Radovich's Revenge

Because the commish is central, for better or worse, to all things personal-conduct related, here are a few links that fell through the holes:

Mike Vick is back, signing with the Philadelphia Eagles, with the blessing of the commish. The Washington Post (DC) breaks down “how Vick got a second chance in NFL” — this is an excellent article about how Tony Dungy became involves and how the Humane Society got on board.  Goodell called the Humane Society to see what they had worked out.

Donte Stallworth is not back.  The commissioner suspended Stallworth for the whole year without pay, a punishment in addition to his 24-day jail term for a DUI death.  Here’s Goodell’s letter to Stallworth. I’m going to have a whole post to discuss this letter, which I believe is a little too over the top.  Turns out that Stallworth pled his case at Goodell’s feet twice before the suspension was handed down.

• Stephen A. Smith of the infamous Stephen A. Smith Online Blog has an audio online interweb podcast broadcast discussing this very suspension.  Stephen A is a fan of Goodell’s actions, saying: “To me, it’s very, very simple. The fact that he’s not in jail doesn’t mean he should be completely absolved of his crime. He’s got to pay in some way.”  Very poetic stuff.   Listen to the whole thing, there is some gold in here.

Re the difference between Stallworth and Vick?
“The argument about Michael Vick is completely different…The legal system has both a stiff harsh penalty of hard time in a federal penitentiary. That man couldn’t drop the soap (!), he couldn’t walk around with his belt unbuckled, he couldn’t do anything.  He had to watch his back at every turn.  He was in a 8×12 prison cell for 18 months with rapists, murders, hard-core criminals.”

Grady Jackson (Detroit Lions) is waiting for a ruling by the commish on whether he’ll be penalized for taking a banned diuretic known to be a masking agent for steroids.

Brandon Marshall was found not guilty of misdemeanor battery against his former girlfriend. Marshall’s lawyer thanked Goodell for waiting for the verdict before considering a suspension.  Goodell had said that a guilty verdict would trigger a suspension for Marshall.