Plaxico Burress talks about gunshot, what might have been

No fan of the New York Giants likes to think back on what might have been in 2008 if Plaxico Burress had not taken a gun to a nightclub and accidentally put a bullet in his leg. The Giants were 11-1 at the time and Burress basically blew up the Giants' chance at a second straight Super Bowl, blew up a a good chunk of his career and cost himself two years of freedom.

Burress, much to his credit, recently sat down and talked candidly about that night, it's impact on the Giants and -- more importantly -- on his life.

Here are a few of the things Burress said:

"I made a bad decision, I paid the price for it. I just thought that I would walk in the hospital, go home, patch it up and let's go play football. It didn't work out that way for me."

"Did I make a mistake? Yeah? Did I pay the ultimate price for it? Of course. Going through it all made me realize a lot of things about the media. Made me realize a lot of things about the business. Made me realize a lot of things about myself, friends, family, so on and so forth. The culmination of all of those things has made me better. It made me who I am today."

"We always say that we have regrets. We were 11-1 at the time. I think we would have won another Super Bowl. We will never know. I beat myself up over that. I feel like I let my teammates down during that time."

"You've gotta be careful. You gotta think of yourself as a CEO, the CEO of your own body. Treat it right, make good decisions and everything will work out for you."

Burress hasn't played in the NFL since appearing in four games for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2012. It certainly sounds as if he has grown some since his days with the Giants, and that is a good thing. Giants' fans will always wish the 2008 season, and Burress's career, had turned out differently. Putting that aside, though, you have to hope he does have his life in order and that his experience can help others.