Plaxico Burress on Getting Shot and How it Changed His Life Forever

FOLLOW THE PIVOT PODCAST: MERCH | https://pivotpodcast.com YOUTUBE | https://www.youtube.com/thepivotpodcast INSTAGRAM | https://instagram.com/thepivot TWITTER | https://twitter.com/thepivot TIKTOK | https://tiktok.com/@thepivot FACEBOOK | https://www.facebook.com/thepivotpodcast FOLLOW HAPPY DAD: https://www.instagram.com/happydad FIND HAPPY DAD: https://www.happydad.com/find With the NFL draft underway, we felt it was important to share this episode. We filmed this with Plax as we were just getting started with The Pivot because we felt his story was symbolic of what it means to Pivot. Plaxico was the 8th overall Pick in the 2000 NFL draft, was one of the top wide receivers in the league and is a super bowl champion. But one off the field slip up changed his career and the question always lingers “What If”…what if that never happened, what would the legacy be of Plaxico Burress. In a candid conversation, Plax opens up to Ryan, Fred and Channing about his journey to the league and the infamous night that changed his life forever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Before this,

• 0:05Speaker 00

  there's this.

• 0:08Speaker 00

  As you celebrate the game, take a deeper look at its roots. The people grow in the grass, paving the lots, welding the goalposts, inspecting every football. The hard-working people that make every Sunday possible. Carhartt is proud to outfit the crews behind the game. Visit carhartt.com/jointhetrades to learn more.

• 0:30Ryan Clark?

  Channing, I put people to sleep, bro. Who did? They changed rules because of me. You didn't put nobody to sleep. Channing, they changed... You put them to sleep? Channing, they changed... You sung a lullaby. Channing, they changed rules because of me, bruh. You changed rules? This is how I know you don't know football.

• 0:43Speaker 02

  That's where you're wrong.

• 0:43Ryan Clark?

  I know football. This is how I know you don't know football. He changed the rules, Chris! I changed rules, Channing. He made people change rules. Channing, I changed rules. Detroit Polamalu made people change rules. I hit way harder than Troy. Everybody knows that.

• 0:56Fred Taylor?

  See, that's the thing that people don't know about RC. RC was... He brought it every game.

• 1:01Ryan Clark?

  Don't get these shoes. None of these shoes tricky.

• 1:02Fred Taylor?

  I mean, obviously Troy, you know Troy was a big name.

• 1:04Speaker 02

  He gonna knock himself out trying to knock you out.

• 1:06Ryan Clark?

  He gonna knock himself out? He knocked himself out with them shoes, bro. That's how I know I'm tough to you. Channing, Channing, you got one pair of real Jordans. He knocked himself out. Channing, you got one pair of real Jordans. Don't try my shoes, not RC. You got one pair of real Jordans, dawg. These are real, real 14s. You got one pair of real Jordans. Matter of fact, a pair I turned down. You ain't want these? Yeah, when my guy sent me them, I told him I ain't want them. You ain't want them? What size you wear? Eight? I wear 10 and 1/2. And you still can't fill my shoes.

• 1:56Ryan Clark?

  I mean, the boys are all here and we got plaques. Plaque's in Co-Birds. The man.

• 2:01Channing Crowder?

  Everybody love you, bro. People ain't heard from you, bro. What you doing, man?

• 2:06Speaker 02

  I like going on, man, you know, kids, you know, um, got my podcast going on with Fox, myself, LeVar Arrington, uh, TJ Housman Zada.

• 2:17Channing Crowder?

  How you feel working with a bangle, man?

• 2:19Speaker 02

  I know, man. It's the craziest thing.

• 2:22Channing Crowder?

  Penn State guy and a bangle?

• 2:24Speaker 02

  So, yeah, TJ, it's like every weekend, we get into this whole thing about him taking the terrible towel and stomping on the terrible towel, man, so. That bad blood is always gonna be there a little bit, but I know, man, but it's a great show, man. We got about 3 million subscribers on there, which is really, which is really good. Purchased a juice franchise, a juice bar, so waiting to get that under construction, get those things going, start slinging the juices, raising the kids, man, and get on the radio.

• 2:54Channing Crowder?

  And you had to be from a special place, dawg, to say you gonna slang juice. You know what I'm saying?

• 2:59Speaker 02

  Hey, VA, man, ain't nothing like the 757, man. I wouldn't rather be from anywhere else in the world, man.

• 3:06Channing Crowder?

  Right.

