GO FOR 2

According to Yahoo! Sports, sources close to NFL Commissioner/Dark Emperor Roger Goodell have said that the Commissioner plans to further abuse use his power to severly punish Michael Vick and Plaxico Burress. This further proves that Goodell has completely forgotten what his role is supposed to be, and doesn’t understand how to properly use his authority.

What Michael Vick did was distgusting, and the fact that he lied and actively concealed it makes it that much worse. However, Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison on federal charges (he won’t serve the entire sentence, I believe he actually spent 17 months in the federal pen. at Leavenworth before being released to house arrest). The minimum federal sentencing guidelines called for 12-18 months, so Vick hardly got off easy here. There’s also the 3 year state sentence and fine (the sentence was suspended on good behavior) which should play heavily in what I’m about to discuss. Add to all of this the bankruptcy, loss of sponsors, loss of fans, and the embarassment and humbling…the man has certainly paid his debt to society.

Apparently, Yahoo’s sources have said that Goodell wants to leave Vick suspended until he has shown a pattern of behavior that makes his remorse clear. Sure, that makes sense. You’re never going to really be able to ’see’ remorse on someone, no more than you already have from Vick’s willingness to cooperate with everyone from prosecutors to PETA since the case got blown open. Sure, this could be trying to save himself and not actual remorse, but Goodell is never going to know the difference one way or the other. Now, Vick is one of the least likely repeat offenders ever. If he screws up anywhere, anytime, doing anything – he has a suspended state charge (that good behavior condition is determined by a judge, and isn’t that hard to break) AND he is on federal probation. Not to mention one more slip-up and he can forget football, getting his money back, rebuilding his reputation, and everything else he is working for. On top of all this, even if Goodell lets him back in the league and Vick messes up again, there’s really no blood on Goodell’s hands. Its not like a parole board releasing a felon who then commits a crime as soon as he gets out. Vick playing in the NFL actually makes him LESS likely to cause problems anywhere out in the real world.

Now…Plaxico Burress. Ok, this guy is a different story. His crime has no real victim, other than himself, and he is absolutely going to pay for it (no matter how long this trial gets pushed back for). Burress violated a wildly strict firearms law (two, actually) and since he passed up his plea agreements and has no real case, you can expect him to serve at least 6-12 months in prison eventually. Not to mention, the fact that his gun fell out of his sweat pants (sweats, really?) at a club, and shot himself in the leg, is almost punishment enough…the guy looks like an idiot. Again, even after his sentence he is guaranteed to be on probation.

So, why does Goodell think its necessary to level such heavy punishments? Maybe he thinks the justice system doesn’t punish enough (it does, and reference my earlier article if you have an issue with Stallworth, because you’re wrong). But regardless of what Goodell thinks, his only purpose with his punishment should be to try and prevent other NFL players from making  bad decisions as much as he can. Since his iron fist is already well known, he has issued the worst penalties of any commissioner in NFL history (by far), and players are still messing up…maybe he needs to face the truth. These guys are human, a lot of them are young and immature, and all of them have money. Mistakes are going to be made, and when they are these guys will have to face the music, just like Vick did and Burress will. Taking away the one stable force in their lives, and their best chance to spend time with guys they relate to who can become mentors is hardly the best solution.

Roger Goodell doesn’t see any of this. He’s drunk on power and blind with rage, he just sees his players making mistakes and he takes every one personally. He needs to think about how he can actually help these players, and if maybe he can stop young guys from making mistakes in ways other than scaring them by banning other guys from the game. How much do you hear about him pushing programs to hook these young guys up with NFL vets as mentors, something a lot of them could benefit from? He needs to stop trying to solve problems that are out of his control and beyond his reach in ways that don’t make sense.

Get some sense Roger, open up your narrow mind just a little and let some common sense in.