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.

While former New York Giants wideout Plaxico Burress has received forgiveness for the person he shot in the leg in a New York City nightclub–himself. Now his legal team is trying to win forgiveness from the state for Michigan State product.

The statistics demonstrate the laws of New York aren’t always evenly applied. Burress was charged with second-degree gun possession, which requires a minimum of 3½ years in jail. Yet prosecutors in your state, Mr. Paterson, commonly drop the charges to third-degree possession, which doesn’t carry a minimum prison sentence.

This discretion, as several media reports and legal analysts have stated, allows prosecutors far too much leeway in deciding who is worthy of a reduced charge and who is not. –Mike Freeman.

It’s helps Plaxico’s cause that New York state governor David Paterson is incredibly unpopular right now, and wouldn’t lose much in terms of public support if he were to give Burress a pass. But screw that. Everyone seems irritated that Plaxico seems to have been held to a higher standard in this case. That’s a convenient mindset since Plaxico was also his own victim. If he had handled his firearm a little less poorly–say, aimed at another patron in the club–I doubt those sympathies would exist. Besides, he should do at least six months for wearing sweatpants to a club.

Former New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress accepted a plea deal that will see him serve two years in jail for discharging a handgun within New York City limits nine months earlier.

Burress – who caught the game-winning touchdown in the Giants’ 2008 Super Bowl win over the Patriots – testified before a grand jury last month in a “Hail Mary” attempt to beat the rap.

But he was instead indicted him on two counts of weapons possession and reckless endangerment. The 6-foot-5 Burress had faced 3 1/2 to 15 years if convicted. via.

The only thing Burress will be catching in jail is…well, you can guess where I was going with that. But this preseason has sorted out most of the off-field issues rather nicely–Vick has been signed, Favre Watch is over, Stallworth was sent to jail…Stallworth got out of jail, and now Plax will have two years to think about the faux pas of wearing sweatpants out in public. All we need now is another barrage of Peyton Manning commercials and I do believe I’ll be ready for some football.

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.

With the signing of Tank Johnson and Leon Hall’s DUI, the Bengals have sent a message to the entire league. And that message is, “We haven’t learned a damn thing since 2006,” which is when the felony-laden franchise should have picked up Johnson to begin with. That would have given them, what, 15 Johnsons on that 2007 team?

But as my dead grandmother would say, one must strike while the iron is hot, and with the recent release of Plaxico Burress, the time to strike is now. Who else could provide Carson Palmer with another weapon, add another felony to the team’s ledger, and give Ocho Cinco a run for “Biggest Prick in the Queen City?” And all at once?

I don’t get it. The Miami Hurricanes of the 90s had all kinds of criminals and they beat the crap out of everybody they played. It’s obvious what the Bengals need — more criminals. Plaxico is what they need, now more than ever. Has an entire team ever gone to the playoffs and the federal grand jury in the same season? It’s time they did.

So Jay Cutler, upset about the fact that the Broncos were planning to trade him, is now asking for the Broncos to plan on trading him. I’m sure if I was some emo kid from Vanderbilt that such logic would make perfect sense to me. And nobody knows where Culter will end up; Everybody wants Cutler, it seems, except the Broncos. I wouldn’t rule out former Bucs coach Jon Gruden buying Cutler’s contract outright and just having him do chores around the Gruden house. He’s got a thing for quarterbacks.

In Long Island, police are investigating the deaths of two African immigrants that were found shot in the head in the condo of linebacker Jonathan Vilma. At first, you read that and you think, wow, Vilma must really hate black people, but then you realize that Vilma himself is black, and that whole theory just falls apart. This is why I’m not a cop. If it’s true that those guys were killed because of an internet scam, I don’t see how any jury in American could convict the killer. Those spammers can lick my taint.

And Plaxico Burress asked for and received a postponement in his gun trial yesterday. Jail time is looking more imminent as plea bargaining continues. Can’t be any worse than Coughlin’s minicamp!