Is Michael Vick still marketable?

After his two-handed salute to the fans in Atlanta on Sunday, the question has to be asked: is Michael Vick jumping the shark? Since beating the Packers in Green Bay in a snowy Saturday night Wildcard Game and leading the Falcons to the NFC Championship Game two years ago, Vick has been criticized almost constantly by columnists who lament his lack of skill at the passing game and wonder if he has the leadership skills to lead his team to the next level.

Now, with the Falcons falling apart and his own judgment poor at best, will Vick ever see the kind of marketing bonanza he had two years ago?

In 2004, he was on the cover of Madden and had his own “The Michael Vick Experience” commercials. SportsCenter even had whole “Top 10” lists devoted only to him. He was the sports star of Atlanta, so much so that when he signed his current deal, it was enough to actually make the first fifteen minutes of the local news, pre-empting the regularly scheduled fifteen straight minutes of murder stories. People were comparing him to Michael Jordan and it looked like the Falcons had many Superbowl appearances in their future.

Instead, the Falcons floundered last season (a year when they ended up with multiple national television appearances, including a Thanksgiving Day game and three home games on Monday Night Football) and have looked unimpressive again this year. The “Ron Mexico” fiasco obviously hasn’t helped Vick’s marketability. Fans are willing to forgive STDs, however; not so much middle fingers to an entire section of fans.

Michael Wilbon puts it fairly well in a Washington Post column retrieved from MSNBC.com:

“One week his coach’s father is agreeing with the assertion that Vick is a “coach killer.” And the next week Vick, just two years ago the most beloved person in Atlanta since Henry Aaron, is furiously giving the middle finger on each hand to the hometown fans who now boo him and his team as if they were common thieves.”

LeBron James can walk off the court prematurely and be forgiven. David Justice can call out the entire city of Atlanta before a World Series game and be cheered for scoring the only run (Game 6 of the ’95 Series). Barry Bonds is still a hero in San Francisco, even with the steroid accusations. Fans are willing to forgive a lot of things, but an gesture generally considered obscene isn’t going to warm anyone up to Michael Vick. He’s going to have to improve dramatically next season, on and off the field, before he returns to his 2004 level of popularity.