MySports Today

It’s official – - Plaxico Burress is going to jail.  Burress agreed to a plea bargain that will send him to jail for 2 years on one count of attempted criminal possession of a weapon.  Burress faced a minimum sentence of 3 1/2 years in prison if he pressed his luck and went to trial.  If he has good behavior in prison, he will likely only have to serve 20 months of the 24-month sentence.  He will then be on probation for 2 years.

Burress and his attorney Benjamin Brafman played hardball with the New York City District Attorney’s office throughout the ordeal.  That strategy looks like it failed them.  Ever since Burress rejected an initial plea deal to a lesser charge that would have had him serve a 3-month sentence, D.A. Robert Morgenthau has made it his mission to make an example out of Burress.

Brafman had this to say about the deal – “This was not an intentional criminal act.  In my judgment, a two-year prison sentence is a very severe punishment.”  Let me get this straight – Burress took an unlicensed concealed fire arm into a New York City night club unintentionally?  What, Burress just happened to forget that he had the gun in the waistband of his pants?  This is ludicrous, and Burress deserves every single second that he spends in jail.  Luckily, Burress only shot himself when the gun went off – what if it had hit the security guard standing within inches of Burress at the time the gun went off accidentally?!  Good riddance Plaxico – at 34 coming out of jail – we doubt you’ll even have any juice left in the tank to make it back into the pros…

It’s a match made in heaven.  Quarterback Eli Manning signed a new 6-year extension with the Giants which will pay him an average salary of $15.3 million over the next 6 years.  The 6-year deal is worth $97 million, including an estimated $35 million in guaranteed money.  After dealing with all the turmoil surrounding former Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress’ indictments and current Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce’s involvement with Burress’ gun possession charges, the Giants  welcomed a positive announcement about the team’s future.

The deal with make Manning the highest paid player in the NFL (Manning’s older brother Peyton makes an average salary of $14.17 million).  Manning was in the last year of the deal he signed as a rookie back in 2004 – he would have made $9.4 million this year.  Manning indicated that he wanted to remain a Giant forever, and the 2 sides have been negotiating the contract for months now.  Manning led the Giants to the upset Super Bowl over the undefeated New England Patriots in 2008 – he was named the Super Bowl MVP that year.  Manning made his first Pro Bowl in 2009, throwing for 3,238 yards, 21 touchdowns and 10 interceptions (10 less interceptions than he threw in 2008).  Manning has started 71 consecutive games as the Giants quarterback, which put him among the top 3 active quarterbacks at the end of last season.  Manning also became the 1st Giants quarterback to throw for at least 3,000 yards and 20 touchdowns in 4 straight NFL seasons.

The stats don’t lie.  Manning has lived up to the high expectations when the Giants swapped Phillip Rivers for Manning back in 2004.  Manning has shone under the bright lights of Broadway and delivered a Super Bowl Championship for the New York Giants franchise.  Manning works hard, stays out of trouble and delivers on the field both physically and as a team leader.  The bold move paid off for the Giants brass, and it was smart for both sides to get a deal done before the season started to avoid any distractions.  Is it too good to be true?  Guess we’ll have to wait and see…

A grand jury indicted Plaxico Burress on 2 counts of criminal possession of a weapon and 1 count of reckless endangerment.  The indictments stem from a night club incident in which Burress accidentally shot himself in the leg last November.  Burress pleaded not guilty to the charges earlier this year and is out on $100,000 bail.  If convicted, Burress could spend a minimum of 3 1/2 years in jail according to federal sentencing guidelines.  Burress testified at the grand jury hearing last week in order to try to convince the jurors to decline to indict him, but his efforts failed.

Current Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce was with Burress that night, and was also charged by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.  Pierce testified in front of the same grand jury for 2 days and the grand jury recently decided not to indict Pierce.  Pierce was relieved, but expressed no regrets for his actions on the night of the incident (Pierce escorted Burress out of the night club and took the bloodied wide receiver to a nearby hospital for treatment.  He then took Burress unlicensed gun to his own home in New Jersey and later returned the gun to Burress).  Pierce had this to say about the ordeal:  “I am not sorry for how I acted that night.  I am not sorry for how I responded… I am sorry for putting myself in position that I had to respond the way I had to respond.  There are a lot of reasons I learned from this.  I take them to heart and I take them seriously, obviously.  It has been a lot of ups and downs.”  Enough said, but it will be interesting to see if NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will take any action against Pierce for his involvement.

