So Vick pled guilty.  No surprise.  He will go to jail.  We knew that, too.  The only real question left is what happens when he gets out?

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who has suspended Vick indefinitely without pay, has a serious dilemma on his hands.  PETA members may be hypocritical, but they are the loudest group of hypocrites on the planet, and they will certainly want a lifetime ban.  On the other hand, certain members of the NAACP want Vick to face no ban beyond his jail time, saying he will have done his time and learned his lesson.

As much as I hate to say it, I am siding with PETA.  Dog fighting is not worse than murder.  It is not as bad as rape or kidnapping, either.  But beyond those, I wonder what crimes I really consider worse than what Vick has done, as they go far beyond simply watching fights. 

This isn't about watching animals scrap, some forced version of the UFC. Animals kill each other every day in the wild; they tear each other to shreds.  Nature is brutal that way, but man is not supposed to be, especially with his best friend. 

It takes man's intervention to reach the levels of cruelty that took place at Vick's Georgia homestead.  Don't equate this to hunting: hunters don't douse deer with water and then electrocute them, unyielding to their excruciating pain.  Don't compare it to eating meat: cows aren't held underwater, limbs thrashing, lungs burning, until they drown.  Don't liken it to horseracing: geldings aren't picked up and slammed against the ground, bones crunching on each slam, until the sounds of pain stop and the body stays limp.  Think my words are brutal? Tough to read?  Punctuate every word with a dog's yelp.  These things really happened, and a large number of us are defending their perpetrator.

If Vick had merely executed his losing dogs, I would be more forgiving. For example, the 53 dogs left behind at his residence will be euthanized via lethal injection.  Even a gunshot to the head I could forgive.  But I can not overlook what amounts to torture.  Vick and his codefendants took eight dogs into the trees and hung them.  No short drop and a sudden stop, these animals writhed in agony.  The dogs were purposefully killed in the most painful manners as punishment for their nonperformance.  They weren't mean enough dogs, even after the abuse and starving, and so they were tortured to death for it.

Unlike most other highly publicized crimes of athletes, this is a case of sick, twisted cruelty.  There are reasons to get into fights; some things simply can't be let to pass.  It doesn't bug me at all that Vick flipped off jeering fans, I'm sure they gave worse than they got. Robbing a computer from your school is even a stupid mistake I can forgive; we've all done things we regret.  But this is something different at the most important level.

Vick didn't screw up one night while drunk. At the very least he created and supported the misery and death of dozens of dogs for over half a decade.  There is a very simple reason that such malice for life is often called "inhuman."  It should be.  Unfortunately, it seems there is nothing that is more human. The eternal ban is something Michael Vick has earned.  It is up to all of us to make sure it is enforced.