STRIKE ONE

From what I gather from watching the TV, the fact that I still think Michael Vick is a moderately detestable human being makes me downright un-American. From what I hear, forgiveness, and the giving of second chances, are American qualities we should all cherish. That my stomach churns a bit when I see Vick rocketed back to superstar, endorsement-worthy status only two years after his release from federal prison makes me kind of a dick, I guess. ...

But whatever. Call me Canadian. I'm all for second chances, and certainly believe Vick had every right to resume his professional football career after serving his sentence for fighting dogs to the death, but this idea that somehow the "right" thing to do is for us all to put his posters back up in our children's rooms and let Vick sell us shoes and nutritional bars is fucking silly.

I'm obviously in the minority. This week it was announced that Vick has inked yet another endorsement deal, adding to the list of products he's been hired to pitch since last year's comeback season. In addition to a renewed deal with Nike signed July 1, and one signed in January with Unequal Technologies (a company that specializes in football pads), Vick recently agreed to become an equity partner in Double Eagle Holdings, Ltd., the parent company of Fuse Science, Inc. - a producer of nutritional supplements and vitamins geared toward athletes.

"He's a changed man," Fuse Science CEO Adam Adler tells The Associated Press of Vick. "As part of that change, he's becoming a businessman and not just a football player."

Technically, bankrolling a massive dog fighting operation with your multi-million dollar NFL salary is kind of like being a businessman though. ...

STRIKE TWO

Demonstrating once again why none of us were smart enough to get in, the Ivy League announced this week that this coming season its eight football teams will be allowed only two full-contact practices a week, a decision based on the recommendations of a special committee on safety that is designed to put the Ivy League in a leadership role when it comes to player safety and reducing concussions in football. Currently, the NCAA allows five full-contact practices a week.

According to the Associated Press, the new Ivy League mandates, which take effect this season, will also limit contact workouts to one during preseason two-a-day workouts; place an increased emphasis on educating student-athletes on correct tackling and the signs and symptoms of concussion; and institute a more stringent post-game league review of helmet-to-helmet hits. The league says this includes the possibility of player suspensions during the season.

Needless to say, probably a smart call. Will the new rules make Ivy League football less exciting?

Probably not. We're talking about Ivy League football here.

STRIKE THREE

I'll level with you. I rarely read comments from readers that show up online in response to the Cup Check column. It's not that I'm not appreciative of the readership - because I certainly am - it's just that Internet comment sections, in general, are some of the most vile and untasteful places on earth. I'm not sure where people who comment on the Internet come from, but it's an angry, misguided, typically poorly punctuated place.

All of that said, a comment popped up on last week's Cup Check that holds true, as much this week as it did last week.

""Three strikes," in a football column?! Might be funny if there WERE a strike, but it's a lockout," writes Jerry Parshall.

Technically, it's worth pointing out that Cup Check isn't just a football column. I try to incorporate all the major sports. With only the rarest of exceptions, wherever athletes have done something stupid - whatever sport that may be - I try to give it some ink.

Football players have just proven to be prolific in their stupidity.

Still, Parshall has a point. This week, like last, it's all football in Cup Check. This is partly due to it being a slow sports time of year, but just as much a result of my infatuation with the pigskin and growing excitement of the football season to come.

In response, and because sometimes a stupid sports story slips through the cracks, I'd like to officially invite readers of the Cup Check column to hit me up when they see a story worthy of these pages. E-mail me at mattd@weeklyvolcano.com with any content suggestions you might have. Don't worry; here at Cup Check there are no bad ideas.

Of course, you know this if you're a regular reader.

DUMB JOCK OF THE WEEK

Sure, it'd be easy to jump all over USC running back Marc Tyler this week, he of the viral TMZ video in which he drunkenly insinuates that USC pays its football players. By all accounts, it was a very stupid thing said by a drunk college kid. You can add it to the list of things that have recently made USC look really awful. Who's Marc Tyler, you ask? It doesn't really matter. ...

That said, Los Angeles Daily News columnist Vincent Bonsignore hits the proverbial nail on the proverbial head in a recent column pointing out that we, the news consuming people, are only feeding this ever-degrading trend in "journalism."

He classifies the TMZ story as, "just another pitiful example of how far we've fallen that we actually enjoy watching celebrities say silly things after knocking down a few drinks."