Open Court: Revisionist history

Things were much different in 1999.

The Virginia Tech Hokies were the talk of the college football world, running up a remarkable 11-0 record behind their physically gifted freshman quarterback.

This kid from Virginia’s rough Ridley Circle housing projects could do things on a football field that were once thought to be impossible.

Around the Blacksburg, Va. campus, stories about this kid’s athletic prowess had grown into Paul Bunyan-esque proportions.

To many Hokie fans, it seemed reasonable that this kid could throw a football from goal post to goal post, or even out-run a gazelle.

There were no limits when discussing this quarterback’s potential, only possibilities.

He burst onto the national scene on Jan. 4, 2000, when he led his underdog Hokies into battle against the Florida State Seminoles.

Even though the athletically superior Seminoles held on for a 46-29 victory, this quarterback somehow engineered a 21-point comeback in the second half and gave his team a brief lead over Florida State’s indestructable football machine.

As this fleet-footed phenom sliced and diced the vaunted Seminoles defense, every college football fan was seeing a rebirth in the quarterback position.

His on-field exploits earned him the No. 1 pick in the 2001 NFL draft, where the Atlanta Falcons traded a sizable bounty in order to lock up this potential franchise-defining player.

He paid immediate dividens, turning a dead-in-the-water Atlanta squad into one of the NFL’s most exciting television attractions.

He took over at Atlanta’s full-time starter in 2002 and took the league by storm. He emerged into a bona fide MVP candidate, passing for 2,936 yards and rushing for 777 more.

On Jan. 1, 2003, all of the promise, potential and expectations were realized on the sport’s most hallowed ground—the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.

Nobody had ever beaten the Green Bay Packers in a playoff game in Lambeau. It simply didn’t happen. The spirits of Lombardi, Starr and Nitschke protected the Packers’ best interest while the franchise’s current mythological figure—Brett Favre—proudly carried the Lambeau torch.

However, history doesn’t matter when evolution takes place before your eyes.

When the clock read triple zero, the scoreboard read Atlanta 27, Green Bay 7.

This young quarterback did the unthinkable. He went into Lambeau Field and brought the place to its knees.

The young kid with other-worldly athletic ability had now turned into the face of the NFL. Sporting goods stores couldn’t keep his No. 7 jerseys in stock. The popular Madden video game series chose him as their cover athlete.

Atlanta sports fans had a new icon. He brought the area so much joy in such a short span.

Now, sadly, those memories are worthless.

Tomorrow, this young phenom with a world of potential will enter his guilty plea for funding a dogfighting ring.

The crimes are so heinous that they taint all of the wonderful memories sports fans have attached to this young man’s athletic accomplishments.

The prime example of this scenario remains Buffalo Bills’ fans dealing with the sordid O.J. Simpson saga.

The list doesn’t end there. Stars like Pete Rose, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and countless others have forced fans to alter their previous positive memories and reconcile them with a harsh reality.

These stories sadly overshadow all of the wonderful professional athletes we have the priviledge of watching.

If you wonder why the average sports fan is so detached and cynical, look no further than the Michael Vick situation.

nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747