Plaxico Burress agreed to accept a two year prison sentence (minimum 20 months) for the unlawful carrying of a firearm at a Manhattan night club last November. Burress only nine months earlier had sealed his fate in Giant history with his game winning grab in the Super Bowl win over the Patriots. Sadly, he’ll probably be remembered for this as much as that great day in Arizona. I still remember the words: “Manning lobs it, Burress, alone…..touchdown New York!!” Now Burress is completely alone.
I’ll admit I was dead wrong on this one. I figured Burress, especially with a top notch NY lawyer, would be able to beat this with probation and healthy dose of community service. And would make it back to the Giants. But Mayor Bloomberg clearly had an agenda from the start and wanted to an example that no one is beyond the law despite any celebrity status. Many have said that someone less famous would have gotten a less severe penalty. I’m not so sure about that. New York law states a minimum of 3.5 years for the carrying of an unlicensed gun. Plax got two years.
In the end, this was a culmination of Plax’s lax attitude on authority. Late for meetings. Not showing up for treatment. A host of traffic violations. Back in 2005, he failed to show up for the team’s final breakup meeting after the loss to the Panthers. Last year, did not report to practice on Monday after a win over the Bengals. We’d later find out a litany of team fines incurred by Plax. Ultimately, this latest disregard of rules caught up to him. The Giants bring in law officials to discuss guns every year with the players, but Burress probably wasn’t there or wasn’t listening. Otherwise, he would have known that to carry a gun in New York City requires a permit. Now Burress pays the ultimate price: two years of his life behind bars, substantial lawyer fees, and forfeiture of a brand new contract. Burress will be 34 upon is release from prison and most likely has seen his last days as an NFL player. Sad indeed.
