The Solomonic Roger Goodell

Roger Goodell's conditional reinstatement of Michael Vick is basically piling on or, in the parlance of the game, unnecessary roughness. After serving 23 months in prison, facing financial bankruptcy, and his reputation pretty much destroyed, Vick has paid his debt to society and the NFL and should be allowed a chance to play football again. In a league where at least one player actually killed a person in an automobile accident and where a significant percentage of players have been guilty of abusing women, Goodell's handling of Vick smacks of hypocrisy.

Vick's Debt

Detroit Free Press columnist Drew Sharp subscribes to the misguided notion that Michael Vick has not suffered enough for his transgressions and therefore should be prohibited interminably from playing football again in the National Football League:

You cannot escape the premeditated viciousness of Vick torturing and killing animals for a number of years under the guise of an underground business enterprise. It was no accident, no instance of criminally poor judgment. It was a savagely calculated plan.

You cannot forget that. Ever.

But the onus for turning the page rests predominantly on those still outraged over Vick's deeds. They should just "get over it." Let the man live his new life. Let him play NFL football.

But the latter two points are mutually exclusive.

If Vick and his cadre of sycophants still only measure his self-worth as strictly a football player at the outset of his new life, then he's learned nothing from the last two years. There will be no genuine remorse for his actions, only a perceived victim's contempt for his persecutors.

Vick will have every opportunity to show all that he's a new person possessing a new moral compass, but that has absolutely nothing to do with him taking another NFL snap.

There is no denying the heinousness of Vick's actions but, after spending 23 months behind bars and being subjected to public humiliation, he has paid his debt to society and should be allowed to resume his life. And that should also include a return to the NFL, assuming he can still play football at that level.