Jail Was Punishment Enough For Michael Vick

I'm doing something crazy right now. Maybe not Stephon Marbury crazy (has anyone heard about THAT?!), but somewhat looney nonetheless.

I'm betting I'm in the minority here, but I'm actually about to defend Michael Vick.

There are people out there -- Hundreds of thousands? Millions? -- who believe Vick is an abomination, that he should never be allowed to sniff a football career again, after partaking in dogfighting rings.

I'm not here to debate Michael Vick's character; he already showed us what it was with his past behavior. But I do believe it's time for the protesters to leave him alone and let him play football if some team is brave enough to sign him.

I'm an absolute dog lover and hated to learn what Vick did to them. But there's something I'm not sure the Vick condemners remember:

HE WENT TO PRISON. FOR TWO YEARS.

Donte Stallworth got 30 days for killing a human. Leon Lett got nothing for killing a human. O.J. Simpson got nothing for killing two hu -- ahem, well, you can at least agree with me on the first two.

When a guy kills animals and goes to prison for two years, it's safe to say he's paid his dues. Vick did something horrible, got an appropriate punishment for it, and has earned his freedom. When a guy robs a bank and gets paroled after a few years in the slammer, is he "suspended from working at a Wal-Mart" for several months after it hires him? No -- bank robber guy did his time and gets another shot.

Time to find a new whipping boy, sports fans and sports betting fans. We lobbied for Vick to burn and he did for two years. Show's over.