediately suspended for 10 games.  While he was reinstated after serving his time, the one-time champion of goodness became a poster boy for all that was wrong with the game at the time.  The Congressional nature of his case brings his lying to a higher level.  Now, the only way he will see the Hall of Fame is with a ticket…if they even let him in.

#3 – Ray Lewis, Murder and Redemption: By January 31, 2000, Baltimore Ravens linebacker

Ray Lewis was entering the prime of his career.  He had already been named to two All Pro Team, led the NFL in tackles and was seen as an emerging leader of the premier defense in the league.  His popularity became national, as his hard, aggressive style of play endeared himself to all gridiron fans.

However, that night, everything changed.  While the exact events remain a mystery, here is what we know: Lewis was involved in a back alley fight, which led to the stabbing deaths of two men on the opposite side.  Lewis was charged with murder, and the image of a top athlete sitting in his trial every day wearing prison jumpsuits was prevalent.

At the end of the day, Lewis agreed to take a lesser charge to testify against his co-defendants.  The NFL fined Lewis $250,000 and his image was in tatters.

I included Lewis in this list because of how shocking the image was: one of the most popular players in his league charged with murder.

However, also to be mentioned is how Lewis found redemption.  A decade of distance from the murder, Lewis has shown remorse for his involvement, dedicated himself to community service and mentoring young players in the league, trying to make sure nobody makes the mistakes he did.

He has become a “spiritual leader” of the Ravens and the NFL – a weathered warrior who has seen the worst and emerged from it a better man.  So while his heel turn was shocking, his return to good graces has been inspiring.

#2 – Tiger Woods Likes The Ladies: LeBron James wants to be a global brand…Tiger Woods

IS.   He dominated with PGA Tour for more than a decade, taking the game to greater popularity than ever before.  A man bred to win at golf, Tiger’s focus, fitness and precision were legendary.  Part marketing play and part psychological ploy, if you saw Tiger wearing red on Sunday, you knew he was winning.

He endorsed top-flight brands and products and it all made sense – he was top-flight.  He was a family man, living the perfect life.

On November 25, 2009, a report came out of Tiger being in a single-car crash late at night in his gated community in Florida.  Which led to a report of a mistress.  Which opened the floodgates.

Women upon women upon women came forward claiming to have had sexual relationships with Tiger Woods.  And he didn’t deny it!  Because there wasn’t anything to deny.

And it was over.  His run at the top of the sport – as it’s best player, biggest star and most popular competitor, the scads of rich endorsement contracts, the life people dream of…all of it, gone.  Tiger walked away from golf for several months, a tense time of supposed rehab for his addiction and trying to repair his marriage.

While he has returned to golf and kept some sponsorships, he is no longer THE golfer.  His life is in shambles and the man who cherished his privacy is forced to see the world watch it.

#1 – OJ Simpson and The White Bronco: Hall of Famer football player and successful actor

and commentator OJ Simpson did it right.  After an illustrious playing career, he successfully moved on to other arenas.  He was not a national treasure (like, say, Mike Ditka or Betty White), but he was respected and recognized everywhere.

His ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend Ron Goldman, were found dead at their home on June 12, 1994.  Five days later, Simpson, the prime suspect, was involved an in infamous low-speed car chase.  Police chased a white Bronco SUV for hours around Los Angeles.  The footage interrupted the NBA championship and began a national obsession with the case.

Finally apprehended, Simpson’s trial gripped people coast-to-coast.  The former Heisman Trophy winner’s court battle touched a nerve with people, headlines, ratings, dinner-table discussions and workplace arguments.

The announcement of the verdict sits as one of those “you always remember where you were” moments, along with 9/11 and JFK’s assassination.  And despite his acquittal, Simpson remains a villain in pop culture…and the legal system.  He is currently serving nearly a decade of jail time on numerous felonies, including armed robbery and kidnapping.

What other real life sports heel turns would you include?