• 3:06Speaker 02

  Just one of those states and being from Tidewater to Seven Cities, man, just, just phenomenal, great, just athletes, musicians, producers. I mean, it's just one of those places where, when you start like putting like all the names of everybody together, you couldn't believe that the proximity of which everybody grew up in, like 10, 15 miles away, just a whole lot of greatness. VA doesn't get enough credit.

• 3:41Channing Crowder?

  I was gonna say, bro, how did you do it? Cause everybody know you from football.

• 3:46Speaker 02

  Right.

• 3:46Channing Crowder?

  You was a dog. You the biggest thing out here.

• 3:48Speaker 02

  Right.

• 3:49Channing Crowder?

  And I was linebacker, running back, safety, and you come in here and tower over us. What was your pivot from football, though? Because like your success, people don't know about your success post-career.

• 4:01Speaker 02

  Right.

• 4:01Channing Crowder?

  And that's what we want, we wanna, we wanna bring the light, like, what was that pivot like? And how did you figure out where you wanna go with it?

• 4:08Speaker 02

  Uh, it was an easy transition. You know, I think you just gotta get into a space that you comfortable with. Try to find out what you like to do. What brings you joy and what makes you happy. And that's one of the things for me, I just, you know, I got my son, my daughter, my wife. And I wanted to get in something that I that I enjoy doing every day. And, you know, I've always been like a natural healer. I've never been like a big, you know, like pill taker, anything like that when I was playing. I was always like on the natural, like the turmeric and the ginger and the omega threes and the pecan. All that stuff for anti-inflammatories and different things like that. So I just started to get, I started to get into the juice business, man.

• 4:48Fred Taylor?

  That's, that's where we are now. But, I wanna, I wanna go back. Let me, let me go way back. Missy Elliott.

• 4:57Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 4:58Fred Taylor?

  Timberland.

• 4:59Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 4:59Fred Taylor?

  Pharrell.

• 5:00Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 5:01Fred Taylor?

  Teddy Riley, AI, Michael Vick, Thomas Jones.

• 5:07Ryan Clark?

  Mm.

• 5:08Fred Taylor?

  Ronald Curry, the high school phenom, Dre Bly. I mean, just to name a few, right?

• 5:16Speaker 02

  Joe Smith, first pick in the NBA draft.

• 5:19Fred Taylor?

  Run it, run it for me.

• 5:21Speaker 02

  Bruce Smith, first pick in the.

• 5:23Fred Taylor?

  Hall of Famer.

• 5:24Speaker 02

  Iverson, first pick in the draft.

• 5:26Fred Taylor?

  AI, we said AI.

• 5:27Speaker 02

  But we go back to, you know, Keith Goguenis, Matt Darby. David Robinson went to my high school. My cousin Andre Casey.

• 5:37Ryan Clark?

  Hey, you feel like that's for like, like per capita, I think that's an underrated place for talent as a whole, bro.

• 5:44Speaker 02

  There, there's nothing like it.

• 5:45Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 5:46Speaker 02

  I can put that up against any state or city in the world. I don't think there's more professional basketball, football, whatever the case may be, from within like a 10 mile radius.

• 6:02Fred Taylor?

  Look, let me just name a few names and then I'll ask you where you think you rank. Allen Iverson, right? We're talking about Newport News.

• 6:10Speaker 02

  The best.

• 6:11Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 6:11Fred Taylor?

  Mike Vick.

• 6:12Speaker 02

  The best.

• 6:14Fred Taylor?

  Ronald Curry, who people didn't get, really get an opportunity to see a lot of.

• 6:18Ryan Clark?

  This dude's number one player in two sports though.

• 6:20Speaker 02

  Ronald Curry was probably the best high school football player I've seen in my life.

• 6:24Fred Taylor?

  Really?

• 6:25Speaker 02

  Ever.

• 6:25Fred Taylor?

  We gonna, we gonna say Dre Bly, right?

• 6:27Speaker 02

  Dre.

• 6:28Fred Taylor?

  Dre Bly, then yourself. So we'll, we'll leave it at five. What do you think you rank?

• 6:33Speaker 02

  You gotta put, you gotta put Bruce Smith in there.

• 6:35Fred Taylor?

  Bruce Smith, six, six.

• 6:37Speaker 02

  Lawrence Taylor.

• 6:38Fred Taylor?

  On seven.

• 6:38Ryan Clark?

  Oh my goodness.

• 6:39Fred Taylor?

  Wherever you wanna go.

• 6:40Ryan Clark?

