Plaxico Burress got pulled over for a traffic infraction in Florida a couple of weeks ago, and the way he reacted was quite telling if you were looking for clues about how seriously he took straightening up and flying right in the wake of his self-inflicted gunshot wound.
"F- - - you! You're going to be in a lot of trouble," Burress told the officer who pulled him over. "I know the sheriff personally."
He answered every question with "F--- you," according to the police report and New York Post. The Broward County Sheriff's Office also said he lied about having a personal connection to Sheriff Al Lamberti. All that for a $150 moving violation.
Burress was anything but chastened by his run-in with the law and his tenuous grasp on freedom and his future as a professional football player. His behavior here illustrates that, as does the apparent straw that broke the camel's back with the Giants. The team asked to renegotiate his contract before entering a greivance hearing about the money they withheld from him in 2008, and, according to ProFootballTalk.com, they would have kept him for the 2009 season if he agreed.
Given his penchant for shooting himself in the foot/leg, it shouldn't surprise anyone that Plax passed. He's now facing jail time, without any safety net of a job, and doing everything he can to let teams know that his talent, great as it is, isn't worth the trouble he causes everywhere but the field.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
