Burress Accidentally Shoots Himself in Leg

By Mark Maske

Washington Post Staff Writer

New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress was released from a New York hospital yesterday after suffering a leg wound in a shooting Friday, according to the Giants.

According to several reports, Burress accidentally shot himself.

The Giants indicated in a written statement that Burress, 31, had suffered a wound to his right thigh in "an apparent accidental shooting." The Giants indicated in the statement that they were gathering facts about the incident and had been in contact with NFL security officials, and added that the shooting "could become a matter for law enforcement officials."

The team did not provide further details and did not indicate how seriously Burress was hurt or when he might be able to play football again. Burress already had been declared out of today's game against the Washington Redskins because of a hamstring injury.

"Obviously, our primary concern is for Plaxico's health and well-being," the Giants' statement said, "and given the circumstances, we are relieved to say he was released from a New York City hospital at approximately 2 p.m. . . . At this point, we are attempting to gather all the facts surrounding this incident. This incident could become a matter for law enforcement officials, and because of that, we have no comment on any of the details."

Reports by Fox, the New York Daily News and other media outlets indicated that Burress suffered a non-life-threatening injury when he accidentally shot himself in the leg Friday night, hours after the Giants had announced that he wouldn't play against the Redskins.

The incident occurred at a nightclub on the East Side of Manhattan named the Latin Quarter, according to an ESPN report. A report by Yahoo! Sports indicated that Burress was not seriously wounded and he could be able to resume playing in a couple weeks.

League officials indicated it was too soon to know if the incident could produce disciplinary action against Burress under the NFL's personal conduct policy. Police were investigating the incident and Burress reportedly could face charges if he was not properly licensed to carry the weapon.

Burress caught the game-winning touchdown pass from Giants quarterback Eli Manning in last season's Super Bowl upset of the previously unbeaten New England Patriots. He was involved in an offseason contract dispute with the Giants but got a new five-year, $35 million deal just before a season-opening victory over the Redskins at Giants Stadium.

The Giants have a record of 10-1 and are regarded as the NFL's top team this season, but Burress has been involved in a series of controversies.

He was suspended for one game without pay by the team after reportedly missing a team meeting in late September. He was fined $45,000 by the NFL for three separate incidents during an Oct. 19 game against San Francisco in which he was penalized for complaining about an offensive pass interference call against him. He was benched at the outset of an Oct. 26 game at Pittsburgh by Coach Tom Coughlin after missing a treatment session the previous day.

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Notre Dame players tussle with USC players during pregame warmups

By Pat Forde
ESPN.com

LOS ANGELES -- Notre Dame's nickname is the Fighting Irish. USC's catch phrase is "Fight on!" Both sides lived up to the words before kickoff Saturday.

About 45 minutes prior to the game between the 6-5 Irish and 9-1 Trojans, players from both teams had a brief but spirited skirmish on the field. As Notre Dame's players exited the tunnel and entered the playing surface, they began jawing with the USC players who already had begun their team warmups. Players from both sides came together in a confrontation that began as nothing more than jumping and jawing but escalated. As coaches and police officers vainly attempted to separate the rivals, a few punches appeared to be thrown and a couple of players appeared to be wrestled to the ground. It was unclear from the press box which players were involved in the punching and wrestling. By the time the two teams were sequestered on their respective sides of the field, a gauntlet of 15 uniformed police officers stretched across the 50-yard line to keep the two teams apart. Both teams settled down quickly from there and the officers dispersed. When Notre Dame left the field jogging past the USC players with roughly 28 minutes left before kickoff, there were no incidents.

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Teams plug in to video game to evaluate talent in NBA

Diane Pucin

Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey doesn't play video games for fun or fantasy.

Morey uses the EA Sports NBA game for professional reasons. He uses it to help evaluate talent. Morey says he is a statistical junky, an admirer of Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane and a mathematical nerd. "I've always loved numbers," Morey said. "I don't play EA Sports as a game. I use it as a tool."

While the kids plug in NBA 08 to "ooh" and "aah" over how real it looks when Kobe Bryant dunks or LeBron James runs the court and finishes, Morey plugs in for more serious purposes.

"Say if you're thinking about acquiring Ron Artest," Morey said from Hawaii, where he was evaluating talent in person at the Maui Classic college tournament.

"On the game, you can see how adding Artest can change the dynamic of your team. You can program it to run offensive sets with Artest and any combination of your players."

Morey said that even this early in the season, there are enough statistics available to evaluate rookies such as Minnesota's Kevin Love (from UCLA) and Memphis' O.J. Mayo (from USC)

"For example, you can tell how often, if Love throws an outlet pass, how often his team scores on the possession," Morey said. "You can tell how often Mayo goes right versus left, how effective the team is with Mayo pulling up and shooting versus when he pulls up and passes instead."

According to the NBA, about half the teams are using the video game as part of personnel evaluation. In the quiet of his office, Morey said he can see how often a player posts up and gets shots on cuts to the basket as well as about defensive and offensive tendencies.

So what is Morey doing in Maui? Just sipping mai tais on the beach?

"Simulation is great and will have a bigger and bigger place in the process," Morey said. "But at the end of the day you can't simulate a player being out too late the night before or his body language on the bench or how he interacts with teammates. Some things you have to do in person."

Especially if the games are in Maui.

Digital fun

If you are a fan of shows such as "The Office" (British and American versions), the Ricky Gervais sitcom "Extras" of a couple of years ago or Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," then you will appreciate Kenny Mayne's new project called "Mayne Street."

It's an ESPN digital production and totally a creation of Mayne's skewed, cynical and very funny mind.

The loose plot is that the episodes, which debut each Tuesday and Friday on ESPN.com, are a fictional and digital diary of a guy (Mayne) working for a network (gee, wonder which one?). The episodes are three to five minutes long.

On the first installment, Mayne is anchoring a "SportsCenter" segment and he has trouble coming up with an exit line. "Even for those of you who use this only for background during sex, thanks for watching 'SportsCenter,' " Mayne says.

Scott Van Pelt is playing Mayne's co-host. Van Pelt's look of dismay is priceless.

Mayne said he had proposed the idea originally to run on television. "It got put on a back burner," he said. "When my contract came back up, I proposed it again. We decided to try it online only first."

The first couple of episodes have drawn an average of 2.5 million web hits. Mayne said future episodes will feature Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen and celebrity chef Bobby Flay.

What to watch today

It will be a little like taking medicine, this UCLA at Arizona State football game at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN2. The Bruins need a win to keep slim bowl hopes alive (hopes that will most certainly be crushed next week against USC . . . and, yes, I do remember 13-9, I've seen the T-shirts). Arizona State was in early-season conversations as a possible Pacific 10 and national title contender. The Sun Devils are 4-6.

What to watch Saturday

It's a college football buffet, and so many games matter. Kansas at Missouri at 9:30 a.m.; Auburn at Alabama, Baylor at Texas Tech and Florida at Florida State all at 12:30 p.m. (national title hopes could be affected by all three games); Oregon at Oregon State at 4, Oklahoma at Oklahoma State and Notre Dame at USC at 5.

What to watch Sunday

In women's college basketball, No. 4 Oklahoma is at No. 1 Connecticut at 5:15 p.m. on ESPN. Yes, I know about the NFL but sometimes it's nice to mix it up a little.

diane.pucin@latimes.com

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