When NFL commissioner Roger Goodell gave Donte’ Stallworth his one-year suspension for DUI manslaughter, he told him “”The NFL and players must live with the stain that you have placed on their reputations.””  However, when he conditionally reinstated Michael Vick after he completed his sentence for a dog fighting conviction, Goodell said that he accepts that Vick is sincere and will turn his life around. On Sept. 3, he decided that Vick will be permanently reinstated after a twogame suspension.

What Stallworth did was a one-time tragic accident. What Vick did was deliberate and executed over many years. However, players, coaches, sportscasters and many fans are welcoming back Vick even though what he did was despicable. This indicates that many of them don’t care about animal abuse. Sure he paid his debt to society, but that doesn’t mean he deserves a second chance in the NFL. The message that Goodell is sending with all these second chances is that the good players can do what they want, take a couple of games or a year suspension, be reinstated, and still earn millions of dollars.

I believe Vick has conned everybody with fake remorse because what he did was sadistic and sadists don’t change. Until he actually does something, besides make a speech or video, like going to an animal shelter to help, my opinion won’t change. Meanwhile, it is a shame that some decent player lost his roster spot to a killer.

William Wilson

1964 alumnus