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Perhaps fittingly, Michael Vick broke down halfway to his home in Virginia.

Somewhere on Route 113, in Maryland, right in front of an auto body shop, Vick’s Lexus got a flat tire. Workers from the nearby shop didn’t know who Vick was, but its owner, an Eagles fan, did.

While his car was being worked on (presumably gratis), gymnasts from a nearby, um, gym came out to meet Vick and take pictures with him. Vick was more than happy to oblige, giving some little girls the thrill of their life: [DelmarvaNow.com]

As he and his mechanics worked to bring the Lexus across the highway to the shop, Carmella Solito of the adjacent Twisters Gymnastics came out to see what was going on.

“She came out with her hands on her hips and wanted to know why we were blocking her driveway,” Derrickson said, laughing.

Solito was no longer worried about her driveway when she found out whose car was in the way.

“I said ‘Oh my God, what are you doing here?’ ” she recalled.

Eager to make the most of the experience, Solito invited Vick into her gym, where dozens of children were working on becoming athletes themselves. When she saw he had his wife and two young daughters with them, she encouraged them all to come in.

Vick, she said, talked to the gymnasts while she showed his girls around the facility.

“He was very nice,” she said. “He told them if they worked hard, it would pay off.”

She said Vick was great with the crowd of kids.

“I felt kind of bad, there were about 100 kids here,” she said. “There were little ones just hanging off his leg.”

 

What's this?! Something not a staged PR event? +1 for Vick.

H/T to (@CodyJBenjamin)