These guys are morons, especially Burress.  It’s 36 hours before a big game against the division-rival Washington Redskins and the two are out late at a night club with a loaded weapon.  Real smart, huh?  Now maybe Pierce didn’t know that Burress was packing heat, and if he did know, he probably figured that Burress wouldn’t be dumb enough to shoot himself in the leg.  But then again it is Burress.  It’s not the 1st time that Burress has had to deal with controversy, and it likely will not be his last.  At least the grand jury did not fall for Burress’s attempts to schmooze them towards not indicting him.  I would love to see Burress spend some time in jail for his actions that could have ended up causing some serious damage to some unsuspecting clubgoer…

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell conditionally reinstated Michael Vick to the NFL today.  Vick is allowed to participate in all pre-season workouts and practices, and he will be allowed to play in the final 2 games of the pre-season.  Goodell will not allow Vick to play in regular season games right off the bat, but he will reconsider activating Vick to a full reinstatement situation by Week 6 of the NFL regular season.  That means if Vick can find a team to take a shot on him, he could play in NFL regular season games as early as October 18th or 19th…

Pretty surprising news considering the hard line that Goodell has taked with respect to other NFL players who have gotten into trouble off the field.  The one difference with Vick is that he served serious jail time (18 months jail time and house arrest) for his involvement in running an interstate dog fighting ring.  Plaxico Burress and Donte Stallworth are 2 NFL players whom Goodell has indefinitely suspended for their actions off the field, and many believed that Goodell would continue Vick’s indefinite suspension even after personally meeting with Vick last week. But I guess things went well enough with Vick for Goodell to feel that Vick had served his debt to society.  If Vick joins with a squad soon, and stays out of trouble for the next few months, it looks like we might see Vick on the football field at some point during the 2009 NFL schedule.  Guess we will have to wait and see…

Several NFL sources have indicated that they expect NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to take harsh actions against Michael Vick and Plaxico Burress under the NFL’s personal conduct policy.  Goodell recently came down harsh on Donte Stallworth who had pled guilty to DUI manslaughter in the death of a Miami construction worker in March.  Stallworth recieved a 30-day jail sentence, 2 years house arrest and 8 years of probation, and Goodell extended that punishment by suspending Stallworth indefinitely.

League sources expect Goodell to indefinitely suspend each of Vick and Burress as well.

Vick is set to be released from federal confinement in mid-July.  Vick served 20 months in jail for his involvement in a dog-fighting ring.  Goodell has indicated that he wants to see Vick show remorse for his actions, and that might mean that Vick will need to stay out of trouble for some period of time before Goodell allows Vick to sign with a team.

Burress has yet to be indicted for his actions this past November.  Burress was charged with possessing and firing an unregistered gun in New York City.  His case has been postponed until mid-September and he refused to accept jail time while negotiating a plead deal with prosecutors.  While Goodell would probably rather see the criminal justice system take action against Burress before the NFL does, because of the slow pace of the proceedings, that will likely not be the case.  Expect Goodell to announce some punishment against Burress before he is able to report to any team’s mini camp for the 2009-2010 NFL season.

Stay tuned…

Plaxico Burress got some good news on Monday after a judge postponed his trial on gun possession charges until the end of September.  Burress’ attorney Benjamin Brafman made even a bolder statement stating that it would be “inconceivable” for Burress to go to trial before the beginning of 2010.  That means Burress will be available to play in the NFL during the 2009-2010 season, assuming Commissioner Roger Gooddell doesn’t take any NFL action against Burress prior to the start of the 2009-2010 NFL season.

Brafman also indicated that he didn’t think that the case would be resolved through a plea deal with prosecutors, so the case would likely go to a grand jury and then Burress would plead not guilty to the charges at trial.  If convicted of the criminal possession of a weapon charge (Burress shot himself in the leg in a Manhattan night club on November 29, 2009), he could face up to 3 1/2 years in jail.  But most first-time offenders for this charge in New York City do not serve jail time.

Burress’ agent Drew Rosenhaus does not believe Commissioner Goodell would take action under the NFL’s personal conduct policy against Burress until the legal system has adjudicated the case against Burress.  Rosenhaus has indicated that several teams are interested in Burress and sources around the league have reported that the New York Jets, Chicago Bears and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are potential suitors for Burress’ services.  Burress has played 9 seasons in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Giants.  He has 7,845 receiving yards, 505 receptions and 55 career touchdown receptions.

We’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear anything on the Burress-NFL front.