Sports

Plaxico Burress CBS Interview: Jail Made him Realize Mistakes

by Michael Small | February 7, 2010 at 04:13 pm

1462 views | 0 Recommendations | 1 comment

Plaxico Burress told CBS before the Super Bowl that life in jail made him realize the damage he did to the New York Giants organization. Burress shot himself in the leg, an incident which led to his jailing and the derailment of the New York Giants 2008 season.

At the time, Burress demanded a trade from the Giants, appealed the team's decision to suspend him and refused to drop the appeal and and continue with his current contract.

Time in jail has changed Burress's stance.

“I personally handwrote (team president and CEO) John Mara a letter and (vice president) Steve Tisch a letter,” Burress said Sunday during an interview on CBS’ “Super Bowl Today” pregame show. “I told them how sorry I was bringing all this bad publicity to such a stand-up organization.

“It made me take a step back and (think), ‘Wow.’ You can’t stress it enough – your choices affect so many people.”

Burress will serve at least 18 months of a 2-year sentence, and he says the first few months in jail made him realize it was important how people perceived him.

Burress, 33, says he believes that he will come back tot he NFL after his sentence a better man, a better father and a better football player. He currently works out four days a week. Burress was a member of the Giants Super Bowl team in 2007, where he caught the game-winning catch against the New England Patriots.