NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has ordered Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick to stay away from training camp until the league finishes reviewing the federal indictments against him and three cronies for allegedly running a dogfighting operation, the sheer depravity of which has sent shock waves around the country.
According to the football site Scout.com, Goodell wrote to Vick conceding that on the one hand the court proceedings must run their course, and on the other, NFL players did not have to be convicted of a crime to be ousted on grounds of moral turpitude.
Wrote Goodell, "While it is for the criminal justice system to determine your guilt or innocence, it is my responsibility as commissioner of the National Football League to determine whether your conduct, even if not criminal, nonetheless violated league policies, including the Personal Conduct Policy.”
That policy states: "Persons who fail to live up to this standard of conduct are guilty of conduct detrimental and subject to discipline, even where the conduct itself does not result in a conviction of a crime."
Vick continues to draw his NFL preseason pay. But Scout.com points out that if, as is not wholly unlikely, he's suspended for a significant number of games, the team is likely to go looking for other talent.