TOPICAL TUESDAYS: BOO GIANTS

I don't know, I'd rather have some off field issues with a nearly undefeated team than a bunch of saints at 6-5-1 (yes, 6 wins, 5 losses and 1 tie... the Eagles tied a game this year. Actually of all the games in NFL history that have ended in ties, the Eagles have played in about 25% of them). That said, this Plaxico Burress business is downright nuts. If you don't know the story, the Giants rather good receiver accidentally shot himself in the leg the other day. He didn't have a permit for the gun and now he's in some legal trouble...

What gets me about this story though is that all these reports that "Burress was shot." Last night on Monday Night Football, his notoriously sleazy agent Drew Rosenhaus was talking about how frightened he was when he hard Plaxico was shot in the leg. Understandable since Rosenhaus' client Sean Taylor was killed last year after getting shot in the leg. But the problem is that while intruders broke into Sean Taylor's house and shot him, Plaxico Burress shot HIMSELF in the leg. Sure, it's serious. Sure, Drew should've been worried. But let's get the facts straight. Saying someone "was shot" implies that someone else did the shooting. "Plaxico" =Subject, "shot"= verb. The preposition has been left out of the sentence, which is usually a practice done because the prepositional phrase is assumed. Like "The tennis player lost." One would assume he lost to another tennis player. If he actually lost to himself, the sentence would probably read "The tennis player lost to himself." Sad, but maybe he lost at solitaire not tennis. So Rosenhaus, listen: Be worried about your damn client. But don't pretend he was a real victim. Your client last year was a real victim. Plaxico is just a Superbowl Champion with a really unfortunate name.