If Michael Vick was your employee, what would you do? If he worked with you, would you want him sitting in the next cubicle, eating at the same lunch table?

If your answer is, I don't know, then you understand the predicament facing NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Falcons owner Arthur Blank, considering Vick hasn't been found guilty nor has he accepted a plea. In America, Vick is innocent until a jury or a judge says otherwise.

Now the NFL may be in America, but the same basic laws don't necessarily apply. Pro football is as much entertainment as it is sports. You say or do something stupid, you could lose your job. Remember, a racist remark by former Dodgers executive Al Campanis on ABC's Nightline years ago? Campanis seemed color-blind to me whenever I interviewed him, but his job and career were essentially over.

In sports, the rules are made by the fans, the people who buy the tickets and sit at home by the millions, watching on television. Public opinion is serving like a jury on the Vick matter. Many fans think he's guilty or at least responsible -- the conspiracy charge comes into play here -- of knowing what occurred on his former Virginia property. They surmise that he must have been aware of what was happening.

No national survey has been taken, but Goodell and Blank both believe that the majority of fans don't want to see Vick playing until he's proven to be innocent of these repulsive dog-killing charges. This is why Goodell has put his own investigators on the Vick case. He needs to know how strong the government's case is against Vick. Blank wanted to suspend Vick for the first four games of the season before the league asked to wait until more information on the case was revealed.

The game has endured for decades, now in its 88th season. Players come and go. We cheer them and boo them and the very best are even enshrined in Canton. But mostly we want our stars to be good people, men you can introduce to your daughters or your wife. And right now much of America doesn't want Vick in the same living room with them, either in person or on TV.

Finally, Blank and the Falcons wouldn't have this big financial headache -- whether or not to release the quarterback -- if they hadn't been in such a rush to re-do Vick's contract in 2004, giving him almost $34 million over the past three years. His original contract would have been ending this year and the salary-cap accelerations would have been nominal.

Thanks to Faneca

The Pittsburgh Steelers have grown weary of Pro Bowl guard Alan Faneca's complaints about being underpaid, and his negative vibes toward the front office actually helped safety Troy Polamalu's bid for a new contract. How's that? Troy kept his mouth shut.

The Faneca backlash created an opening for Polamalu, who is truly respected by his peers and coaches, and it led to the richest contract ever for an NFL safety. Over five years, Polamalu has the chance to earn $33 million. He will collect almost $15 million over the next two years, more than double what he would have received if he played on the final year of his contract and then the projected franchise number if the Steelers decided to that in 2008.

Polamalu's deal is more than $5 million better than what Baltimore's Ed Reed signed.

Gallery at guard

When Robert Gallery was selected at the top of the first round by the Raiders in 2004, most scouts thought he was next great offensive tackle. Well, Gallery has struggled at that position and now he will start training camp at left guard even though owner Al Davis would prefer him at right tackle. Davis makes the draft picks and rookie head coach Lane Kiffin is basically saying that Davis made a huge personnel blunder. No team drafts a guard that high in the first round.

What is compounding the offensive line moves in Oakland is that new line coach Tom Cable is also changing the blocking scheme. He's switching to the Alex Gibbs' approach  -- you know, that chop-blocking style that defensive linemen abhor -- and the Oakland offensive linemen aren't that athletic. Art Shell found that out the hard way last season. It will be interesting if the switch really works. But right now, two players listed as guards, Barry Sims and Paul McQuistan, are the starting offensive tackles.