Koolaid Time
Drink Up!
After reading this article, I lost alot of respect for Billy White Shoes.. While he is just "doing his job" there comes a time and place for him to tell Falcons Management that he won't be an "Enabler" for Thug Mike Vick. And I have no sympathy for the Atlanta Falcons, because they saw this train wreck coming a long way down the tracks. They deserve whatever happens when they hitch their franchise to a loser.
The fixer
Billy "White Shoes" Johnson was a star receiver and kick returner for the Falcons in the 1980s. Four years after retiring, he returned as coordinator of player programs. His duties include helping rookies adjust to professional athletics and, since 2001, keeping the Falcons' best-known player out of trouble.
In January 2002, for instance, Vick had twice failed to appear in court for a parking citation. A Clayton County judge threatened to jail him if he didn't show up a third time.
So Johnson took him to court. After Vick paid a $260 fine, Johnson acted as his spokesman, telling a reporter the case was "bogus." He suggested Vick was treated more harshly because of his celebrity.
"It happens all the time," Johnson said of the charge. Afterward, the near-jailing of the Falcons' highest-paid player received little news coverage.
The day that Vick's friends took Alvin Spencer's watch at the Atlanta airport, a police detective called Johnson. According to police records, Johnson offered to have Vick bring back the watch the next day and to pay Spencer $450 for "any inconvenience he may have encountered." Phillips and Harris, Johnson told the detective, grabbed the watch because they thought it belonged to Vick.
(by the way, Phillips was one of those indicted with Vick for Dogfighting)
The next day, Vick didn't show up with the watch. But Johnson met with Spencer and police officers. Spencer, who could not be reached for comment last week, later said he felt pressured to not file a police report as Johnson tried to negotiate a payment to him.
Johnson did not respond to several messages left at his office by a reporter last week.
Spencer later said that Johnson and the officers kept him in a room for several hours, apparently less interested in retrieving his watch than in protecting Vick. He said Johnson asked him "what would make me happy." At one point in the conversation, records say, Johnson offered Spencer as much as $1,000.
"He's got Billy in there blocking for him and he probably has no intention of returning my watch," Spencer later said. "I felt betrayed by the whole process."
Spencer filed a complaint with Atlanta police over the handling of the case. When investigators submitted written questions to Vick, Johnson e-mailed back: "Mike will not participate in the investigation under advisement from his attorney."
The detective said Spencer tried to get as much as $20,000 from the team and that he didn't submit a formal report because "Mr. Spencer stated he and Mr. Johnson could settle this matter."
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/s...0722vickbio.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab
The fixer
Billy "White Shoes" Johnson was a star receiver and kick returner for the Falcons in the 1980s. Four years after retiring, he returned as coordinator of player programs. His duties include helping rookies adjust to professional athletics and, since 2001, keeping the Falcons' best-known player out of trouble.
In January 2002, for instance, Vick had twice failed to appear in court for a parking citation. A Clayton County judge threatened to jail him if he didn't show up a third time.
So Johnson took him to court. After Vick paid a $260 fine, Johnson acted as his spokesman, telling a reporter the case was "bogus." He suggested Vick was treated more harshly because of his celebrity.
"It happens all the time," Johnson said of the charge. Afterward, the near-jailing of the Falcons' highest-paid player received little news coverage.
The day that Vick's friends took Alvin Spencer's watch at the Atlanta airport, a police detective called Johnson. According to police records, Johnson offered to have Vick bring back the watch the next day and to pay Spencer $450 for "any inconvenience he may have encountered." Phillips and Harris, Johnson told the detective, grabbed the watch because they thought it belonged to Vick.
(by the way, Phillips was one of those indicted with Vick for Dogfighting)
The next day, Vick didn't show up with the watch. But Johnson met with Spencer and police officers. Spencer, who could not be reached for comment last week, later said he felt pressured to not file a police report as Johnson tried to negotiate a payment to him.
Johnson did not respond to several messages left at his office by a reporter last week.
Spencer later said that Johnson and the officers kept him in a room for several hours, apparently less interested in retrieving his watch than in protecting Vick. He said Johnson asked him "what would make me happy." At one point in the conversation, records say, Johnson offered Spencer as much as $1,000.
"He's got Billy in there blocking for him and he probably has no intention of returning my watch," Spencer later said. "I felt betrayed by the whole process."
Spencer filed a complaint with Atlanta police over the handling of the case. When investigators submitted written questions to Vick, Johnson e-mailed back: "Mike will not participate in the investigation under advisement from his attorney."
The detective said Spencer tried to get as much as $20,000 from the team and that he didn't submit a formal report because "Mr. Spencer stated he and Mr. Johnson could settle this matter."
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/s...0722vickbio.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab
