Michael Vick is shown in what can only be described as whiteface in the magazine's September 5 issue, under the headline "What if Michael Vick were white?"

Let's say you're ESPN the Magazine editor-in-chief Chad Millman. You've been on the job for less than three months, half your staff reportedly has plans to quit, and you're about to move your editorial base from New York City to ESPN's corporate campus in Bristol, Connecticut. Positive publicity would be nice, but avoiding huge, self-inflicted controversies about digitally altering the race of one of the NFL's most divisive players would be even better. So why run this image depicting Philadelphia Eagles quarterback and convicted dogfight ring organizer Michael Vick in what can only be described as whiteface in the magazine's September 5 issue, under the headline "What if Michael Vick were white?"

Deadspin put it simply: "We are dumbfounded." The image was quickly yanked from the Web and replaced by an unaltered photo of Vick. Then, confusingly, the retouched photo went back up about an hour later. Millman tells Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead that the photo double-reverse was due to "a licensing issue," which sounds like spin, but is likely the truth, especially if it was an Associated Press photo. The piece's author Toure, meanwhile, had to assure his Twitter followers that his essay on race and the quarterback's unlikely second act was "nowhere near as inflammatory as the pic of him in whiteface." This isn't the kind of story the 24-hour news cycle tends to let die a quick death, so there's probably more to come. [ESPN and Deadspin]

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