On Friday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wasted no time in lowering the boom on the league’s biggest embarrassment and PR nightmare, Michael Vick.  Before the ink was dry on his plea agreement, Goodell suspended the soon-to-be convicted felon indefinitely.  The move means that for the time being, Vick’s football career is over and the Falcons can begin proceedings to recover some or all of the 22 million dollar signing bonus they paid him in 2004.

As mentioned in an earlier post on this topic, I am at best a fair-weather football fan.  But I really like what I see from the NFL’s top dog (no pun intended) so far.  Since taking over the post about a year ago, Goodell has shown that he is a worthy successor to Pete Rozelle and Paul Tagliabue.  In recent years, bad behavior by pro athletes has increased dramatically, and the NFL has certainly had it’s fair share of bad press from it.  Goodell has shown that he is committed to raising the bar and taking action to punish those whose behavior sullies the league’s image.

In April, Goodell suspended “Pacman” Jones for the entire 2007 season and Chris Henry and “Tank” Johnson for half of the season under the new Personal Conduct Policy.  Now he has taken decisive action against Vick before he even officially enters his guilty plea to federal charges related to dogfighting, gambling and cruelty to animals.

The Commissioner didn’t mince words, either.

“You have engaged in conduct detrimental to the welfare of the NFL and have violated the league’s personal conduct policy,” Goodell told Vick in a letter after meeting in New York with Falcons president and general manager Rich McKay.

“You are now justifiably facing consequences for the decisions you made and the conduct in which you engaged. Your career, freedom and public standing are now in the most serious jeopardy,” Goodell wrote. “I hope that you will be able to learn from this difficult experience and emerge from it better prepared to act responsibly and to make the kinds of choices that are expected of a conscientious and law abiding citizen.”

Major kudos to Roger Goodell for doing the right thing. 

Read the story from SI here.  Read Commissioner Goodell’s letter to Michael Vick here (PDF).