Talent Wasted: The Plaxico Burress Story

Plaxico Burress was the most physically gifted offensive player the Giants have had in my lifetime.
I've been a Giants fan since I was six years old in 1985, and at no point during that time has any Giants offensive player possessed the skills Burress did. Tall (6'5"), fast, agile, shifty, with phenomenal hands and the ability to catch the ball in traffic. Certainly no Giants receiver of the last 25 years comes close from a physical standpoint.

http://newyorksportsjerk.blogspot.com/2009/08/talent-wasted.html

Sadly, Plaxico Burress never reached his full potential as a player, and thanks to his own recklessness - in addition to his questionable work ethic - never will. He could have been an all-time great, and Giants legend, and instead he's going to jail. You can debate the "fairness" of the two-year prison sentence Burress will serve for bringing a loaded gun into a Manhattan nightclub last November, and it's a discussion I've had all day.

You can make the case the Plax was the only victim of his crime, and also a victim of his own stupidity. Fact is, if he was going to carry a gun into a club in any city in the United States, he picked the wrong city. There is no gray area in New York City gun laws, and what gray area there is, Plax's attorney found in getting his client only two years, when he was facing three or more if convicted.

I've heard all day about how Donte Stallworth only served 24 days for DUI manslaughter in Florida, and to that I say, "so what?"

That's Florida's problem. Go talk to them about letting celebrities buy their way out of legal trouble. It's a joke and something should be done to make sure people like Stallworth and Leonard Little get more than a slap on the wrist for literally killing people, but that argument is totally irrelevant to the discussion of Plaxico's crime and New York City gun laws.

Even before last November's arrest, Burress had the incredibly vexing ability to waste his talent, and was doing his best to throw his career down the toilet at every opportunity.

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