Mike Vick of course

I wrote about the Vick situation for Score the in the second week of June and here's a very relevant excerpt considering the NFL's decision to let him play (for now)

As far as the NFL is concerned, anything’s possible. The Commissioner threw the book at Pacman and he’s yet to be charged with anything. He also suspended repeat offenders Chris Henry and Tank Johnson so you have to be concerned that he’ll come down hard on Mr. Vick. However, I think the fact that Vick is one of the faces of the league is buying him a lot of time with Roger Goodell. Every other player that had a meeting with the Commissioner this off-season about their off-field activities was suspended shortly thereafter. Vick met with him in April and he’s still active. I think the Commissioner will only act on Vick if he gets charged. I know Goodell has been flexing his muscle this whole off-season, but this is a totally different situation. It’s one thing to suspend receivers, corner backs and defensive tackles; it’s quite another thing to suspend a $130,000,000 franchise quarterback. He has to make darn sure he’s putting the Falcons organization in a bind for a good reason. So Falcons fans rest assured, if Vick gets suspended he probably deserves it.

So what we have here is exactly what I thought we'd have when this whole Vick situation unfolded. Vick is getting superstar treatment. All of you who are outraged about the Commish's decision, save your anger for a more worthy cause. Not that the Vick situation isn't worthy of your anger, I'm saying his special treatment is not. We all know how these things work. Vick is too big a figure to be suspended without a concrete reason. I'm not at all surprised that the Commish didn't take this approach with Pacman and the others. They are merely role players in the NFL. Vick is one of the faces of the NFL. Big difference! His superstar status is a gift and a curse in this situation. It's a gift because he probably gets to keep his job while this thing plays out in court. It's a curse because there is a spotlight on him coming from every area of the media you can think of. Sports, Entertainment, even political just to name a few. This is a bad situation for 7, the NFL and the Atlanta Falcons. I'll be watching closely to see how it turns out.