If I woke up this morning and I was the NFL commissioner, it would be a no brainer, I would reinstate Mike Vick without any hesitation.  The man has lost $70,000,000 (notice how many zeroes and commas follow that 7!) and has spent nearly 2 years in prison.  In addition to that, he has not been on a football field since the 2006 season.  However, I woke up this morning and like every other morning I've been blessed enough to open my eyes, I was not the NFL commissioner. 

Roger Goodell took over the NFL and has vowed to clean up the league and run it with an iron fist.  One way the commissioner can maintain his tough guy image is to use the "time served" methodology.  He could suspend Michael Vick for a year and make it retroactive back to the 2007/2008 season.  The problem with suspending the 29 year old QB is that you take away his ability to successfully compete for a job in the NFL. 

As everyone knows, it is all downhill after you turn the big three O.  And with teams are already black balling him before they know of his fate, the possibility of his return to the league lessens.  To suspend Vick for even 1 game would be the same as suspending him for the entire 2009/2010 season.  PETA has mentioned that they are satisfied with disciplinary actions handed down to Vick, so Goodell doesn't have to worry about facing rebuttle from them directly.  However, that doesn't have anything to do with the millions of dog (I mean animal) lovers that live in this country.  In addition to Goodell, any organization that decides to give Vick a paycheck will have to face a lot of public backlash as well. 

With all of that said, I hope that commissioner Goodell doesn't take the "better your ass than mines" approach and not reinstate Vick.  He deserves a chance to be on the field this season and far as I know, the Patriots have expressed interest.  If any organization can handle the Vick situation, it is the New England Patriots.  So Goodell, let the man do what he does best!