Giants' Announcer: Plaxico Refuses Plea Deal, Is 'Deathly Afraid' of Jail

About two months ago, we learned that there was a high likelihood Plaxico Burress was going to wind up in jail. The second-degree weapons charge that Burress has been charged with carries a 3 1/2-year minimum sentence. Even under a reduced third-degree charge, Burress faces up to two years behind bars.

So a plea deal that would include just three months in prison and a bunch of community service seems like a nice little bargain for Burress. Except the wide receiver doesn't see it that way, according to Giants play-by-play announcer Bob Papa, who said Burress is "deathly afraid" of going to jail and wants to take his chances in court.

"This is what I've been told and what I've heard," Papa said on the air. "They worked out something where they had it down to about a three-month jail term with actually only two months served and about 1,500 hours of community service. And I think his lawyers felt that they had a pretty good deal. He doesn't want to go to jail at all. He shot down the deal. . . . He does not want to go to jail at all. So now coming up in another couple of weeks we're gonna find out what's gonna happen. But my guess is that the city of New York is not gonna back off any kind of jail time.

"Evidently, he's gonna have to go to Ryker's Island," Papa added. "He's deathly afraid of going. . . . [I]f he would have just taken the deal when it originally was offered it would all be over with by now. But supposedly the community service hours and the jail time are not appealing to him."

Let's just cut right to the chase: community service hours and jail time are not appealing to anyone. Burress is not alone in that regard.

But at some point, you've got to stop freaking out, realize that you broke the law and recognize that you're getting offered a pretty sweet deal. I know three months sounds like a lot, but do you know what sounds worse? Three years. And from what I understand of prison from watching movies, they have football:

Hold on ....

Hmm ... OK, I'm being told prison is not like that at all.

Well, whatever, that doesn't change the fact that Burress is quietly going off his rocker here. At this point, his chances of going to trial and getting off the hook are slim at best. His chances of getting a better offer than three months-plus-community service are even worse.

Take the deal, Plax, and get on with your life. Three months will fly by -- then you can deal with the lengthy suspension the NFL's no doubt saving for you.