The "Invincible" Vince Young

Tells Pelley Titans Have A "Big Shot" At The Playoffs

(CBS)  And he unleashes that stuff on the field. Last year, he set the rookie quarterback record for rushing with 552 yards. He's the first rookie quarterback ever to play in the Pro Bowl, and in a game against the Giants he staged the biggest rookie comeback ever. Down 21-0 with less than 10 minutes to play, the Titans won, 24-21.

"I never doubt myself. Never. If I doubt myself then I'm gonna be a bad quarterback," Young says.

Can Fisher deal with that ego? Young has a lot of it.

"I don't see it as ego. What I see is confidence," Fisher tells Pelley. "It's a quiet confidence in his ability. And it's a passion for the game."

It was that passion and a big, lucky break that saved Young's troubled life as a kid in Houston. It was tough from the start.

At the age of 6, he was in a terrible accident, hit by a car while riding his bike. A Houston TV station covered the story of his recovery from severe internal injuries. He came out of the hospital to a home where his mother was hooked on alcohol and drugs. His father was never around, in prison three times on convictions that included burglary and theft. And Young was following his parents' lead.

"I was bad. I was real bad," Young admits.

Asked what he means by "real bad," Young tells Pelley, "You know, running with gang members. You know? You know, stealin', fightin', you know? Thinking that was cool. Like my mom said. You know, I'm gonna end up dead or in jail, crippled."

Living without a father, Young was raised by his grandmothers and his mother, Felicia.

Felicia admits she had to get after him once in a while and did not spare him any whippings. "Vince got a lot of whippings. I had to tear that tail up."

Like the time Felicia found her son in a car with the wrong crowd. "I said, 'Get out that car. If you don't get out that car,' I said, 'I'm gonna run over you. I'm gonna go crazy.' They looking at me like, 'What's wrong with this lady?' But I do know this, that it was a lot of people who was after him and it was my job to stay with them and to find out who you with," she recalls.

But there was a time Felicia admits she wasn't up to that job: she drank and was doing drugs.

There was very little money and sometimes no food in the house. Asked if he went hungry from time to time, Young tells Pelley, "Yeah, I was hungry. I was very hungry. You know, just eating those syrup sandwiches. You know, mayonnaise sandwiches."

"No meat. Had to get by with what you had," he says.

Did he ever ask his mother why he was growing up this way?

Says Young: "I knew why. Bill collectors used to call our house over and over again, you know? There was just so many people dipping into my grandmother's or my mama's pocket and then, as well as my mama, spending it on liquor and beer and drugs."

Mother and son were lost together, until lightning struck. One day, Young got into a fight at school. By the time Felicia got there, he was in handcuffs and she flipped. "I told them to take the handcuffs off. That was not necessary. But once they released them with me and when we got outside, I was so frank and I was so mad and I was so delirious. I mean, I was just upset," she remembers.

"Vincent probably wished he was back in the handcuffs," Pelley remarks.

"I just went off," Felicia recalls.

Young told Pelley that was the pivot point in his life. He was punished with yard work and for the first time he faced the public ridicule that became his driving force.

"When I was raking up them leaves, doing my punishment, you know, the kids on the bus riding by, 'Ah, Vincent,' you know, laughing at me," he explains. "It's like I was a joke. And I didn't want to be a joke no more, so I start concentrating more in football and my books. And that's when everything started to excel from there."

And not long after, Felicia found religion and quit the booze and the drugs. As a teenager, Young caught his big break: he was showing real talent on the football field and a family friend introduced him to Steve McNair, who was then the quarterback of the Tennessee Oilers. McNair invited Young to one of his summer training camps.

"He was all, already then, you know, at 16 years old, a man amongst boys," McNair remembers.

What did he see?

"His ability out-showed everybody else on that field," McNair says.

[mitch0927]

I now feel dumber reading his quotes. A college graduate it seems he would have a better vocabulary than that.

[jim-ed]

mitch0927,
I think what you are trying to say is:

"As a college graduate, it seems he would have a better vocabulary than that."

or

"A college graduate should have a better vocabulary than that."

Actually, he left school early to sign a $25 million contract.

Do you feel even dumber now?

[hornsruleu]

By any reasonable measure of accomplishments (yards, TDs, explosive plays, etc.), Vince Young outperformed Reggie Bush PRIOR to the Rose Bowl. That''s all that matters. Heisman voters had to vote before the Rose Bowl -- before Reggie''s ill-advised lateral, and before Vince put the Longhorns on his back.

Voters also could not take into account that one of these two athletes was ineligible for the award...

Back to the point. The Heisman voters are a bandwagon bunch. They jump from leader to leader, for tiny reasons. Straw polls tell them how others say they''re going to vote, and so momentum builds rapidly and at times there doesn''t seem to be any reason for the switch from player A to B.

That''s why the vote was so lop-sided. It wasn''t that Reggie was better than Vince. Even if my Longhorn bias is showing, at least grant me that the vote should have been close to a tie. Instead it was one of the most lop-sided votes ever. This shows that the process is flawed.

