MICHAEL VICK ORDERED TO PAY BACK $20 MILLION TO THE FALCONS; OLD JERSEY REMOVED FROM HIGH SCHOOL ALMA MATER

This has not been a good week for black athletes in the world of sports. First Marion Jones is ordered to return the 5 Olympic medals she fraudulently received while ingesting performance enhancement drugs and now an arbitrator has made a ruling ordering disgraced Atlanta Falcon quarterback, Michael Vick, to pay back nearly $20 million of his bonus money in which they claim he used to secretly bankroll his gruesome dogfighting ring.

The players' union vowed to appeal. Stephen B. Burbank, the University of Pennsylvania law professor and special master who led last week's arbitration hearing, sided with the team after hearing from Falcons president and general manager Rich McKay and attorneys from the NFL Players Association, which represented Vick. The Falcons argued that Vick, who pleaded guilty to federal charges for his role in a long-running dog fighting operation, knew he was in violation of the contract when he signed a $130 million deal in December 2004. The team said he used proceeds from the contract to fund his illicit activities and sought the repayment of $19,970,000 in bonuses he was paid out of a total of $22.5 million in 2005 and '06.

Vick was suspended indefinitely without pay by the NFL after entering into his plea agreement. He also lost millions in lucrative endorsement deals.

In related news, Vick's old jersey has been removed from his high school's trophy case because of his conviction on a federal dogfighting charge.
The suspended NFL quarterback played for two seasons at Warwick High School from 1996-97 before going on to stardom Virginia Tech and being drafted first overall by the Atlanta Falcons in 2001. Michelle Price, a spokeswoman for the Newport News Public Schools, said Warwick High School principal Varinda Robinson decided to take the jersey down shortly after Vick entered his plea.

"It stayed up through the allegations, but they did decide to take it down once he admitted some guilt," Price said. She said school officials received no outside pressure to remove the jersey, deciding on their own that "it was the right thing to do. I don't think it's caused any controversy," she said.

Price doubted the jersey would be returned to the trophy case.