Jabroni Free Sports: Michael Vick

Friday, August 19, 2011

The Plaxico Burress Saga: Earning A Fresh Start

Plaxico Burress won it all in 2008. One year later, he was serving time.

As newly-acquired wide receiver Plaxico Burress prepares to make his New York Jets debut September 11 against the Dallas Cowboys, the career-halting incident from nearly three years ago seems to be in the moral rear view mirror (but don't get me wrong, he will still hear it from opposing fans). In the wake of Michael Vick's recent redemption, the question has to be asked: has Plaxico done enough to get the boot off our shitlist?

About the Authors

Dean and Gabe started Jabroni Free Sports in the summer of 2011, a couple of weeks after they both graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

Dean has two years of experience blogging about topics in sports and music. He interned for the Yale Sports Publicity Department in the summer of 2010. A history major, he wrote his senior essay on the "image problem" and racial dynamics in the NBA in the 1970s and 80s. He aspires to earn his stripes in digital or broadcast sports media.

Jabronies have been Dean's pet peeve since he first saw the word printed in a since-forgotten issue of Sports Illustrated for Kids. He dedicates this blog to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, a lifelong crusader in the effort to rid the world of its posers.

Like many other lifelong residents of Connecticut, Dean is caught in a veritable no-man's land of fandom between the diametrically opposed forces of Boston and New York. So, in addition to his undying loyalty towards UConn basketball and harboring an irrational belief that the Hartford Whalers will eventually return, he roots for the Knicks, Jets, and Red Sox.

Gabe is a budding sportswriter, whose work has been featured on CNN International, and CNN's World Sport. He runs Managing Madrid, a Real Madrid blog on SBNation and is a featured Real Madrid columnist on Bleacher Report.

He grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, so he loves the Packers, the Bucks, and the Badgers with all his heart; and he lived in Boston for a year in 1996, so naturally he loves the Yankees.

His life ambition is to be yelled at by ex-Real Madrid GM Jorge Valdano during a press conference for asking him an uncomfortable question, and then being removed forcibly by security. (He did meet Valdano when he lived in Madrid, but never got to say anything questionable to him because he was too afraid of being kicked in the face. True story.)