I think Eric Kennedy of
Big
Blue Interactive put
it best when he said "Thank God the Giants won it all last year because
had they not, and the Giants were 11-1 right now with this
Plaxico [Burress] mess going on, I would really think the Gods were
out to get us as Giants fans. The more this whole thing sinks in, the more
sickened I feel about it."
It's amazing how things can change in the blink of an eye.
One mistake - one foolish mistake - now has Burress facing up to 15-years in prison
and possibly the end of his NFL career.
Sure, various winds are still swirling and this whole mess is
far from settled, but it does not look good for one of the Super Bowl XLII heroes.
And honestly, that's depressing as a Giants' fan.
What Burress did was as boneheaded as it gets and he
deserves some sort of punishment, but I don't think throwing the book at him,
as the "honorable" Mayor Michael
Bloomberg suggested,
is the answer.
"If we don't prosecute [him] to the fullest extent of
the law, I don't know who on Earth we would," Bloomberg said. "It
makes a sham, a mockery of the law. And it's pretty hard to argue the guy
didn't have a gun and that it wasn't loaded. You've got bullet holes in and out
to show that it was there."
Less than a week ago, Burress' teammate Steve Smith was robbed
at gunpoint. Less than a year ago, his former teammate Gibril Wilson was also robbed at
gunpoint. And within the last year and a half, we've seen two other NFL
athletes murdered -- Sean Taylor
and Darrent Williams
- while a third, Richard
Collier, will be paralyzed for the rest of his life.
Say what you want about Burress' attitude problem and
Giants-related incidents, but how can anyone justify punishing him to the
fullest extent of the law when he was merely taking an action to protect
himself.
I know, I know ... we're going to hear all about how he had
time to get a pistol permit and how he could have killed someone else, but he
didn't. He made the mistake of not having a permit and that's a big no-no, but
does that mean he had no legitimate right to protect himself?
Again, Burress should be punished ... I cannot possibly
express that enough. But sending him to prison for doing nothing more than injuring
himself is preposterous.
These athletes do little more than any other party-goers,
but are constantly faced with harsher dangers just because of who they are and
what they do. And are they given additional protection? Do police agencies make
sure they're constantly protected? Does the NFL offer them personal bodyguards?
The answer is no ... these athletes
are left to fend for themselves, and then when they do, they're criticized and
ridiculed.
Society has created messes like these, and it's the murderers
and violent thieves that should be made an example of ... not the athletes. A
perfect example would be Venjah Hunte,
one of the accused murderers in the Sean Taylor case.
Hunte agreed to a plea-deal and is currently facing 29-years
in prison ... for murder. Meanwhile, Burress is looking at up to 15-years in prison
(only 14-year less) for what? Wounding himself accidentally at a nightclub.
These athletes are sitting ducks, who are systematically
being picked off, and now we're going to punish them for attempting to protect
themselves ... brilliant.
Meanwhile, sick people like Adam
Jones and Michael
Vick constantly get (or will get) second, third and fourth chances.
And don't even get me started on Ray
Lewis or O.J.
Simpson ...
Bottom line: All of these punishments should be consistent.
It's unfair to let an athlete off simply because he's an athlete, and it's
unfair to make an example of an athlete simply because they're in the public's
eye.
If an athlete protecting himself is really that much of a
concern, then some agency should step up and make sure they're not going to be
murdered simply for trying to live their lives.
Allowing Vick to slaughter dogs in horror movie-like
fashion, only to serve a minimum amount of time does not really set an example.
Nor does allowing Adam "Pacman" Jones to basically do whatever he wants with no
consequences.
As for Burress, he should be in some trouble, but seeing
more prison time than Vick, Jones, Lewis and Simpson combined doesn't seem very
justified or acceptable, in my humble opinion.