  No doubt, y'all don't disrespect LT. But here's the thing, like, when you hear, the thing is, every time you give Plaxton a name, he one-ups the name. You know what I'm saying? Like, he goes Bruce Smith, and you say, oh, shoot, I, you know? And then he says Lawrence Taylor, this is the greatest defensive player that's ever been drafted.

• 6:57Speaker 02

  Right.

• 6:57Ryan Clark?

  I'm from Louisiana, and, and we brag all the time about talent, because we got a small state. People don't give us so much credit, much credit for mu, for much, and we like, hey, but we got all these dudes in the league, we got this and that.

• 7:08Speaker 02

  Right.

• 7:08Ryan Clark?

  But dog, you done went from musicians to football players, man, to, to hoopoes. Y'all, do you take pride in, in being where you from, man, and even being counted in that list of players?

• 7:20Speaker 02

  I think we all do, man. We take a, we take a tremendous amount of pride where we from, how we was raised, how we grew up, what we saw along the way. And, you know, it's a group that's, you know, I may not see, you know, Percy or Bruce or whatever for...

• 7:37Ryan Clark?

  Percy Harman, we ain't even talk about Percy Harman, dawg.

• 7:40Speaker 02

  For all, for years, and it's just like, we never even left.

• 7:43Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 7:44Speaker 02

  So, uh, man, we take a tremendous amount of pride of where we from, man. It's, it's Virginia.

• 7:48Fred Taylor?

  I started a conversation, where do you think you rank in all those guys? We have a few Hall of Famers in there. AI, basketball Hall of Famer.

• 7:58Speaker 02

  That's something that I never even really thought about. What do I rank as far as the guys where I'm from?

• 8:07Speaker 02

  Because we just all just wore our cities and where we was from on our back. And we just try to represent it.

• 8:15Ryan Clark?

  There has to be competition.

• 8:16Speaker 02

  How. I mean, everybody is just, this is Virginia, man.

• 8:21Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 8:22Speaker 02

  It's the craziest thing. We always say it's just something in the water.

• 8:25Fred Taylor?

  Everyone that knows Plaxico Burris, superstar, you know, game winning touchdown in the Super Bowl with the Giants. Where do you think you would rank if the shooting incident never happened amongst those other guys?

• 8:42Speaker 02

  I think I was a sure ballot Hall of Famer.

• 8:45Ryan Clark?

  Wow.

• 8:45Fred Taylor?

  Do you think that incident was your greatest pivot in life?

• 8:48Speaker 02

  Oh, it changed my life. It changed everybody's life.

• 8:52Ryan Clark?

  When, when you look back on that night, what are the memories that record in your mind about it?

• 8:58Speaker 02

  I remember everything I did from the time I stepped out of the house. When I got in the car, I knew exactly where I was going. And I just remember everything about that moment. Because it was something that, I never went out on Fridays.

• 9:15Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 9:16Speaker 02

  I never went out on Fridays.

• 9:18Fred Taylor?

  This is during the season?

• 9:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, I never went out on Fridays. Not one time in my whole.

• 9:25Fred Taylor?

  Why not?

• 9:25Speaker 02

  Career.

• 9:26Fred Taylor?

  Why not?

• 9:26Speaker 02

  Because Fridays like my big pasta night, my hydration.

• 9:31Ryan Clark?

  I was trying, I've been trying to tell them that the whole time.

• 9:33Speaker 02

  Getting ready for the game. So I never went out on Fridays. But I had tweaked my hamstring. And so the wide receivers would go out every night, you know, Sonorus, you know, DT, all the guys. Yo, man, why don't you just come out and meet us out at Outback Steakhouse or Applebee's? I'm like, yo, listen, I don't go out on Friday nights during the season. I said, you know what? I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. But you know, I always been a gun owner. It was nothing different from me not, you know, carrying a gun that night. And it was just one of the craziest.

• 10:13Speaker 02

  Nights and you just remember, I remember every single step I took that night.

• 10:19Ryan Clark?

  Like you said, you said you were just going out to a restaurant?

• 10:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 10:23Ryan Clark?

  So, so how do we get to where the night ended then?

• 10:26Fred Taylor?

  Let me jump in really quick.

• 10:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 10:28Fred Taylor?

  Because this, this is my brother, you know, I know him well. And I think for everybody that's tuning in and watching, they have to understand that having a residence in Florida, you know, and playing in New York, different states have different laws, right? In Florida, Texas, you can have your firearm license in all these different states. But then in other states, they don't apply. So Plex, he, you know, he spent a gang of time in Florida. I think you were a resident of Florida at the time, right?