[hornsruleu]

The best way to reform the process would be to introduce a rigorous, mathematical system for measuring the accomplishments of various players, and comparing them fairly.

In other words, when a player picks off a pass, how does that event change the likelihood of his team winning? Scoring points? Which is the more devastating, mathematically -- forcing a fumble, picking off a pass, blocking a punt, forcing the other team to punt, or scoring a safety? All these events can be compared mathematically to see which correlates most closely with high scores and winning records. This kind of analysis can produce a sort of currency, if you will, to let us know how the pancake blocks delivered by an OT compare with the sacks of a DE.

Now, let''s say this sort of system highlights 3 players as ''Heisman worthy.'' One of the 3 is just barely above the other two, on the mathematical scale. Does this mean that you''re wrong if you vote for someone else? No. Ultimately the voting comes down to human decision.

What the system COULD do is help voters avoid infatuations with certain players or certain positions.

[jtravillion]

The interview missed several critical elements which define Vince Young. First, his mother was spoken of in a very unflattering light. She is responsible for keeping his pastor, an uncle, and a very strong team of honorable men around him (in addition to a loving grandmother). Second, very little was discussed about his legendary work ethic. The work ethic, coupled with his leadership ability, have made his teammates at all levels believe in him (he is successful because he has made his teams better). Finally, he has accepted the counsel of wise and positive people. These elements have made him "Invincible". They were missed in this story -- they were caught in the Clarence Thomas story. Is the same editor responsible for both stories?

[yankeerebel7]

I was really looking forward to this segment but it really wasn''t that exciting and it didn''t have much more on him than I already knew, though it was just cool seeing VY on 60 Minutes. I actually found the Clarence Thomas segment much more fascinating.

Anyway, Vince is simply an amazing leader who has a charisma that you can''t teach and that only a select few athletes are blessed with. It''s a winning spirit...he inspires his players, and he is sorely missed at UT (esp with the pitifullness of this season). But he has turned a whole generation of Texans into Titans'' fans, that''s for sure.

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[irwinball]

Youall really missed the greatness that is in Vince Young. He represents such great character and is an awesome role model for young people today. I don''t know if you didn''t know how to ask the right questions and bring out the realness in him or if you cut and distorted the whole story. It was so disappointing to watch the way youall did the interview.

[worknonjoy]

I know you only have a limited time for a segment but what a distorted piece. Anyone who knows Vince at all knows he is known for his leadership and the way his teammates rally around him. Not ONE interview with those who play with him? 60 Minutes tried to portray Vince as an ego driven know it all, when that couldn''t be further from the truth.

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The 60 Minute piece on Vince was shameful. Pelley simply performed a hatchet job on one of the most admired athletes in the world. Admired not only for his talent, but for his good nature, and his commitment to communities in both Nashville and Houston. It makes one wonder what the motivation is for totally ignoring a wonderful record both on and off the field. Does Vince have an ego? He certainly should. He wouldn''t be the leader whom teammates at every level have loved following, otherwise. Pelly was off-target so often in his assumptions, the only plausible explanation is that he just thought it would be cool to trash a pop icon with very little to trash. It may be fifteen years before I ever watch Scott Pelley do another interview, but I will definitely be tuned when he comes back to ask Vince all about his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

PS regarding previous thread: as far as Vince''s vocabulary, he''s not a college graduate. He left early, for $25 million at the age of 22. Never mind that he grew up in a poor neighborhood and survived, without a father at home, partially by fitting into a tough, street environment. That might have some effect on the way he currently communicates. No mystery there.

The 60 Minute piece on Vince was shameful. Pelley simply performed a hatchet job on one of the most admired athletes in the world. Admired not only for his talent, but for his good nature, and his commitment to communities in both Nashville and Houston. It makes one wonder what the motivation is for totally ignoring a wonderful record both on and off the field. Does Vince have an ego? He certainly should. He wouldn''t be the leader whom teammates at every level have loved following, otherwise. Pelly was off-target so often in his assumptions, the only plausible explanation is that he just thought it would be cool to trash a pop icon with very little to trash. It may be fifteen years before I ever watch Scott Pelley do another interview, but I will definitely be tuned when he comes back to ask Vince all about his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

PS regarding previous thread: as far as Vince''s vocabulary, he''s not a college graduate. He left early, for $25 million at the age of 22. Never mind that he grew up in a poor neighborhood and survived, without a father at home, partially by fitting into a tough, street environment. That might have some effect on the way he currently communicates. No mystery there.

[anthonyc12]

Even though I cant see the need to tattoo your own name on your body. I cant find any reason to criticize Vince Young. Some may think that he is cocky, but everyone should be their own biggest fan. He has earned his place and made a successful career for himself. Who could be mad that? Bad tattoo or not.

[anthonyc12]

Even though I cant see the need to tattoo your own name on your body. I cant find any reason to criticize Vince Young. Some may think that he is cocky, but everyone should be their own biggest fan. He has earned his place and made a successful career for himself. Who could be mad that? Bad tattoo or not.