(Note: As promised on Twitter Wednesday afternoon, I am blogging following a very successful blackjack session in Las Vegas!  What?  A little table time after my CES work is complete is allowed!)

It is not unprecedented in any way for a star athlete to face off-the-court troubles.  And it’s not so shocking if those troubles involve the legal system.

As I’m sure you are aware of, Washington Wizards superstar Gilbert Arenas has been suspended indefinitely by NBA Commissioner David Stern following a horrible choice and even worse follow-up decisions.

The story linked above has a good run-down of the timeline, so I won’t go into details on everything, but here’s the

via: http://www.flickr.com/photos/notionscapital

main points:

Arenas lives in Virginia.  Following the recent birth of a child, he brought his guns to the Verizon Center.  The Verizon Center is in Washington, DC.  That makes the guns unregistered.  Bad decision.

Teammate Jarvaris Crittendon asked Gilbert to pay him money won in a gambling circumstance.  Gilbert left four guns in his teammate’s locker – as a joke.  Even worse decision.

Before Tuesday night’s game in Philadelphia, Gilbert pretended to shoot his teammates in a pregame huddle.

Wednesday morning, he is suspended without pay – with no end date.  That’s a cool $140,000+ per each game missed.

Gilbert has said that he didn’t think he did anything wrong.

I am NOT about to debate the 2nd Amendment.  Not happening in this forum.  However, Gilbert’s response was eerily similar to the chorus of defenders who said they didn’t find dogkilling all that offensive.

To me, it boils down to a very simple fact: in our democratic government, elected officials pass laws for their jurisdiction that all citizens must abide by, or face penalties.  If you don’t like said laws, you can petition to have them repealed, or just simply work to replace the official at the next election.

Not agreeing with the law is no defense when you break it.

So what happens next?  With the possibility of jail looming, his career on hold and his image in tatters, what’s going to happen with Gilbert Arenas?  If you were giving him advice, what would you say?

As we discussed a few weeks ago, convicted (and punished) dog killer Michael Vick was rightly reinstated by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.  He committed a crime and he served his sentance.

My main point was that if he found work as a custodian, nobody would care.  But the act that he is on track to resume a lucrative career, that’s where people have issues.  And they aren’t wrong.  I agree with them that it stinks, but it’s also the way the system we ALL live in works.

It all became more real last night as the Phildelphia Eagles announced (during their preseason game, no less) that they had signed the maligned player to a 2-year deal (one year with an option attached).

Can the newest Eagle fly?

I’m very curious to see where this heads.  Just because he has signed with a team doesn’t gurantee anything.  NFL contracts are basically fortune cookies that you can open with excitement one moment and find how worthless they are the next.

Philly has an established starter in veteran Donovan McNabb, so maybe it is the perfect place for Vick to prove to the world how much he wants to be back in the NFL.  If he can put his ego aside and hold the clipboard for a year or two, he may get his chance at leading a team again.

I think he has paid his debt to society and now a private company thinks he can be an asset to them.  As long as the legal system doesn’t forbid him and the team from working together, there is really nothing that can be done about it.

What do you think about Vick’s signing?

Countless reports have flooded the Internet today that the NFL will conditionally reinstate Michael Vick.

Before I get into analysis, let me get my biases out of the way:

Me and Balki last year.

1) I am a passionate Baltimore Ravens fan.  

2) I have supported Ray Lewis is his return to the playing field after his murder trial.

3) I own a dog I love as much as I love any person (family and family-in-law-to-be not included!)

4) I am not a vegetarian, nor am I am avid animal rights supporter (not that I don’t support the cause, but I don’t give up my Saturdays to picket)

So there is where I am coming from.

Now let’s get to where I am going.

Michael Vick, not to long ago, was a premier NFL superstar.  He led the Atlanta Falcons to the postseason.  He dazzled on the field, combining arm strength and running acumen to apparently become a prototype for the new generation of quarterbacks.  He starred in countless commercials, banking at the endorsement pay window.