• 10:58Speaker 02

  I was living in Florida for 14 years.

• 10:59Fred Taylor?

  For 14 years.

• 11:01Speaker 02

  But, you know, me just, you know, not doing the due diligence and being ignorant to the law, the gun laws in New York City. But if something like that would have happened in New York State, the consequences would have been completely different.

• 11:14Fred Taylor?

  A hundred percent.

• 11:15Speaker 02

  Because New York, New York State is different from New York City.

• 11:18Fred Taylor?

  In Florida, we're able to, you have your concealed weapon permit. You can carry, discharge, whatever the case might be. In New York City, that's not the case.

• 11:29Ryan Clark?

  Right. Even still though, like the way he went about his life, on Fridays, I don't go out. And then he's talking about Sonorus, DT, like people I know, because I was in New York. And he's like, they go to Outback, Applebee's. Outback and Applebee's don't lead to jail. And so like you say, you remember every part of that night, you know, and I'm just so interested in, in listening and to like, how we get there. Like that seems so simple, but I know how it starts, you know what I mean? You get a call, I'm gonna go to this spot, then you bounce to another spot. But that's just so far to me.

• 12:03Speaker 02

  I know, man, it's, you know, I go out one time on a Friday night. And I'm, I'm eight years in.

• 12:10Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 12:11Speaker 02

  And you look at everything that happened. And is this, if I just stay true to form.

• 12:18Ryan Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 12:19Speaker 02

  You know, who am I as a person? Like, we're not even here having this conversation. But that's life. You know, things happen. And we go to the Applebee's and I, yo, we going to the city. And I was like, I ain't playing, I'm hurt. I got a hamstring, I'm just healing my leg, I'm just, I know I ain't playing in the game. So I shoot to the city. Boom. And I pull up, I pull up to the Latin Quarter. And I pull up on the side, like, Latin Quarter's on the right. I make the right, I'm in the Maybach, I pull up. And I never forget this. I turn the car off, I had a pistol sitting on the seat.

• 13:04Speaker 02

  And I open the door and I get out the car. And my mind, I'm like, you know what? I look at the gun. And I say, you know what? I'm gonna take it with me. That, that part right there.

• 13:20Ryan Clark?

  This is just that, that, that one decision of maybe putting it in my glove compartment or maybe doing something else with it.

• 13:26Speaker 02

  Yup.

• 13:26Ryan Clark?

  Just that one decision leads to the rest.

• 13:28Channing Crowder?

  Why did you, why did you decide to take it with you? Like, that, that's the thing that people would ask. Like, why do you think that you need to have a pistol with you when you just go hang out with your homies?

• 13:37Speaker 02

  Well, I was a gun owner. I mean, that's what, that's what I did. When I was home, Florida, I just, I just carried a pistol. I mean, that's just what I did. But me, like, my, my, my conscience had already told me to leave it. Because I thought about it.

• 13:59Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 14:00Speaker 02

  And I was like, you know what? I'm gonna take it with me. And I will never forget that decision that I made right then.

• 14:06Channing Crowder?

  Well, then, I gotta, I gotta go chronologically now.

• 14:10Speaker 02

  Right.

• 14:11Channing Crowder?

  So from that point, you get out the Maybach, you look back, you see the Glock.

• 14:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:15Channing Crowder?

  You got it, you put it in your pants.

• 14:18Speaker 02

  Yup.

• 14:18Channing Crowder?

  And then what, what happened from there that we all know that story?

• 14:23Speaker 02

  Oh, I walked through the door and I see the, the security's there, it's metal detector. And I was like, yo, I got a pistol on me. And they was like, cool, don't worry about it. Come on, I, I, you, you can just go with me. Security, I was like, alright, cool. So I went over there by the bar, had me a drink. I ordered a drink. And he was like, yo, man, we gonna take y'all upstairs. I was like, alright, cool. You know, me, a couple of the guys. And so you open this door and it's a stairway and it's pitch dark. So you can't, you can't see. And I got the, the gun tucked in my, on my belt.

• 15:07Speaker 02

  And it's a simple, I'm walking up the stairs and I miss a step.

• 15:12Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 15:13Speaker 02

  And I feel the gun sliding down my pants. And I trap it.

• 15:19Ryan Clark?

  Ah, okay.

• 15:20Speaker 02

  With, with two hands.

