WATERCOOLER CHAT: PLAXICO INDICTED, MEYER SIGNS BIG CONTRACT, FIGHTING IN JETS CAMP

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Plaxico BurressIn the NFL, some bad news for former New York Giants wide-receiver Plaxico Burress. For those that don’t remember, Burress shot himself in the thigh at a Manhattan night club last year.  He was ridiculed by the media, but more notably was arrested on weapons charges.  He was later released by the Giants, and yesterday had to stand in front of a Grand Jury and await judgment.  The ruling:  He was officially indicted of weapons charges, and, if convicted, Plax will face a minimum of 3.5 years in prison.

Is this harsh?  That’s the argument around the sports world.  On one hand, Burress did have a gun, and you shouldn’t carry around a gun in public.  On the other, he didn’t hurt anyone but himself, and should he lose 3.5 years of his life on top of that?  Many thought he was unstable at the time, and could have presented a much larger danger, and caused much more harm than just shooting himself in the thigh.  The larger issue here is that Burress had everything going for him before this.  He was making a ton of money, would have re-signed with the Giants for even more money, and wouldn’t have to worry about funds the rest of his life.  And then… he just threw it all away.  At the same time, Burress’ teammate, Antonio Pierce, who was with him on that night, was NOT indicted by the jury.

Elsewhere, some notable news in the college football world.  Yesterday, the defending champion Florida Gators made their head coach, Urban Meyer, a VERY rich man.  Meyer joined the $4 million dollar club (per year). A group reserved for coaches helming the country’s biggest college football powerhouses.  And more importantly, joining the ranks of those doing it well (Think USC’s Pete Carroll).  Meyer signed a six-year deal with the University of Florida for $24 million dollars.  Wow!  Then again, it IS deserved.  He did win two National Championships in four years.

Mark SanchezFinally, a little bit of discouraging news out of the New York Jets training camp.  The Jets are all psyched up landing USC’s Mark Sanchez in the draft.  He’s supposed to be the savior, and give the Jets something to root for in the next decade.  That may well be true, but yesterday in camp, the Jets had a fight.  It came on a practice play, when running back Thomas Jones threw a punch at James Ihedigbo.  Other players came in to break up the fight, but when players are throwing punches in training camp, and having, what they called, “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots”, you may have a bit of a chemistry headache heading into the season. 

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