Our society is an interesting one. It’s one that likes to forgive people despite atrocities that they may or may not have committed. Ray Lewis might have killed someone at the Cobalt Lounge years back. Now, we see Ray Lewis as an inspirational leader and an incredible football player. Rams defensive end Leonard Little killed someone when he got into a car accident and blew a 0.19 BAC at the scene. Yet, after serving his time and doing his community service, Little is seen as more of a problem for offensive coordinators to contain than as a reckless individual in society.

This brings us to Mike Vick. We all know what Vick did, I’m not going to retread the story over and over. Yesterday, Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison, a hefty sentence that will clearly give him some time to think.

Fast forward two years. Mike Vick has just been released from prison and is applying for reinstatement into the NFL. Obviously there will be mixed feelings about this process and surely there will be a bunch of people who call for him never to see the field again. That’s our opinion and we are entitled to it.

While I’m not asking for everyone to suddenly forgive Vick (that’s something that will simply not happen), I ask that you take into account our judicial system and the way it works. Vick will serve his time. The purpose of that time is to rehabilitate him as a functioning member of society and it should be understood that after he serves his 23 months he should be given the same opportunity to redeem and prove himself once again. I’m not saying we should be enamored with the guy once he comes out, but I think we should give him a shot. He committed a horrific crime and now he’ll serve a good amount of time for it. It’s as important for us to set aside our personal vendettas and give him a shot as it is for him to bring himself back to respectability and repair his image.