• 15:25Speaker 02

  I see the flame like come through my jeans. And my first part, I'm like, oh, man, I hope, I'm looking over the joint and said, if anybody, I'm like, oh, my God, what just happened? And then I had on some Chuck Ts. I looked down at my Chuck T and the whole joint is like red. And I'm like, oh, my goodness. So automatically when you, when you see the blood, it's like, oh. You don't even feel it. But right then, I, I knew I was like. And nobody knew, nobody heard it.

• 15:57Speaker 00

  Before this.

• 16:02Speaker 00

  There's this.

• 16:05Speaker 00

  As you celebrate the game, take a deeper look at its roots. The people growing the grass, paving the lots, welding the goalposts, inspecting every football. The hardworking people that make every Sunday possible. Carhartt is proud to outfit the crews behind the game. Visit carhartt.com/jointhetraids to learn more.

• 16:28Channing Crowder?

  Music was too loud.

• 16:29Ryan Clark?

  Nobody heard? So, but at that time, Plex, are you thinking, alright, I shot myself and I gotta deal with this injury in football? Or at that point, do you understand the laws? Do you understand the situation that you're in?

• 16:41Speaker 02

  I know nothing about the gun laws in New York City at that time.

• 16:43Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 16:44Speaker 02

  I know nothing about it.

• 16:45Ryan Clark?

  So for you, it's just, oh, this gun went off, I need to figure out this situation right now?

• 16:49Speaker 02

  I'm trying to make sure like, ain't nobody hit or. You know, I'm, I'm really, I'm really gonna be [__] up if somebody got a bullet in them, you know what I mean?

• 16:57Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 16:58Speaker 02

  And.

• 16:58Channing Crowder?

  So you was worried, you was worried about shooting somebody else?

• 17:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:01Channing Crowder?

  And then when you saw your Chuck, then you was like?

• 17:05Speaker 02

  I done shot myself. I tapped him, I said, yo, take me to the hospital. He said, what's wrong? I said, oh, look at my shoe. He was like, oh, no. And you ain't feeling it?

• 17:13Ryan Clark?

  But so they didn't know, though, that the gun went off at all?

• 17:16Speaker 02

  Nobody heard nothing. Nobody knew until I got to the hospital.

• 17:19Ryan Clark?

  So you get to the hospital, you running down everything that happened. When does it hit you? Or when do you start having the conversations about what it means as far as the law then?

• 17:28Speaker 02

  I, I, I'm just thinking like, it's an accident.

• 17:32Speaker 02

  Everybody's okay. I'm fine. And I'm just thinking, oh, it's an accident, whatever.

• 17:40Speaker 02

  It's not that serious.

• 17:43Speaker 02

  And I really just left the hospital the next day, like, all right, I'm gonna heal up from this. I got a hamstring, maybe I'll miss the rest of the season. And that was gonna be it. I, I didn't think it was gonna be any ramifications for, for what had happened. I just thought it was like, all right, cool, I'm fine.

• 18:04Ryan Clark?

  Nobody else heard?

• 18:05Speaker 02

  Nobody else heard.

• 18:06Ryan Clark?

  We all good.

• 18:07Speaker 02

  I'm all good. Boom. It was the exact opposite. What was your biggest regret? Making that decision.

• 18:14Ryan Clark?

  Grabbing it, right?

• 18:15Speaker 02

  When you look back and saw the pistol and grabbed it? Conscious, man. You conscious, it tell you everything you didn't know.

• 18:20Ryan Clark?

  How often do you still think about that decision to that, to, to this day? And, and, and what it meant and, and what happened from it? Or are you finally at a place where you passed it? You, you're settled with it? You're okay with it?

• 18:33Speaker 02

  You know, it, it's always gonna be the what if.

• 18:36Speaker 02

  You know, it's always gonna be the what if, I think. You know, for me, um, we, we, we had a really good football team at that time.

• 18:43Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 18:45Speaker 02

  We were really good. I think we was 11-1. We, we had already clinched the NFC East and we were going to the, we had home field advantage and we was, we were in the mindset of running it back to back. We had a really good team. So, oh, wait? Yeah.

• 18:59Ryan Clark?

  One of the greatest defenses in the last, uh, century of football, took their team to the Super Bowl and they won it.

• 19:06Speaker 02

  Don't act, don't act crazy. Cause I see, I always wanna talk.

• 19:10Ryan Clark?

  We gave up 13 points a game, bruh.

• 19:12Channing Crowder?

  Because if they threw the ball to Plax, he was gonna march your ass and you was gonna stand there and walk to the sideline looking at the ground.

