No less an expert than baseball scribe Peter Abraham has declared the E Street Band’s Nils Lofgren, “just about the best guitar player walking the face of the earth”, a statement that clearly reveals Tara Key, Mary Timony, Wayne Rogers Kristy Greene and Gregory Raimo are currently traveling in outer space. Lofgren, who has already shown his sports acumen in the medium he’s best known for, has the editorial bug in light of Michael Vick’s return to form. Credited as “musician and huge sports fan, hurt and demoralized”, Lofgren asks the readers of ESPN.com, “how can we justify this saga to our children?”

I support Vick’s right to earn a living. But, while I can’t fault him for taking great advantage of the opportunities afforded him by playing in the NFL, I feel he does not deserve that lofty a place in our society and culture. However repentant he may be, he committed acts whose vileness will resonate down the years. When you do what Vick did, a second chance should never include the rare gift of an NFL career and the potential bounty it offers.

Shame on the NFL for not banning him permanently.

I am a giant sports fan. However, the cynic in me thinks maybe if Vick were a third-string lineman, the NFL would have set an example and banned him for life. Maybe many of the other significant charges Vick was facing wouldn’t have gone away if he didn’t have the prestige of being an NFL quarterback who can afford high-priced lawyers to wrangle pleas and deals.

For the NFL to be that forgiving of evil, vicious behavior is a terribly inappropriate act of forgiveness and has brought a sick, sad, dirty feeling to many of us fans who have loved the game for so long.

And to you reporters, whom I enjoy and respect, the sentiments in this letter are suspiciously absent in your hundreds of hours of Vick coverage.