Burress Says He Wants Back Into the NFL
In comments that sound quite familiar, former New York Giants wideout Plaxico Burress said he is looking forward to getting back into the NFL after he finishes his two-year stint in prison. Burress pleaded guilty last week to weapons charges, avoiding a trial, which could have resulted in a minimum 3.5-year prison term, after shooting himself in the leg with a gun in a New York nightclub.  “I almost killed my own self. And I got to go to prison for almost killing my own self,” the 32-year-old receiver told ESPN in an interview televised Tuesday night. He will be sentenced on Sept. 22. Another star NFL player, Michael Vick, has just returned to the league after a two-year prison term. The Philadelphia Eagles signed Vick to a two-year contract to play this season.

Gambling NBA Ref is Back in Jail
The gambling-addict NBA referee who was convicted of taking bribes for inside tips on games is in jail again, this time for violating the terms of his probation. The U.S. Marshals Service said Tuesday that Tim Donaghy was being held without bond one day after he was arrested for not showing up at a Tampa, Fla., halfway house, where he is wrapping up a 15-month sentence on gambling-related charges. “He was supposed to be at work and he was somewhere else,” said Deputy U.S. Marshal Ron Lindbak. Donaghy works in sales at ShotPak, a Sarasota-based beverage company. Donaghy admitted taking thousands of dollars from a professional gambler in exchange for inside tips on NBA games – including games he worked. Donaghy has acknowledged that he had gambling problem. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting betting information through interstate commerce in the tips-for-payoffs scheme, The Associated Press reports. He was released from a federal prison in Pensacola to the halfway house in June. He was scheduled for release in October.

Plaxico Burress

Former New York Giants wideout Plaxico Burress, who will spend two years in prison following his plea agreement last week, told ESPN Monday that his finger accidentally hit the trigger of his concealed gun when he tried to catch it as it slipped down his pants leg. The .40-caliber Glock fired after he missed a step walking up stairs, he told the TV sports network. He said he was trying to keep the gun from hitting the ground. The incident happened about five minutes after Burress entered the Latin Club in Manhattan. “My finger hit, like, right on the trigger,” he said. “What are the odds on that happening?” Burress said that when he looked down, he saw blood covering his right Converse Chuck Taylor sneaker. That’s when he knew he had shot himself, he said. “I take two or three steps and like my pants are wet,” Burress said in the interview. He then turned to his fellow teammate, middle linebacker Antonio Pierce, and asked him to take him to the hospital. “And he was like ‘Why?” Burress said. “I said I just think I shot myself, and he was like ‘Noooo!” Burress, who pleaded guilty last week to a weapons charge stemming from the November incident, accepted a two-year prison term. He will be sentenced Sept. 22.