• 19:17Ryan Clark?

  Y'all scored like 16 points that game, 17 points. Like it was a super low-scoring game. Y'all defense won that game. We was hitting Brandon Jacobs in his face. He quit. He gave it up.

• 19:28Speaker 02

  I was getting double, triple team, so you know, y'all just went all the zone.

• 19:32Ryan Clark?

  You seven foot, Plax?

• 19:34Speaker 02

  It's fine.

• 19:35Ryan Clark?

  You know what? We have digressed. So you start to deal with the lost of and you see that these things are coming. You're a wide receiver in the prime of his career. You've played for the two of the most storied franchises in NFL history. And when you look at families, the Maras and the Rooney's, I mean, shoot, they so big time. They got somebody that got both names in one now. And so when you start to understand where things are headed for you, what's that like?

• 20:03Speaker 02

  I really don't know. I don't really think I understood the magnitude of what had happened. Because I was just so nonchalant about it that, I mean, I went into the hospital that night and got up and walked out and got into my car and went home. Like, you know what? Nobody had heard anything. It was two days later that anybody had even heard anything about it. And I just thought that, you know.

• 20:34Ryan Clark?

  Had you been to the building since or no?

• 20:37Speaker 02

  No, it was a Friday. We were playing in Washington the next day, so I wasn't traveling with the football. I wasn't traveling with the team. I was staying at home. So nobody knew. So Sunday I got a call from the coach. He was like, "Yeah, I think you need to turn yourself in." I'm like, "For what?"

• 20:52Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 20:54Channing Crowder?

  Turn yourself in.

• 20:55Speaker 02

  Coach called. He was like, "Yo, man, you need to turn yourself in." I'm like, "For what?" Yeah. Man, I swear, the game started at 1 o'clock. He called me at 12:58. I'm like, "Man, you supposed to be at the game, man. You the coach." He's like, "Man, you need to turn yourself in." I'm like, "For what?" And it was like, "I heard about your incident."

• 21:13Speaker 02

  And I was already forty-eight hours removed from that incident.

• 21:17Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 21:18Speaker 02

  Before the team had even heard about it.

• 21:20Ryan Clark?

  Right. How do you say, okay, I'm Plaxico Burress. I've done all of these things in my life. I've accomplished all of these things. I now have this event. How do you go through what you're going through, understand the place that you're in and say, okay, this is Plaxico Burress's next step? This is who I will be coming out of this?

• 21:40Speaker 02

  But you really don't know. I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, all right. So then when, you know, my agent called me, he started to explain to me the laws and the rules. You know, owning a gun in New York City. And I was like, oh, you know, I might be in some real trouble.

• 21:55Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 21:56Speaker 02

  But still, in the back of my mind, I'm like, you know what? If I do six months, I'll be back in training camp.

• 22:02Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 22:02Speaker 02

  That was my mindset. I was like, you know what? Go to jail, whatever. I'll do six months. I'll be back on the football field by September.

• 22:09Ryan Clark?

  So when it hit and it tells you what you have to do, what's that feeling?

• 22:12Speaker 02

  So we make a deal with the state. And I'm gonna bail out at ten thousand. And so I'm sitting in the cell, like, you know, like, what the hell is going on? I'm supposed to be at eight o'clock. I'm out ten, fifteen minutes. I sat in there for like four or five hours. I was like, this ain't good.

• 22:27Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 22:27Speaker 02

  And the lawyer come to me, he said, man, we got a problem.

• 22:31Fred Taylor?

  I remember it. Michael Bloomberg said, we will prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law.

• 22:39Ryan Clark?

  I remember that.

• 22:40Channing Crowder?

  Do you feel as if they were trying to make an example out of you?

• 22:42Speaker 02

  I'm sitting in the cell and he say, hey man, we got a problem. And he says to me exactly what Michael Bloomberg said. He said, man, Michael Bloomberg, the mayor just came out and said, they're gonna prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. You know what I said to him? I said, who is Michael Bloomberg? I didn't even know who the mayor was. He was like, all right, man, we got another issue. Your bail just went from ten thousand to two fifty.

• 23:10Ryan Clark?

  Especially once he says that publicly.

• 23:12Channing Crowder?

  What happened? It went from ten racks to two fifty?

• 23:16Fred Taylor?

  But not only that, we had just changed commissioners. In a Roger Goodell, right?

• 23:21Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 23:22Fred Taylor?

  You just go from winning the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots. How did this change your career?

