Plaxico an 'Example?' Let's Hope So

"They're trying to make an example out of him," several NFL players have said today, about Plaxico Burress. And while that smacks of trite hogwash -- unthinking solidarity for solidarity's sake -- all I can think is that if "they" really are trying to make an example of Burress, let's hope they succeed.

Let's hope that every one of these NFL stupidity/thuggery cases works as an example. Let's hope that the next time one of these jokers decides to put a gun in his pocket for a night out at the club that the image of Burress in a prison cell flashes through his mind, and that he puts the damn thing back in the drawer. Let's hope that the next time one of these self-styled superheroes decides he doesn't need to call a cab when he's drunk, he thinks about Donte' Stallworth sitting out this whole season, and he gives somebody else his keys. Let's hope anybody who's into anything as stupid and pointless and disgusting as dogfighting remembers the past two years of Michael Vick's life, and not the past two weeks.

---

---

If any of those things happen, then it won't matter whether "they" were trying to make an example out of Burress or Stallworth or Vick. All that will matter is that they did. And if the players who are talking today about it as some kind of bad thing really stopped and thought about it, they'd realize that Burress-as-example would be the best possible outcome for this entire goofy drama.

I understand where people are coming from. Some of the people talking today are Burress' friends and former teammates, who like the guy and are upset and sad that he's going to jail. Some of the people talking today, like NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith, are trying to use these cases to make a valid point about the inequity of the NFL's discipline policy. And that makes sense too.

But to say that "they" (whoever "they" are -- the grand jury, the mayor of New York, whoever) are trying to make an example out of Burress is foolish. There are laws on the books. They're there to protect the safety of people who live and work and play in this country. Burress broke the one that says you can't discharge an unlicensed gun in a crowded club. Not that I go to clubs, but personally I like that law and all of its practical applications. It comforts me to know that there's some restriction placed on people who would feel like that can just carry around any old gun they have lying around and fire it whenever they feel like it. That's a law that I think has some merit.

So I'm not buying it when Shaun O'Hara says, "I think it's a little harsh, and they're trying to make an example of him." Burress was subject to the same kind of discipline under the law that you, I or O'Hara would face under the same circumstances. Pro athletes are conditioned to think that they should get special favors from our society, so when one of them goes down like this it's natural for others to think he's getting some kind of raw deal. But O'Hara is wrong. Burress isn't an example. He's just another schmuck in an orange jumpsuit. That's the whole point of what went down today.

John Mara, according to Newsday's Bob Glauber, offered this: "Had this been Joe the Plumber, would he have gotten two years? I'm not so sure about that." Now, I don't know if Mara was talking about the loudmouth from the McCain campaign in particular or just all the generic Joe the Plumbers in America. But regardless, I can't see where he's coming from. Burress pleaded guilty today because, as his attorney said directly, there was no legal defense for what he did. I have to assume any Joe, John, Bob or Dan in the same circumstances would have reached the same conclusion, with a similar result. This is about personal responsibility. By pleading guilty, Burress effectively acknowledged that.

Mara also called this whole thing, "An American tragedy," and there we agree. This is a sad story, ultimately, of a guy who had everything and threw it away by being stupid. It's sad when that happens, whether you like the guy or not, whether you think it's justified or not. When a grown man with a family and a big old pile of really good stuff going for him loses control of his life, that's sad, whether he's famous or not. And the end result may well be that he gets held out as an example.

But that's just the end result, not the intent. What happened to Plaxico Burress today is nobody's fault but his. Nobody planted the gun. Nobody forced him to bring it with him. Nobody filed any charges that were out of line with the crime for which he was accused.

Nobody set out to try and make an example of him. In the end, that may have happened anyway. And if it did, then the best we can all hope is that somebody uses it as one.