Michael Vick has completed his punishment for his illegal gambling/dog fighting operation and is now legally eligible to return to work as a professional football player in the NFL. In order to get reinstated in the NFL, Vick must get permission from one man, commissioner Roger Goodell.

It seems like everyone is discussing whether Vick will be allowed back into the NFL or if he even should be allowed back in the NFL.

Everyone has an opinion. Here’s mine.

I do not believe Michael Vick should be allowed back into the NFL. I realize he has “paid his dues” by completing his jail sentence but that isn’t what his particular situation is really about. It’s not that he committed a crime (or crimes), it’s much more about what particular crimes he did commit.

The common argument is that players who have committed vehicular manslaughter, that is actually taking a human life, have been allowed to return to the game with little or no stigma attached to their character while Vick has only harmed some dogs.

The difference I see is that those other players did not sit down to organize and oversee a plan to kill another person. While the loss of a human life is appalling, in the end these incidences were not planned acts of aggression. They were just colossal mistakes.

This is what Vick did to his dogs. He is not a f*ck up. He didn’t make a mistake. He didn’t zig when he should have zagged. He willfully and specifically organized an illegal gambling operation around dog fighting and by his hand, killed numerous dogs in cruel ways because they weren’t violent enough to win him money. This is sick, simple as that.

Being a football player in the NFL is a professional career. Professions have rules, guidelines, dress codes, codes of conduct, etc…and if you break these rules you get fired. If you wear jeans to an office that has a dress code requiring suits, you get fired. You will most likely not be invited back because you will be viewed as a trouble maker. Someone who refused to follow the rules. The NFL is no different.

You break the rules of the NFL and you get punished or fired, depending on the severity of the infraction. So I ask, what level of infraction does it take to get fired from the NFL and not asked back? Surely, illegal gambling + numerous counts of animal cruelty + lying to the police (and the commissioner) are enough, are they not? I think so.

Now I have to at least mention my opinion on the other question – “Will Micheal Vick return to the NFL?”. I believe he will return. I think that he is enough of a dynamic, high-profile, extremely gifted star athlete with enough fan drawing power that the NFL wants him to return because it could be huge for business.

Let’s not forget that Vick was once the highest paid QB in the league. He is obviously worth something should he return, negative publicity from animal rights activists aside. I believe that if he was a fringe player or otherwise not such a high-profile player that there is no way he would return to the NFL and there is no way anyone would care. However, because he’s “Michael Vick” he will get another opportunity to play professionally for the NFL.

I just don’t think that he deserves that.

Just my 2 cents.