Can Plax come back?

On Monday, Plaxico Burress was released from prison. 

After serving nearly two years on a gun charge at Oneida Correctional Facility in central New York, the former New York Giants wide receiver enters the world a free man, but without a job.

In a game I’d rather forget as a native New Englander, Burress caught a 13-yard pass from Eli Manning with 35 seconds to play to give the Giants a shocking 17-14 win over the undefeated  Patriots in the 2008 Super Bowl. Just nine months later, Burress’ world crumbled. He and then-teammate Antonio Pierce went to a nightclub in New York City, but before he left home, Burress tucked a handgun tucked into his waistband. While at the club, the weapon slipped from his waistband and as he attempted to catch it, it went off and shot him in the thigh. 

So not only did Burress shoot himself in the thigh, he was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, to which he plead guilty and accepted the two-year prison sentence. He was released three months early for good behavior.

I have many opinions of what Burress went through. Let’s start with the obvious – what an idiot! He had everything going for him, why in the world did he feel the need to illegally carry a handgun into a night club? In one second – when he tucked that gun into his waistband – he fell from Super Bowl hero to prisoner 09-R-3260.

Secondly, I think the sentence was extremely – and unfairly – harsh. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has waged a long campaign against illegal guns and publicly reprimanded Burress for carrying his .40-caliber weapon. He wanted to make an example of a high-profile person in his war against illegal weapons. I think Burress deserved punishment for illegally carrying a weapon, but I think he should have been treated fairly – not more severely because of his celebrity status. 

But that’s in the past, and Burress is again a free man and says he’s ready to play football. 

Prior to his sentence, Burress was released by the Giants, and suspended by the league. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell ruled that he was ineligible to sign with any team he completed his jail term, but said he would be reinstated in the league upon the completion of his sentence. 

Making things more difficult for Burress is the lockout – he can’t even talk to teams (on the record at least) until the lockout has ended.

There are many other obstacles standing in his way: Burress has been out of football for three seasons; he will be 34 years old when football season begins (whenever that may be); he has to get into football shape, and that is utterly impossible to do on your own - and the longer the lockout lasts, the longer he will be forced to workout by himself.

But there are also things working in his favor: he is 6’5” and has great hands; that freakish athletic ability he possessed is still there – and that is intriguing to just about every NFL team; with the current NFL lockout, the field is more leveled for Burress – instead of the free agent market season opening in March and teams already having their roster needs filled, he will be entering the market at the same time as everyone.

It worked out for Michael Vick, but Vick was 29 when he re-entered the league after his prison sentence – five years younger than Burress. 

In the end, I have little doubt that Burress will find a team - Terrell Owens proves that you're talented enough, you can always find an NFL team willing to carry your baggage. And a 6’5”, freakishly athletic wide receiver with loads of experience? That’s just too tempting for no team to pick up on.

The question is: will he be a factor? Only time will tell.

Athletes are role models, like it or not

(Ran 11/19)

Athletes are role models, whether they like it or not.

The problem is, the sports headlines each day are always of the troubled athlete, the cheaters or the losers, not the athletes we want our children to look up to.

Mike Tyson was recently arrested, again; this time for allegedly punching a photographer at the airport.

In September, LeGarrette Blount was suspended for the entire season by the University of Oregon for punching an opposing player in the Ducks season-opening loss to Boise State. (The suspension was recently lifted, with Blount having sat out eight games.)

Super Bowl-winning wide receiver Plaxico Burress recently reported to prison to begin a two-year sentence for carrying an unregistered handgun.

I know many athletes don’t ask to be role models, but they need to know and remember that it comes with the territory. When you are paid millions of dollars to play a sport, and you do it in front of a television audience of millions, it doesn’t matter what you asked for — you become a role model.

Of course I’m focusing on the bad examples. There are plenty of good stories out there; the problem is that we don’t hear about them.

On Saturday, boxer Manny Pacquiao won his the championship belt in his unprecedented 7th weight class. But Pacquiao is not only a boxer, he is also a humanitarian, and on Nov. 24, he will be honored for his humanitarianism in his home country of the Phillipeans, when he will be named a 2009 Gusi Peace Prize laureate. The world champion boxer is the award's only athlete among the elite group of 19 honorees from 16 different nations. Pacquiao is also a political force in his country, where he is running for congress.

Pacquiao is being honored for, among other things, braving the tumultuous conditions created by typhoons in the Philippines, where he has broken training to help save lives by delivering food into devastated areas.

Curtis Granderson of the Cleveland Indians was recently named MLB’s Man of the Year for his charitable work. Granderson established the "Grand Kids Foundation," a non-profit that focuses on improving opportunities for inner-city youth in the areas of education and youth baseball. He recently wrote a children's book entitled All You Can Be, which was illustrated by fourth-graders from across the state of Michigan that "encourages children to chase their dreams," and he is an active member of the Action Team national youth volunteer program, which is managed by the Major League Baseball Players Trust and Volunteers of America, and whose goal is to inspire and train the next generation of volunteers in more than 150 high schools across the U.S.

But these athletes don’t get the headlines that Tyson, Blount or Burress do; we are left thinking that boxers are thugs and that all football players are criminals.

What kind of example is this setting?

Yes, the athletes need to take responsibility and understand that they are role models, but the media must also understand this. Instead of focusing on Burress’s stupid decisions, we should publicize the generosity of Pacquiao or Granderson.

Pacquiao and Granderson’s stories are inspiring, and it is athletes like these who can make sports the great assembler that they can be. Sports can bring together people with little else in common, and athletes can encourage generosity in others.

On Monday, I read a story that began with me cringing, and ended with a satisfied smile, when the University of Tennessee turned an ugly situation into a good example for all student-athletes. Two of their star freshman football players were dismissed from the team after being charged in an attempted armed robbery (cringe). There is nothing the team could do about their crime, but instead of sitting on their hands and waiting for something to happen legally, Lane Kiffin – in a rare good move – dismissed them from the team, setting an example that all coaches should follow. It seems that the coaches at Tennessee understand that athletes are role models, and must behave as such.

Instead of focusing on athletes who make poor and sometimes criminal decisions, the media should focus on the positives of sports, those athletes and teams that rise above to succeed and inspire.