Former NFL wide receiver Plaxico Burress began his two-year prison sentence after surrendering himself to New York authorities this morning.
Defense lawyer Benjamin Brafton said, “This is a very real tragic case in many, many ways.” He called Burress “a fundamentally decent man.”
Burress, who caught the winning touchdown for the Giants over the previously undefeated New England Patriots in the final minute of the 2008 Super Bowl, and former teammate Antonio Pierce were at the Latin Quarter nightclub in Manhattan last November when a gun tucked into Burress’ waistband slipped down his leg and fired, wounding him.via.
I really don’t understand where all the sympathy for Burress is coming from: he carried a concealed weapon into New York City limits and carelessly discharged it. His defense team fruitlessly procrastinated in hopes of getting a deal that everyone knew wasn’t coming. Yeah, it’s sad–and possibly pointless–that Burress will be taking up a space in jail that could be better served for some rapist or murderer or whatever other criminal caricature meets your fancy. But he did the crime. And he’ll be paying a price to the state that only seems extraordinary because he had so much to lose.
Giants linebacker and coke-snorting legend Lawrence Taylor did an interview with an independent show with the YES Network that was picked up by the New York Post, and Taylor’s conversation with Michael Kay has more than its share of gems. Emphasis added:
“The night before I retired, I realized that I wanted to do recreational drugs again. The recreational drugs turned into a full-time job.” His moment of clarity? “When the feds put the handcuffs on me,” L.T. said. “It comes in real clear — these are not recreational handcuffs.”
On being drug-tested back in his NFL days:
Taylor submitted a teammate’s sample when he failed his first drug test in 1987, he told the Yes network’s “Centerstage.” “Actually, it wasn’t my urine. I failed the drug test and he didn’t. I couldn’t believe it.” via, via.
Ah, testing in the pre-Whizzenator days. Those were such innocent times. That was back before they had all the damn PSAs on TV. These days, you can’t even enjoy a refreshing beer in the car on the way home. At least I can still text…
Giants quarterback Eli Manning signed an extension, as reported earlier this morning by…somebody. Somebody had it first, and I really don’t know who it was. I can’t keep track of all of this.
Fox reported that the deal is worth $97.5 million over six seasons, including $35 million in guaranteed money. Manning is entering the final season of his six-year, approximately $50 million contract. via, via.
Why is it that the highest-paid player in team sports never seems to be the BEST player? You’d think that with the 50 draft picks that the Giants sent to San Diego in 2004 that New York had paid enough for a guy that was pretty much useless after Plaxico shot himself in the leg. But “Manning” has become a brand name in the NFL, much like “Samsung” has for electronics or “Asian threesome” for adult entertainment. I guess what I’m saying is that this deal doesn’t make any sense at all since Eli’s not Korean. Or downloadable to my iPod. Hey, sometimes business has to be tended to remotely.
When I called Michael Vick the black Brett Favre last week, I was speaking (perhaps crudely) to the nature of his future–short on clues but long on speculation as to where his professional football career might resume (I’m still pulling for the UFL and then the CFL in 2010). But anyway, the monolith brought us footage of Vick throwing with Landstown High School in Virginia Beach; where his old high school coach currently works. But with the lack of NFL interest, it won’t be a question of “Will he or won’t he?” But rather, “Will they?
Other NFL news: Plaxico Burress was finally indicted by the grand jury and he’s almost certainly doing jail time now. And while you could argue that the system was out to get him, I’d say that it wasn’t Bloomberg that reached into his sweats and shot Burress in the leg. No, that wasn’t a euphemism…Chargers DB Antonio Cromartie was fined for tweeting about how bad the food was, comparing it to the team’s performance in the postseason, as confirmed by his agent.
Agent Gary Wichard said Tuesday that he had seen a paraphrased version of the offending tweet, and added that he is a staunch anti-tweeter.
Staunch, I say! But honestly, there’s nothing worse than no food at camp. Except for maybe no girls. And no booze. Wow, no wonder everyone hates training camp. I think I’d last about ten minutes in the NFL.
There wasn’t much of a stir when the NFL announced that it would look to sell advertising space on its practice jersey for ads, but it looks like one little trailblazer will elect to not wear his sponsor-laden jersey in front of the cameras as intended? And who is this modern-day Rosa Parks? Eli Manning, whose personal endorsement deal with Citizen watches conflicts with the Timex ads that will appear on Giants’ practice jerseys this season.
Manning’s jersey has the patch on it and news crews might be able to film the small patch – 3½ inches by 4½ inches - from afar, but for this practice and all future practices, Manning is not expected to give Timex much love due to his conflict of interest. We’re told Manning will do interviews before practice in a t-shirt and will take off his pads for any interviews after practice. via.
This is like the Dream Team in Barcelona all over again. Just drape an American flag over the shoulder, Eli. Or your special woobie. We all know you have it stashed in your locker. It’ll be your only hope at salvation once Plaxico Burress is locked up. Personally, I only like blankets for strangling hookers and climbing out of tall hotel rooms. Those activities go together like peanut butter and jelly when you think about it.
ASYLUM POLL: Should NFL Teams Have Jersey Ads?
Personal seat licenses (PSLs) were originally designed as a tax-deductible fundraising tool for college athletic programs. But today many professional teams use them to offset the cost of newly-built arenas as another expenditure for diehard fans. But the New York Giants’ faithful no long seem to be content with paying for the right to buy full-priced season tickets. The NFL club still has 4,000 PSLs left for sale, which is amazing…until you realize that they want $20,000 for them. From the NY Daily News:
[N]early 4,000 of the best and most expensive Giants seats are still available with 16 months remaining before the Giants and Jets open their $1.7 billion stadium. And the Giants have gone through their entire 140,000-member waiting list. The list increased by 120,000 in the seasons since 2003, when the Giants initiated the ticket exchange program that allowed fans to buy individual game tickets from season ticket holders. In order to take part in the program, fans had to add their names to the season ticket waiting list.
So the 50-yard line at the new Giants Stadium will look a lot like the sections behind home plate at the new Yankee Stadium. It’ll look like a high school party without alcohol–more depressing than entertaining, with zero chance of getting laid. Oh, you go to football games to actually watch the teams? Prude.
