In my mind our society is backwards in a lot of ways. Many times I have stated we live in a Bizarro world where the opposite of common sense often takes place. In the sports world this is even more prevalent where announcers will do a complete 180 depending on the player (see: Wes Welker's Snow Angel vs. any Chad Johnson celebration in the past five years). Our justice system also seems to live by Bizarro rules from time to time and very often they collide with the sports world. So without further ado I give you the case of:
MIDWESTSPORTSFANS.COM HAS A GREAT ARTICLE ON WHY PLAX WAS SUSPENDED WHILE HARRISON WAS ALLOWED TO PLAY. READ IT HERE
What I am going to do is present to you the general facts of each situation and then we will talk about what should happen if we lived in a common sense world and what will happen in Bizarro world. We will start with Plaxico Burress.
Super Bowl hero Plaxico Burress had a very rough 2008. Several disciplinary issues with the Giants which led to a suspension and a benching. A couple of domestic disputes where the police had to come to his residence but nothing serious enough to file charges. Also some legal issues with a damage rental car. Not Pacman Jones type of drama, but enough to make you wonder where Plaxico's head is at sometimes.
One night Plaxico and teammate Antonio Pierce went to make it rain in the club. Plaxico doing his best Three Stooges impersonation accidently shoots himself in the leg. Next thing you know we have assumed hospital names, a possible hidden gun and an indictment on illegal gun possession charges.
The mayor is on TV stating how Burress should be prosecuted to the highest extent of the law. I guess innocent until proven guilty just flew out the window.
These charges carry a minimum sentence of three and half years in prison.
Now lets talk about Marvin Harrison.
Marvin Harrison owns a club Philadelphia. He admits that he got into a scuffle with a man a week before the man came back to the club allegedly causing problems.
Minutes afterwards gunfire rings out two people are wounded and a child is hit with flying glass. When initially question Harrison states all his guns are at his house. Police finds a gun at a car wash Harrison's owns a day later. Harrison tells police that the gun hasn't been fired in a year, ballistics test show the gun was the one fired in the shooting.
Two witnesses state that Harrison is the shooter. One of the witness changes their story a lot the other has always maintained Harrison was the shooter.
The DA decided it would be best not to make an announcement on the case until the NFL season is over and when they do decide to announce something it is to say they won't be bringing charges against Harrison for "Lack of evidence". I find it curious why a criminal investigation would wait until the NFL season was over, but I digress.
Now that you know the general facts of each case lets think about this logically.
We have Plaxico who is looking at a three and half year bid for shooting himself while we have Harrison who has gotten off even though:
A- He lied to the police
B- It was his gun in the shooting
C- Two people have identified him as the shooter.
Now you tell me there isn't something wrong with this picture. I am not assuming Harrison's guilt, but the fact is it took almost six months to say they wouldn't charge him whereas it took the NYPD six minutes to charge Burress is a bit disturbing.
I am also not saying Burress should get off, but I do believe there should be laws in place where if you shoot yourself by accident with no intent to hurt anyone else that you aren't sent to jail for three and half years regardless if the gun was legal or not.
But as I stated in the beginning we live in a Bizarro world where allegedly shooting at someone else is easier to get off than shooting yourself. Just think about that for a second. Really think about it.
Here is the five million dollar question if the situations were reverse and Harrison shot himself in the leg and two witnesses stated Burress shot them after a fight who is indicted now?
Exactly
While I get what you are trying to say the fact is NYC and Philadelphia probably have different rules in place with their gun laws. Plaxico was in a public place with a lot of people and Bloomberg wanted to push his political agenda.
Marvin's situation I don't think had a lot of people involved and I don't know what politics are involved there.
In Philly if it is determined that a gun that is used in a crime is registered to you. You are held criminally liable. There is no question Harrison's gun but why no charges?
Very well done Robert.
The differences in treatment of Plaxico Burress and Marvin Harrison has baffled me all year long. And not just by the cops and courts, but by the media too. The media has seemed to be so quick to dismiss the Harrison story. Yet, it didn't require too much effort or digging on my part to find out a lot of details about the Harrison case from people "in the know", all of whom "know" that it was Harrison and are baffled by the lack of follow through by the DA. Why are major media sources not picking up on this? Yet, ESPN drags out a year-old Pacman Jones story like it's huge breaking news.
I don't get it.
Harrison is lucky that his quiet, aloof demeanor has been taken for him being a "good" guy. I'm not saying he is necessarily a bad guy, but the reality is certainly far different from the squeaky clean image portrayed and believed by most. Plaxico Burress already had a history of attitude problems in Pittsburgh, and as Robert pointed out, other small scrapes with the law. Thus, when the gun story broke it was huge and his guilt was never questioned.
There has certainly been an inequity in how these two cases have been treated. At the end of the day, Harrison's actions (and yes, I am assuming the allegations are true, and with good reason) harmed three other people. Plaxico's harmed himself.
I keep wondering why people aren't catching onto this, and I'm glad Robert posted what he did. Maybe more people will start to notice this.
jrod---plaxico's guilt was never questioned because he shot himself in the leg in a club with an unliscenced gun ,then went to the hospital and lied about it! it has nothing to do with his previous "scrapes". It doesn't take a genious to realize that his image is what has fueled the media to jump all over him but i don't think it has anything to do with the simple fact he that he got caught, its a open-shut case. being from brooklyn i kno the gun laws in nyc are no joke and i don't think they're very fair. Errybody got guns and most of them aren't liscenced. they make it next to impossible to get one legally and if u go to the streets u get 3 and a half years. thats the hipocracy of our democracy. not for nothin, i agree completely that its crazy how the two seperate incidents are being treated but, if marvin harrison had shot himself in a nyc club...trust and believe he would be cooked right now.
Great observation... believe it or not... I thought about that from time to time since the Plax thing. Like Ok... what exactly did Plax do.. he facing 3 years... and how is marv playing like it's all good and no big deal? Not rocket science stuff... just logical regardless of where you live... doesn't make any sense.
What state your in shouldn't determine THAT MUCH.. especially in the same exact country.
Would love to get you on the show sometime...check it out on the web M-F 7-10 PM ET - 4-7 PT www.wolam.com and for a look at the TV version... www.youtube.com/sportsgroovetv
Very good read and observation Litall. I've been wondering about the "difference" in the two cases myself. A)Bloomberg has a political agenda that crucifying young black athletes and young black men in general will win him major brownie points if he decides to make a play for governor or something higher B)Let's review the two parallels. Marvin although just as caught up with guns and poor decision making grew up a catholic school boy who went off to Syracuse versus Plax who went to public school in VA Beach after which he spent a year at a military academy before ending up at underdog Michigan State. Which "bad boy" would win you more ratings and sell more papers? The bad boy who admits to a fight but lies about firing a gun with a shaky witness? or the man who fires an illegally possessed gun on his own person in a public place but hides the gun and suffers from a history of mishap after mishap? No question Plaxico
Fair? Hell no! As bizarre as it is to those of us who have common sense in realizing that "innocent until proven guilty" means little to nothing in this country if the media and government has a target over your head, you know what they say about common sense. It's not so common!
Hi. Well done is better than well said.
I am from Latvia and , too, and now am writing in English, give true I wrote the following sentence: ""
Thank you very much 8). Keisha.
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