ATLANTA -- Michael Vick gets an incomplete from Congress.
Vick
The Falcons quarterback was scheduled to lobby on Capitol Hill,
hoping to persuade lawmakers to increase funding for after-school
programs. But Vick missed a connecting flight in Atlanta and failed
to show for his Tuesday morning appearance.
Vick's publicist, Susan Bass, said it wasn't his fault. The
quarterback was in Tampa, Fla., on Monday to play in teammate
Warrick Dunn's charity golf tournament, then caught a flight to
Atlanta that was supposed to arrive in time for him to make another
flight to Reagan National Airport in northern Virginia.
But the AirTran flight was late leaving Tampa, Vick missed his
connection and wound up stuck in Atlanta, Bass said.
"He was really mad," Bass said.
AirTran, which has an endorsement deal with Vick, gave a
different account of Vick's travel arrangements. While
acknowledging that the flight from Florida was late getting into
Atlanta, causing him to miss his 8:35 p.m. connection, airline
spokesman Tad Hutcheson said the player was booked on a 10:50 p.m.
flight.
Vick failed to show and the flight left Atlanta with about 20
empty seats, Hutcheson said.
Vick's mother, Brenda Boddie, accepted an award from the
Afterschool Alliance on her son's behalf. The quarterback was
honored for his foundation's work with after-school projects in
Georgia and Virginia.