Reply #119: the sport is tarnished

[paulsby]

absolutely true. but at least we are not dishonestly pretending that just because somebody is good at throwing or catching a ball that bounces funny, that this makes them a hero or a role model.

i just want to keep the honesty there. the NFL should be about the best football players, and it generally is. disqualifying somebody for a past criminal act that they did their time for, seems overly punitive to me. and again, i'm speaking as a cop who has put people away for years for all sorts of heinous offenses. i'm hardly a bleeding heart when it comes to criminals and many them (not all) are frankly scumbags.

i'm saying that the NFL should try to encourage their athletes to be more responsible off the field. but the idea that we don't give people a second chance just seems very unjust to me.

you are right, if michael vicks left, that's a slot somebody else could fill.