ATLANTA — NFL officials have decided jerseys mocking Michael Vick's alleged alias "Ron Mexico" are crossing the border of good taste.
The league's merchandise Web site does not allow fans to buy Falcons jerseys personalized with "MEXICO" on the back. The pseudonym was printed in a lawsuit alleging the Falcons star quarterback knowingly gave a woman a sexually transmitted disease. According to the lawsuit, Vick used the alias "Ron Mexico" when being tested or treated.
"We believe it was inappropriate to sell those jerseys because of the recent developments," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said.
The Falcons, through spokesman Reggie Roberts, had no comment.
Vick is being sued by a woman claiming to be a former girlfriend who alleges that Vick knowingly gave her genital herpes after an encounter in April 2003.
According to McCarthy, a handful of Falcons No. 7 jerseys with "Mexico" on the back were ordered, but none was delivered. Vick's jersey has been among the league's top sellers since his rookie season in 2001. On the nflshop.com site, an order to purchase a "Mexico" jersey is rebuffed with the message "the personalization entered cannot be accepted."
This is the second time this offseason that the NFL has encountered fans seeking to personalize jerseys with names or words that the league prohibits. When a Louisiana State professor ordered the jersey of a former student, New England Patriots cornerback Randall Gay, she discovered that "gay" was deemed unacceptable. It was on a list of more than 1,100 words or phrases the league would not print on a licensed jersey, drawing fire from gay rights activists. The league has since removed "gay" from its filter. McCarthy said they were the first such instances that he could remember.
Since the lawsuit became public in recent weeks, Vick has become fodder for jokes on numerous Internet fan sites. A www.ronmexico.com Web site sells T-shirts with "Mexico 7" on the back.
A man who responded via phone to an e-mail request for an interview said he is the site's designer and refused to identify himself because he didn't want the personal attention. He says he is a Chicago technology consultant.
Vick's standing in the corporate world does not seem to have diminished. Nike and AirTran Airways, two of Vick's biggest endorsements, have maintained their relationship with him.
"He has lived up to his end of the bargain, and hopefully we have done the same," said Dan Hutcheson, director of marketing for AirTran. "He's still under contract with us."