MySports Today

It wasn’t all pretty, but at least Michael Vick showed that he probably still has what it takes to play professional football in the NFL.  Vick got his 1st taste of live NFL action when he appeared in the Eagles 3rd pre-season game on Thursday night against the Jaguars.  The Eagles used Vick as a quarterback and wide receiver in a few different sets.  Vick completed all 4 of his passes for 19 yards and he also had 1 rush for 1 yard.  Nothing great, but nothing bad.

Although it initially appeared that Eagles Quarterback Donovan McNabb was upset that Vick saw quarterback action so early in the game, the 2 could be seen joking on the sidelines in the 2nd half.  McNabb completed 21 of 36 passes for 244 yards, with 1 touchdown and 1 interception – good for a 76.6 passer rating.  Can’t complain too much with a night like that.

Vick will be able to play in the Eagles final pre-season contest next week against the Jets in New Jersey.  After that, his return in an NFL regular season game will be at the discretion of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.  It will be interesting to see how much game action Vick sees when it counts during the regular season.  We predict a heavy dose of D-Mac with limited action from Vick early on…

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…

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…