On a Day We Should Be Honoring Sean Taylor, Plaxico Burress Dominates the News

Sean Taylor died a year ago Thursday. He was shot in his Florida home by an intruder, a senseless act that, 12 months later, still defies explanation. The Redskins, the team that drafted him fifth overall in 2004, will induct him into the Ring of Fame today, the 43rd player to receive that distinction.

Washington faces the New York Giants in an important division game this afternoon, and a win would take them to 8-4, good for second in the NFC East. Vegas has the Giants giving four points, and that line presumably reflects the news that Plaxico Burress, the NFL's version of Barney Fife, would not play. Not because he accidentally shot himself in the leg, but because he was already listed as out with a right hamstring injury.

That Burress' inability to not shoot himself leads the Sunday headlines, in a week when the league and its fans should be memorializing Sean Taylor, is a microcosm of his New York career. The Giants have fined and suspended Burress for any number of transgressions (and this doesn't even include his more absurd off-field antics) and his latest act -- fumbling a gun down his pants before shooting a hole in his thigh -- is both symbolic and foreboding.

Symbolic because Braylon Edwards is the only thing standing between Burress and the worst hands in the NFL, and foreboding because Burress' career in New York is effectively over. Even if the Giants are willing to give him another chance, he might still have to deal with felony gun-possession charges, not to mention NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who can comically be described as ruling with an iron fist.

It's a shame that we even have to talk about this, especially on the anniversary of Taylor's death. Just promise that in between pointing and gawking at Burress' stupidity, you'll take a moment to remember Taylor, a 24-year-old kid who lost his life for reasons that still remain a mystery.