The "Invincible" Vince Young

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

(CBS)  Like Young, McNair didn't see a lot of his father when he was growing up. "I saw myself in Vince, when I got the opportunity to talk to him. Because, you know, we, as young kids, when growing up, you need that man advice," he says.

Despite the fact McNair is only 10 years older, Vince calls him "Pops."

These days, Pops is playing for the Baltimore Ravens and, for the record, the first time he faced Young and the Titans, "Pops" won by one point.

Who's better? Says McNair, "I'm wiser!"

Wisdom seems to be coming slowly to young Vince Young. In a practice session over the summer, a Titan safety nailed one of Young's receivers. The quarterback reacted by getting physical on the practice field.

Young also has a problem with authority. When Pelley was in Nashville, he was late to a team meeting and, last year, Young was late for the team plane. Coach Fisher decided to leave without him.

They spoke on the cell phone, with the plane on the runway. "The conversation went like this, 'Vince.' 'What?' 'This is Jeff.' 'What?' 'Vince, look, things come up, I understand. You're late. That's OK. You need -- U.S. Air rep's gonna call you in about five minutes. Be on the U.S. Air flight to Philadelphia.' And I said, 'Vince, you need to be on that airplane.' He says, 'I'm not coming.' But he made it in after probably 11 or 12 in the evening. And we settled him down and then he went out and won the game for us," Fisher remembers.

"He's got a temper," Pelley remarks.

"I think he was embarrassed," Fisher says.

How did Young feel when the plane left without him?

"Oh, man. I, like I told coach, I told him I felt like it was like, you know, F him, you know? I was just so mad. I was to the point that I didn't wanna play," Young recalls.

Asked what he learned from that, Young says, laughing, "Be on time."

Timing is everything and today the kid who ate syrup sandwiches has a five-year contract that could be worth $58 million, not to mention endorsement deals worth another $30 million, deals that include Reebok, Madden '08, and the National Dairy Council. His past is washed away, except for the rift with his father, Vince Sr., who was released from prison on a burglary conviction just a few months ago.

Young has not seen his father. Asked how he feels about him, he says, "I mean, I love my pop. But I don't like what he did."

"He has said that he's very proud of you, that he watched your ball games from prison," Pelley remarks.

"I mean, he's proud of the athlete Vince Young. But is he proud of me as a man?" Young asks.

Vince Young has one bridge to mend and many more to cross. But who would count out the athlete who predicted that he would take Texas to the championship and did, who set his sights on being rookie of the year and was, and who said on leaving college that he would add this name to the NFL Hall of Fame.

Asked if he's going to the playoffs, Young tells Pelley, "We working on it right now. I wanna say, you know, I'm not trying to predict it right now. But how we looking right now, we have a big shot at it."

"People have told you to calm down on your predictions, haven't they?" Pelley asks.

"No," Young says, laughing.

"No?" Pelley asks.

Says Young, "Can't nobody tell me nothing."

[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.

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.

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[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.

[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.

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[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.

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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?

[mitch0927]

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