Monday, August 3, 2009

Burress must feel stupid, but jail not the answer

Plaxico Burress was catching the Super Bowl winning touchdown less than two years ago. Today he was indicted on felony gun charges.

In case you don't follow sports, Burress was stashing a firearm in his sweatpants while at night club last fall when the gun went off in his pants and wounded him in the leg. So not only does he have to live with the embarrassment of shooting himself in the leg, he could face up to 15 years in jail.

While I am all for a man being punished for being an imbocile, Burress doesn't deserve to go to jail for an extended period of time. No one else was harmed. Burress wasn't threatening to shoot others when the gun went off. He just wore the wrong pair of pants. Well, he also was carrying a gun around illegally.

How could Burress get more than a month in jail when Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth only got 24 days in the big house? Stallworth was driving while drunk and high and killed a pedestrian. And Stallworth wasn't just drunk. He blew a .126.

So here we have a player who shot himself and harmed no one, and he will probably get at least a year in prison. Meanwhile, Stallworth has already served his 24 days. Stallworth did end up paying the family of his victim, the amount of which is unknown, but that just upsets me more. A man gets off easy because he has a big checkbook?

Now this entry has become more about Stallworth than Burress, and I'm OK with that. The man knowingly drank a lot and smoked marijuana before getting behind the wheel. How messed up is that?

And Stallworth is not the only one. Athletes are constantly coming up in the news with DUI's, and they are rarely penalized for it. It's a joke and hopefully NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the other major sports' commissioners will crack down on this problem.

As for Burress. Give the man a break. With the shooting of Sean Taylor, it's easy to understand why NFL players would carry guns with them. They are easily identifiable people. While I don't condone athletes to lug guns around with them wherever they go, I also can't blame them.

Guns, Guns, Guns - The Guess Who

5 comments:

  1. False. NY gun laws are strict it carries a minimum sentence for a reason, to discourage idiots from bringing in concealed weapons. If he is really worried about his safety, bring a bodyguard with you. You can't skirt the rules because he didn't hurt any body else. The law says if you get caught carrying an unregistered gun in NYC you will get this many years, if you dont want to do the time, then maybe dont take the risk of bringing a concealed weapon.

    I'm gonna chalk you vouching for him up to the fact that he used to wear black and gold. Homer.

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  2. While it may seem silly that he should get jail time b/c he only hurt himself and no one else, he did break the law. He should be punished according. If he is worried about his safety I agree he should get a body guard, or carry a registered weapon. I do think however that it is crazy that he could spend more time in jail than someone who actually killed someone else.

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  3. Excellent post Rickel. This post was more about the parody of these two situations than lobbying for Burress not serving jail time, which is dead on. Stallworth should serve 5-10 years. I have a friend that served 90 days for having a scale and a bag of weed. Going back to a previous Rickelsblog post, if he starts a game before Vick does the NFL is a joke.

    I don't think anyone from Pittsburgh really likes Plax, givemethepen. He didn't hustle until his contract year.

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  4. I said I am all for a man being punished for a crime. I just think the law is flawed and people get off way too easy for DUI's.

    As for the bodyguard, ask Lil' Bow Wow how that went for him.

    I have no love for Burress. He's not a Steeler anymore and didn't want to stay because he wasn't the clear cut No. 1. He is also a moron, as previously stated. He twice spiked the ball after making catches where he was not touched.

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