The New York Giants took on the Washington Redskins Sunday afternoon on the first anniversary of late Redskin Sean Taylor's death. The Skins weren't the only team with a conspicuous absence.
Late Friday evening, Giants star wide receiver Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the leg while attending a nightclub with teammate Antonio Pierce. Early Monday morning, Burress turned himself in to the New York City Police Department on charges of criminal possession of an illegal firearm.
In his absence, the Giants handled the Redskins quite easily, winning by a margin of 23-7.
This shooting is just another example of senseless jeopardy to which professional athletes subject themselves. Two active NFL players have been murdered in nightclub-related shootings, one (Taylor) murdered in his own home, and a host of others have committed a host of other felonies.
Off the top of my head, I know of three well-publicized arrests for possession of illegal substances -- Matt Jones, wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars, for cocaine; Nick Kaczur, offensive guard for the New England Patriots, for Oxycontin without prescription; and Santonio Holmes, wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, for marijuana possession.
In what was supposed to be the bildungsroman of the season, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones took a chance on troubled cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones and signed him to a lucrative contract. Much to his surprise, but much expected by rational football fans, Pacman Jones was the focus of an altercation at a hotel with his own bodyguard. Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL, had told Jones that he was a jaywalking-ticket away from banishment from the league. A three-game suspension was levied, which Jones used to enter an alcohol-abuse rehabilitation program.
I know it isn't too cool to cite a native son, but Marcus Vick pulled a gun on some hecklers in a parking lot. His older brother -- Michael "Ron Mexico" Vick -- decided to set a better example by trying to stash marijuana in a secret compartment of a water bottle, only to be accused of and prosecuted for running a dog fighting ring.
Major League Baseball is cleaning up its PR problem. Steroids stories are no longer as common as foul balls, and our once-and-future national pastime is reinventing itself as the true underdog sport.
The Olympics in Beijing saw controversy with allegations that the Chinese government doctored the birth certificates of its gymnastics team. Those girls did look awfully young.
What is happening to sports? How come our entertainers have to remain in a state of infidelity, deception and imperceptiveness?
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Really? Canseco gets skewered for being inconsiderate, even though his book was a major reason Congress and MLB finally took the steroids issue seriously? You'd rather have steroids still a major part of baseball, than have Canseco have the guts, regardless of the motive, come forward? Don't blame the problem, blame something else... totally defies logic. By that way of thinking, the person who calls the cops to report a crime is worse than the murderer/rapist/drunk driver...
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Something that nobody ever seems to talk about is whether professional athletes actually break the law at a higher rate than the general public. For instance, there are nearly 1700 players in the NFL, and we hear of maybe a few dozen or so that get in trouble each year. Earlier this year, many news sources ran articles revealing the fact that more than one percent of Americans are behind bars. No group of people is going to be perfect, and I'm not so sure that players are any worse than the general American public.
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how many times is the Collegiate times going to write an editorial on this same tired subject. I swear I've seen this opinion piece at least once a year since I've been here. We get it, athletes aren't as good a role models as they were when you were kids. They never were good role models, you were just young and naive.
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Plaxico's case is an interesting one that's being over-generalized here. Turns out that the guy actually had a permit to carry a gun in another state, but NY just didn't recognize it. Now, if other NFL players have been shot as you argue, can't you perhaps see a motive for carrying his gun when he goes out? Especially to a night club. Sounds like a calculated risk that he took to protect himself, and that it came back and bit him. I'm definitely not defending him, but it just seems that no one is considering WHY he broke the law; most other violators are malicious, whereas he was not.
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