Commentary: A bad person, period.

So, this is the rehabilitation of an image?

Michael Vick?s cherubic mug once again grabbed our collective attention, as sentencing was imposed for his heinous crimes.

The former quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons only stepped up to his responsibilities when he was cornered like, well like a dog. After his pals turned on him and when faced with overwhelming evidence, the man finally copped a guilty plea. Vick then proceeded to smoke marijuana while out on bail.

Vick admitted to using poor judgment. His lawyers said he was the victim of poor choices. Even his college coach called Vick a good man who made some bad decisions.

Bad choices and poor judgment, indeed.

I must have been asleep at the wheel when the ?he?s a good person who made bad choices? phenomenon hit. I wonder what granny-glasses-wearing, pointy-bearded pop-psychologist came up with that one.

Phrases like the good person/bad choices one are confusing and ineffectual. In the old days (where I?m from), such terminology would not have flown.

I went to a very strict high school. It provided an excellent education. The only problem was that there were some rough characters at the school. These guys acted like they owned the halls and, if you looked at them the wrong way, woe be onto you: a beating was coming your way. These guys were called teachers.

Had I been smart enough to think up the ?I?m a good person who just made a bad choice? alibi when caught by one of these teachers committing a school violation, I?m sure I wouldn?t have used it. I liked my pie hole just where it was and didn?t desire to have it moved to the other side of my head.

With these guys, if I failed a test, I was a moron. If I didn?t do my homework, I was a lazy bum and if I was cutting up in class, I was a troublemaker.

It didn?t mean that I was a moron, bum or troublemaker for life. However, it did not mean that I was a good person who made bad choices. Until I straightened out my act, I was on the doo-doo list.

Somehow, the ?good person/bad choices? phenom took hold. Fine. If it makes things easier to justify in folks? minds, good for them. I?m just not going to fall for it. And I certainly will not subscribe to it in Vick?s case.

I don?t consider Michael Vick to be a good person. I consider him to be a criminal who abused dogs for the benefit of his friends and himself. That makes him a bad person. Instead of using his wealth for good, he used it to inflict pain and death on innocent creatures. (OK, I?m a dog lover. But, I suspect even those that can?t abide our canine pals see the evil in this tawdry affair).

Do Vick?s crimes make him a bad person for life? Of course not. We have ways for folks to redeem themselves and to pull themselves up from despair. We know of many people who have gotten themselves straight after having travelled the crooked path.

Smoking weed while you?re already in a whole heap o? trouble isn?t a good start on the road to redemption. Admitting to the world (which, incidentally, he had by the tail) that he is a bad man who wants to turn his life around is more the way to go.

That, my friends, would be a GOOD choice.