Dave Davies: I pay Vicks' salary, and so do you

THIS MONTH our very cash-strapped city is due to write the Philadelphia Eagles a check for $7,840,000.

That's this year's installment in a 30-year set of escalating payments the city pledged as part of the deal to get the Linc built and keep the team from leaving the city.

So, if you live in or pay taxes to Philadelphia, which is just about everybody reading this, you're picking up a little piece of Michael Vick's salary.

In 2001, City Council approved a very large public subsidy to keep this very profitable franchise in town because it's understood that the Birds are a part of the city's spirit, its image, its soul.

So, although the Eagles have the legal right to hire Vick, we all have a voice in the debate, because this decision reflects on all of us in some way.

Andy Reid and Jeffrey Lurie say that Michael Vick deserves a second chance.

And, of course, he does.

He's gotten the second chance every felon who's served his time gets: He has his freedom back, as long as he visits his parole officer and doesn't play with firearms, take drugs or associate with criminals.

The question we have to consider is a different one: Do we want to make Vick a multimillion-dollar celebrity representing our community, three months out of Leavenworth?

I don't. Not yet.

Consider his deeds: He didn't just "bankroll" a dogfighting ring. For six years while he was a highly paid athlete, he led and participated in the abuse of animals, and at a minimum was present while dogs were tortured and killed.

He lied about it repeatedly and pleaded not guilty when charged. When his co-defendants rolled on him and he was cornered, he changed his plea and went to prison.

In a carefully negotiated plea agreement, he avoided saying under oath whether he had personally killed dogs. The available evidence suggests that he did.

A 2008 investigative report by the Inspector General of the Agriculture Department said that a confidential informant reported that Vick twice threw family pets into the ring with his trained fighters because he and two co-defendants "thought it was funny to watch the pit bulls belonging to [his kennel] injure or kill the other dogs."

And now he's sorry.

I can't judge what's in Vick's heart, and his appearance on "60 Minutes" didn't give much of a clue either. He said exactly what someone in that circumstance with top-notch lawyers and media advisers would say.

But deeds matter more than words.

If Vick and the Eagles had announced an agreement that he was going to spend the next year coaching in the Police Athletic League for whatever salary that fetches, and then join the team in 2010 if everything works out, I'd feel a lot better.

Yeah, I know, that's crazy talk. That would mean that Vick would have to sacrifice a year of big money, and the Eagles would have to wait to get his talent on the field.

But that would have been a bold move - something that involved sacrifice by both Vick and the team, and showed some recognition of the seriousness of his sadistic acts.

I think the Eagles snapping Vick up the minute he's available leaves a stain on this city that won't easily be cleansed. If he'd spent some time in humble and worthwhile employment first, the case would be more convincing that he has the kind of character we expect in our heroes.

I know there are other opinions, but that's mine. I'm just one more citizen who's paying the bill.