• 23:30Speaker 02

  Ah, man, I know exactly. On opening day, we played Thursday night, we hosted Washington at home. And I signed a new contract that day. Before the game started, it was a five-year deal, forty-two million. And I was gonna be in New York forever. I was the only player in the league at that time to have home and away shoes from Nike. We was working on making me my own cleat, my own shoe.

• 23:57Ryan Clark?

  Damn.

• 23:58Speaker 02

  Gloves and the whole deal. And I still have the drawings from my shoe that never got released.

• 24:04Channing Crowder?

  Because of that situation?

• 24:05Speaker 02

  Yep. We were working on my own cleat, my own shoe.

• 24:10Ryan Clark?

  So you have all these things going on, all these things that you built from being in VA, playing at Michigan State, a Pittsburgh Steeler, a New York Giant, a Super Bowl champion. And you, you're at the prime of your life and you get this sentence, you deal with all of these things. How does Plaxico verse rebound from this? How does he start a new life? Because you, no matter, no matter what, all those things I just said will always be who you are.

• 24:36Speaker 02

  Right.

• 24:36Ryan Clark?

  And the story you just told.

• 24:38Speaker 02

  Right.

• 24:38Ryan Clark?

  Will also always be who you are.

• 24:41Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 24:41Ryan Clark?

  How do you have that kind of rebirth or pivot into another part or another chapter of your life?

• 24:48Speaker 02

  I mean, what am I supposed to do?

• 24:50Ryan Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 24:50Speaker 02

  I realized three days after it happened, and I was like, damn. You know, you can spend a whole life like building something, like a legacy, and you can tear it all down in a second. I think that's what hit me.

• 25:06Ryan Clark?

  Mm.

• 25:07Speaker 02

  And I started thinking about all the people I let down.

• 25:09Ryan Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 25:10Speaker 02

  My high school coach, family, everybody around, I was like, damn. And it happened just that quick.

• 25:17Ryan Clark?

  Is that kind of the message you take out of it and the message you give to people who could look at your story, know your story, hear your story? And if you got an opportunity to stand in front of them, is that, is that what you would tell them? You know, like, you can do all these-

• 25:29Speaker 02

  My story's a part of my life.

• 25:31Ryan Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 25:32Speaker 02

  And it took me a long time to get over it and embrace it.

• 25:36Ryan Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 25:37Speaker 02

  But it's a, it's also a teaching lesson and, and talking to my son. Like, my son can't have a better role model.

• 25:46Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 25:46Speaker 02

  That's the way I look at it.

• 25:47Ryan Clark?

  That's awesome.

• 25:47Channing Crowder?

  Is that your biggest regret? So we talk about the pivot, life throws so much stuff at you. It's that moment when you reached over in the Maybach now, I listen.

• 25:57Ryan Clark?

  Hey, I didn't miss the Maybach party.

• 25:59Channing Crowder?

  When you reached over in the Maybach now, Plex, you was larger.

• 26:02Speaker 02

  I was in the May.

• 26:03Channing Crowder?

  So you looked over at the clock, in the Maybach, and you grabbed that pistol.

• 26:07Fred Taylor?

  He got some other regrets. He used to drive.

• 26:09Channing Crowder?

  No, no.

• 26:09Fred Taylor?

  He used to drive up. Listen, bro, I know everything about this guy.

• 26:15Speaker 02

  Hey, tell him about now you were on the Maybach.

• 26:18Channing Crowder?

  No, no, no, no. Okay, no, quick, quick, quick.

• 26:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:22Ryan Clark?

  You got one too?

• 26:23Fred Taylor?

  I was driving his Maybach, yeah, I was smart.

• 26:27Channing Crowder?

  We gotta call Fred that, because Freaky Fred, you know Freaky now, Freaky Nasty. But is that your biggest regret in life? All of your life, from when Little Plex to Plex sitting here with us? Is that your biggest regret that night?

• 26:39Speaker 02

  Um, I wouldn't say regret, I just wish it never happened.

• 26:43Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 26:44Speaker 02

  You know, tell me about a kid from Plaza Apartments, Twinkin' now, growing up in Virginia Beach, single mom, dreaming of, you know, doing all the things that I was doing, playing football at the highest level. To me, I thought I was the best basketball player at the time. And to just have that happen, my life changing, like overnight.

• 27:04Channing Crowder?

  Right.

• 27:05Speaker 02

  And it was a blur. I remember coming out of the courtroom, my wife got in the car, and she was like, are we, is this a dream? I was like, baby, unfortunately, it's not.

