Mark Wahlberg's and Michael Vick's Tales of Redemption on Sunday Night

Tonight, actor Mark Wahlberg is featured on CBS' Sixty Minutes; a short while later on NBC, quarterback Michael Vick leads the Philadelphia Eagles against the New York Giants on what promises to be one of the most watched NFL game thus far this season.

For those that do not believe in redemption and for those that believe all athletes and Hollywood types are beyond hope, these two successful and yet formerly deeply troubled individuals might be worth watching.

As he details tonight on 60 Minutes, Mark Wahlberg grew up on the decidedly wrong side of the tracks in the
Boston suburb of Dorchester, Massachusetts. While shooting "The Perfect Storm" with George Clooney in Massachusetts, for example, Wahlberg brought his childhood friends to the set. When one of them realized that a $250,000 camera was being used to shoot the movie, he contemplated stealing it, until Wahlberg drew the line, pointing out that despite the value of the camera, there would hardly be a market for it. Wahlberg seemed to see the bigger picture and the ultimate fruitlessness of a life of crime.

Wahlberg, though, was in serious trouble throughout his early life. He dropped out of high school and turned to drug dealing on the streets of Boston in the late 1980's. During this time, he was convicted for assaulting an older Vietnamese man during a robbery attempt and served time for attempted murder.

While serving his sentence, Wahlberg realized he was heading for a life either behind bars or in perpetual trouble. Blessed with a model like physique and a moderate gift for rap, Wahlberg pursued both a modeling and a music career and renamed himself "Mark Mark".

While he was hardly a critics favorite, and while his days of trouble were definitely not completely behind him through his twenties, Wahlberg began re-charting his course in life and today is happily married father, a successful producer of the hit HBO show Entourage and is an Academy Award hopeful with his upcoming movie "The Fighter".

Michael Vick was perhaps the most reviled figure in professional sports in recent years; as a statement that says a lot. The fans, the NFL and the country at large were revolted by his participation in the incredibly inhumane world of dog fighting as he plead guilty to felony charges in August of 2007. Vick served 21 months in prison and missed two seasons.

Once one of the league's most promising quarterbacks, Vick's career appeared to be nearly, if not completely, over. While professional sports teams will forgive almost anything and give people a second (or third or fourth) chance as soon as they are allowed to do so, Vick's star had been sinking for his play on the field even before the dog fighting story came to light.

This year, however, Vick is playing better than he ever. After an injury to starting quarterback Kevin Kolb in Week One, Vick has been the starter (except for three weeks when Vick was injured), and has been one of the elite quarterbacks in the league this year. Vick won the "Offensive Player of the Month" award in September and the NFL player of the week for the first two weeks in November.

While cynics would suggest that the Michael Vick story is being whitewashed due simply to his athletic ability, many who have followed Vick closely through the years say that his professionalism, work ethic and approach to the game have all dramatically improved after being released from prison.

Many will never forgive or root for Michael Vick because of his horrific dog fighting history. Certainly, that is their prerogative. But Vick did serve 21 months of his life, and forfeited tens of millions of dollars in paying his debt to society. Probably even most of his biggest critics would acknowledge that the man is entitled to earn a living again.

While some of the things that Michael Vick and Mark Wahlberg have done in their lives could be considered forever unforgivable, and while nobody truly knows what the future holds for either, their tales of redemption are among the most remarkable in recent pop culture history.

Sources:

Staff, "Mark Wahlberg On His New Life, New Film", cbsnews.com
Matt Mosley, "So how would Dan Reeves defend Vick?", espn.com