Eli Manning won't be the only person with connections to both the Giants and Sunday's Super Bowl. The CBS pregame show will also feature a jailhouse interview with Plaxico Burress. We'd tell you exactly when to tune in, but with the show starting sometime on Friday night we'd be lost as to figure out exactly when they'll turn attention to the poster child for gun control.
Thankfully, the New York Post has some details from his sitdown with his former Steelers coach Bill Cowher. Burress says he hand-wrote letters of apology to Giants owners John Mara and Steve Tisch and vowed to make a triumphant return to the NFL. He's not letting incarceration keep him from preparing for the big day, however. He's working out four days a week, although his workouts are a bit limited by his surroundings.
"It’s not LA Fitness or Bally’s, but I do push-ups, sit-ups," Burress said. "I make do."
Nothing too surprising or earth-shattering there as you probably assumed that Plax would like a shot to continue his football career when his prison term comes to an end. What is of some interest is the fact that Cowher conducted the interview and said afterward that he believes Burress deserves a chance to resume his career.
We've already heard the chatter linking Cowher to the Giants job should it open up after next season. Cowher's denied Jerome Bettis's assertion that he's waiting around for the job to open, but that isn't the same thing as denying interest in a chance to coach the Giants and he's been pretty open about being willing to consider a return to the sideline in the future.
Just spitballing, but let's say Cowher does wind up replacing Tom Coughlin and Burress gets out of jail and has a hard time finding someone willing to give him an opportunity. Could there be a possible second go-round for Burress in Big Blue? The gut feeling is that it would be too big a PR nightmare for the Giants to enter into of their own volition, but sports can make for strange bedfellows sometimes.
Okay, maybe it's not of that much interest. It's a decent way to while away a few minutes on an obscenely slow sports news day, though.
Sports
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.