After being convicted of various charges stemming from bankrolling an illegal dog fighting operation, including killing numerous dogs, he served his debt to society, splitting his time between jail and prohibitive house arrest.  This past week, he officially finished his sentence and was released from the legal system (albeit with probation).

He applied for reinstatement to the NFL, so he could resume his once-promising career.  His “boss,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, will apparently allow him back in the league, with some conditions, such as a minimum 4 game suspension.  The exact details should be released soon, but the bottom line is that if he signs with a team, he’s back in.

I am not going to discuss the PR nightmare that would go along with any team willing to sign him.  

I want to discuss whether the league should have let him back in.

In two words: Sadly, yes.

The major issue here is not that Vick should be prohibited from resuming his career.  The issue is that his chosen career carries a six-figure minimum salary.  Even if he sits on the sideline all year long, he will earn more than the average American.

Let’s just say he found work as a nighttime custodian, an honest line of work.  I don’t think anyone would have any problems with him taking that job.  In that career, he would work hard for his pay, and see every day what he cost himself.

However, he’s an NFL player.  

Playing in the NFL is not a “right.”  It is a merit-based league.  If you can play better than other people, you should be in the league, just like any other career.  If you continue to play better, you’ll get a raise, just like any other career.  It just so happens that his job plays out in front of nearly 100,000 fans in attendance and millions watching across several broadcast and cable networks each week.  A team will sign him and he most likely will play this year.

At the end of the day, even though he was convicted of his crimes, he served his sentence and deserves the chance to make a living.  I don’t like that he can go from prison to the penthouse so quickly, but that is his legal right and I will defend that right to the fullest.

Once again, a star athlete has let us down.

Nashville police have officially ruled that Steve McNair’s 20-year old mistress shot the retired QB in his sleep, then turned the gun on himself.

As a lifelong wrestling fan, part of me exhaled that McNair was the murdered part of the equation, unlike Chris Benoit.

In this case, McNair was cheating on his wife and his mistress, amid financial problems, thought he had another woman in his life.  Let me get this straight. McNair is married to Wife (with four kids, by the way).  He has been dating Mistress #1 (just 20 years old, by the way).  Wife knows nothing of Mistress #1. Mistress #1 suspects that there is Mistress #2 (who has not stepped forward, by the way).  In her over-stressed state, she decided not only is her life not worth living, but that she was going to take McNair with her.  

However, we continue to have celebrities and athletes disappoint us with their unfortunate humanity.

Over at CBSSports.com, Mike Freeman has compiled lists of both groups of people who lied, cheated, stole and worse.

It’s staggering, the number of people we put on a pedestal that so often fail in the spotlight.

Just yesterday, we celebrated the life of Michael Jackson, a man who certainly had allegations swirling around him, though he was never convicted of any crime.

In this TMZ 24-hour news network world we live in where EVERYBODY is always “on,” and every detail of everything is eventually made public, I ask this question:

Are you still shocked???

There is very little that is actually shocking to me right now.  When public figures die, well, it was coming sooner or later, right?  When a famous person does something so illegal, so heinous, so immoral, well…playing the odds, you knew they’d snap eventually, right?  When your sports hero is openly derided for cheating, you had a hunch that something just wasn’t adding up, right?

Perhaps its because we have seen the worst things that can happen and we know that we can pull through.

Baby Boomers saw the President assassinated.  Gen Yers saw the World Trade Center fall.  Across the generations, we all know that life will, indeed, go on.

We’ve seen Magic Johnson diagnosed with AIDS.  We’ve seen Michael Vick convicted of murdering dogs.  We’ve seen more celebrity mug shots than we can count.

Does a retired QB getting some action on the side really make an impact?  Does the mistress turning into a murderess really make an impact?

Unfortunately, we are so desensitized as a society that this story will be replaced by something even more shocking in just a few days.

And while we, as fans and observers, can move on, the real victims are the families who will live with this situation for the rest of their lives.  A lying father. An unfaithful husband.  A suicidal daughter.  How can they trust anyone ever again?

No, I’m not shocked.  Just very, very sad.,