There are a lot of similarities between my relationships with my favorite sports teams and my relationships with women. Introduce me to someone promising, like a highly touted draft pick, and it’s not too long before I’m infatuated. Watch me during a Giants game, and I’ll constantly repeat a player’s first name and profess my love for him when he makes a good play. When he makes a bad play, I’ll flip out, not because I hate him, but because I’ve invested myself in him and think he’s better than that.
If my fan life does mimic my love life, then Plaxico Burress is the crazy girl who I kept going back to, even though I had a million reasons not to.
If my fan life does mimic my love life, then Plaxico Burress is the crazy girl who I kept going back to, even though I had a million reasons not to.
Even when times were good with Plaxico, the warning signs were there. The games where he got shut down in the first half and gave up in the second. The plays where he turned his back on an overthrown ball as the defender collected the interception. The rumors of team fines and continual traffic violations.
My friends told me that he was just another diva receiver. But I knew better. They didn't know what we had. They hadn’t read The GM, where author Tom Callahan has testimonies from players and managers talking about how Burress was kinder, smarter, and more dedicated than he appeared. In it, Burress explains his attitude towards his art:
“I have a gift. The reason I know it’s a gift is that I don’t always understand it. Sometimes I’ll reach out to touch a ball that really isn’t catchable, and all of a sudden I’ve got it in my hands. I don’t know how. I wasn’t trying to catch it. I couldn’t catch it. But I’ve got it all the same. It’s amazing to me sometimes.”
And yet even that statement, seemingly humble, hid another warning sign. Plaxico was clearly grateful for the talents given to him by God. But those talents apparently excused him from the laws of us mere mortals. The rules never applied to him. But the good times always made me forget the bad. Burress never led the league in catches, yards, or touchdowns, but he always showed me just enough to make me think that he could.
Finally, my faith in Plaxico was rewarded in that magical 2007 season. He injured his ankle early in the season, and probably should have had surgery to repair it. Instead, he gutted out every game, barely able to practice during the week, yet always showing up on Sundays. In his NFC Championship masterpiece, he dusted Al Harris and the Green Bay secondary for 11 catches and 151 yards, carrying his team to a Super Bowl. After that game, I put in my order for a Plax jersey. We'd turned a corner. I was committed. Two weeks later, he caught the game-winning touchdown against the Patriots to bring a perfect ending to a heroic season.
When you stick with a player for years, especially one as maddening as Burress, you wait for that moment when he proves that all the ups and downs were worth it. Most of the time, he disappoints you. But this time, he didn’t. Or so I thought.
Of course, it was too good to be true. First came the contract griping before the start of the 2008 season. Then came some more injuries, followed by a suspension and reports that Burress had been fined by the Giants dozens of times for transgressions ranging from lateness to completely unexplained absences. The shot heard round the football world was fired in the early morning hours of November 29th, but for Giant fans, the writing was on the wall long before then.
And now, almost three years after Burress’ mindless act killed our chances of a repeat, I still wanted him back. I thought that maybe he'd changed, that maybe we'd be able to get all of his talent without any of the drama. Many Giants fans agreed with me, probably because the team hasn't been quite the same since he left. Being single makes you think about your exes, and missing the playoffs always makes you pine for the good old days, no matter how crazy they were.
Eli Manning and the Giants brass knew better. They figured that a 34-year old receiver with a history of leg injuries and a big ego was a very risky gamble. They saw his veiled shots at Tom Coughlin over the summer as a sign that he hadn’t lost his sense of entitlement. When they offered him an incentive-laden contract that included clauses about showing up to team meetings on time, Burress declined.
Eli Manning and the Giants brass knew better. They figured that a 34-year old receiver with a history of leg injuries and a big ego was a very risky gamble. They saw his veiled shots at Tom Coughlin over the summer as a sign that he hadn’t lost his sense of entitlement. When they offered him an incentive-laden contract that included clauses about showing up to team meetings on time, Burress declined.
When I saw the news four weeks ago that Plaxico signed with the Jets, I commented to my friend Cheryl that it was like seeing your ex-girlfriend run off, not with some Abercrombie model, but with a loud-mouthed fat guy with a tribal tattoo. It was strange to see Plaxico standing on the other side of the field during the Giants-Jets game tonight. My head tells me that it was for the best. Myself, and the rest of the Giant fans out there, needed this break. Our team gave Plax plenty of chances, and he squandered all of them. But I'm ashamed to admit, I would have given him one more. I wonder if that crazy girl is still single...
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