Eagles pass up tax credit for hiring Vick

By Mark Medina

Aug. 23, 2009 12 AM PT

The Philadelphia Eagles apparently are not interested in benefiting financially from signing Michael Vick -- at least not from the city’s Mayor’s Office for the Re-entry of Ex-Offenders.

The city’s policy is to offer a $10,000 tax credit for businesses that hire someone released from prison. Vick’s contract is $1.6 million, so the tax credit would have covered only a small fraction of his Eagles pay. Team spokeswoman Pamela Browner Crawley told the Philadelphia Daily News that the offer “was never considered.”

But Daily News columnist Dave Davies said the Eagles aren’t completely noble. This month Philadelphia will pay the Eagles $7.84 million, which is part of 30 years of payments the city promised to make to the team beginning in 2001 to keep the Eagles from moving and to get Lincoln Financial Field built.

Wrote Davies: “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.”

Trivia time

Who is the youngest player to appear in a Major League Baseball game?

There’s an app for that

Chad Ochocinco is finally happy with the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback.

No, this isn’t about Carson Palmer throwing the ball to him. Ochocinco is thrilled with Jordan Palmer -- Carson’s brother and the Bengals’ backup quarterback -- for designing an application for his iPhone.

The application features Ochocinco photos, a link to his Twitter feed, video of him working out, his favorite music and a map that shows his latest whereabouts. Palmer spent the off-season working on a business venture with his company, Rock Software Inc., which develops individualized iPhone applications for athletes.

Palmer told the Associated Press he expects Apple will approve and launch the application before the season starts.

Ochocinco told the AP: “You can actually see the real Chad and see the things that I do, some of the things I like and actually interact with me and talk back and forth.”

Trivia answer

With rosters depleted during World War II, Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds made his pitching debut on June 10, 1944, at 15 years 10 months and 11 days old.

(Question and answer provided by Dick Lancaster of Encino.)

And finally

The Washington Times’ Mark Zuckerman captured the festive atmosphere regarding the Nationals’ signing of their top prospect: “Stephen Strasburg was formally introduced as a Washington National Friday afternoon in an elaborate, over-the-top news conference on the field at Nationals Park that included multiple video tributes, cheers from several hundred fans and, yes, even fireworks.

“Now all the 21-year-old pitcher has to do is live up to all the hype. Good luck, kid.”

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