View From The Middle

By Charles Rogers

If you look in Webster's New World Dictionary you'll find the definition of the word "idiot" as "an ignorant person; an adult mentally inferior to a child of three; a very foolish or stupid person." Or, if you look up "idiocy," you'll find "great foolishness or stupidity."

Or, nowadays, you might find the name Plaxico Burress.

As you MUST know by now, Plaxico Burress is one of the star players of the New York Giants professional football team; an entity made up of men who make, literally, millions and millions and millions (said three times to make a point) of American dollars by playing a game every Sunday in front of millions and millions of people where two teams pound each other in what is the most popular sport in the country.

Normally, although there is tackling and crunching of bones and gnashing of teeth and accompanying suspensions for outrageous violations of rules that often send players to hospitals, the game of football is encouraged from high school onward because of its discipline and, when played correctly, its out-and-out sportsmanship, a requirement before a male United States citizen can enter manhood.

And that brings us back to Plaxico Burress, who, although he plays football, has apparently not yet enter-ed manhood.

The man knows how to play football, though. He's been with the New York Giants for over three years now, and has demonstrated he's probably one of the best wide receivers the team has ever had. If you don't know what a wide receiver is, he's the guy the quarterback throws the ball to (its called a pass) and who almost always catches it, thus defeating the op-posing team many, many times, in his case. In fact, Mr. Burress was recently given a five-year extension for $35 million on his current contract with the Giants.

Now, one would think that, with this talent of catch-ing the pass many, many times and thus defeating the other team, there would come some sense of responsibility. After all, by doing what he does, he makes millions and millions (and millions) of dollars.

But not Plaxico Burress. Instead, with a great deal of arrogance, he argues with his teammates and with his managers and with his coach; right there on the field in front of the TV cameras. Not too long ago, he was suspended for a game because he missed a meeting with Coach Tom Coughlin and the rest of the team and wouldn't give any excuse as to why he missed it. That resulted in a heavy fine, too. But what the hell, he surely didnt miss the money OR, apparently, the team. This put him in hot water with the Giants hierarchy too, and word had it that he could be on proverbial thin ice with the team.

The last straw came last Friday night when, accord-ing to published reports, while leaving a Manhattan night club, Plaxico allegedly shot himself in the leg WITH HIS OWN GUN! No, he doesn't have a New York permit for the handgun, although he does have one from Miami, which was allegedly suspended earlier this year. No matter. Having a gun without a permit in New York is a felony even if your name is Plaxico Burress. Luckily, he wasnt badly hurt, accord-ing to reports, and he was released from the hospital the afternoon after the shooting.

Burress had been on the disabled list with the team because of a muscle problem with his leg. As a matter of fact, he was not scheduled to play in the following Sunday's game because of it.

So there he went, tripping merrily...I mean, limping merrily...with his teammates to a local pub WITH A LOADED GUN IN HIS POCKET.

First of all, the gun was unregistered; second, if he was going to a place where he thought he might need a loaded gun, why in the hell did he go in the first place?

This is why the tabloids referred to him as an IDIOT.

Then there's the case of another football great. Michael Vick. He was a quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons until he got caught running a dog fighting ranch in his own back yard, where...I dont want to go into it. It makes me sick to think of it.

Nevertheless, he was sent to jail for a couple of years and, because of his exemplary behavior, will soon be out. And, don'tcha know, there are a few teams offering him a job. Isn't it wonderful that our child-ren have such heroes to look up to?

What ever happened to heroes? Apparently there are very few left in the sports world, with steroids and corruption and arrogant idiots who show no thought of how what they do will make some kind of an impact on others; no thought that there are those who will come after them who, maybe, will try to mold themselves into a likeness where even throwing a foot-ball or catching it will have some kind of positive effect.

I wonder if there is a mother out there who will show a picture of Plaxico Burress or Michael Vick to her 12-year-old son and say, "I want you to grow up to be like that."