Letter to the Editor

NFL sets up double standard

Monday, September 7, 2009

To the Editor:

When Commissioner Roger Goodell gave Dante' 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 completion of his sentence of a dog fighting conviction, he said, "I accept that you are sincere and will turn your life around."

On Sept. 3, he decided that Vick will be permanently reinstated after a two-game 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 remorsefulness 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 players lost his roster spot to a killer.

William Wilson,

Jeffersonville, Ind.