• 27:14Ryan Clark?

  It's a damn nightmare.

• 27:16Speaker 02

  It's a damn nightmare. It was.

• 27:19Ryan Clark?

  It's a nightmare.

• 27:20Speaker 02

  It was, but I would say regret, because, you know, at the end of the day, I learned a lot about myself and, you know, making decisions. Consequences can be devastating. You know what I mean? But regret, I just wish it never happened.

• 27:39Channing Crowder?

  Did it make you a better man? Would you be the same person you are now if that never happened? Did it make you a better person for your wife, for your kids, for your son, for your daughter?

• 27:48Fred Taylor?

  Absolutely.

• 27:49Ryan Clark?

  That's awesome.

• 27:51Channing Crowder?

  So, it's crazy to say that that whole situation wasn't worth it for who you are now.

• 27:59Fred Taylor?

  That's something I ask myself every day.

• 28:01Ryan Clark?

  Do you think it's hard because you're kind of weighing the man that it's made you, right? The messages you can give, the role model you can be as a father, just as a man for so many, against all the things that you were about to reap?

• 28:19Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 28:19Ryan Clark?

  You had sown the seeds of success your entire life, right? And you're standing on the precipice of that. And so if this never happens, maybe you get those things, but also maybe you aren't this man.

• 28:31Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 28:31Ryan Clark?

  Is it hard to weigh the riches against the wisdom?

• 28:35Fred Taylor?

  I'll take the knowledge and the wisdom any day of the week. I love it.

• 28:39Ryan Clark?

  That's awesome.

• 28:39Fred Taylor?

  You can always give that back. That's an entire lifetime. Yeah. And I can tell you right now, Ms. Vicki would say, I don't know. You full of shit.

• 28:51Fred Taylor?

  I'll take the knowledge and the wisdom any day of the week. Because Ms. Vicki, she didn't play. Man. And she knew what she stood for, and she knew what she taught her baby. Knowing Plex, and what I've seen him do, you know, over the course of the last 20 years, you know, how he's giving back and how he's talked to the young men.

• 29:11Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 29:12Fred Taylor?

  Because really, that's what it's all about. Taking your life examples and trying to steer them in the right direction. I've seen him do a lot of that.

• 29:20Ryan Clark?

  That's awesome.

• 29:21Fred Taylor?

  And I've seen him step out in front of a whole lot of things that maybe he wasn't necessarily comfortable doing, but he stood out there and he did it. Yeah, I've always had a ton of respect for him as a brother. But to see him, you know, sort of put himself to the side, it's made me be able to put myself in those same shoes and share my whole, you know, my situation. Nothing as extreme and life-changing and as pivoting as that.

• 29:47Channing Crowder?

  He told us, he got detained by the police one time.

• 29:50Fred Taylor?

  Stop.

• 29:51Channing Crowder?

  And put in the back, and he cried in the back.

• 29:53Fred Taylor?

  He got detained.

• 29:54Channing Crowder?

  He got detained. Plex, he ain't even get arrested, he got detained.

• 29:57Ryan Clark?

  They held him.

• 29:58Channing Crowder?

  And they held him up for about 15 minutes, he talking about, yeah, it's tough out here on these streets.

• 30:02Fred Taylor?

  Look at my face.

• 30:05Fred Taylor?

  You serious? You not believing him, right?

• 30:08Speaker 05

  Give us something about Freaky Plex.

• 30:10Fred Taylor?

  He can't. Well, he can.

• 30:11Speaker 02

  Of course I can.

• 30:12Speaker 05

  Give us something. You gotta give us something about Freaky Plex.

• 30:15Fred Taylor?

  We are not going down that road.

• 30:17Speaker 05

  There's a tie in my mind.

• 30:18Channing Crowder?

  I love that road.

• 30:19Fred Taylor?

  Why?

• 30:19Channing Crowder?

  Because y'all done already figured out the crazy things that me and my wife do and that I flip on top and I jump off the nightstand and we done did all that.

• 30:27Ryan Clark?

  What time I do?

• 30:27Channing Crowder?

  I would have known some things.

• 30:28Ryan Clark?

  Wait, where the hell you bought your nightstand from?

• 30:30Channing Crowder?

  IKEA.

• 30:31Ryan Clark?

  It's... No way is that sturdy, Channing. Channing, no way, no way your IKEA nightstand is sturdy enough for you to jump off into it.

• 30:40Channing Crowder?

  I put one foot on it and I flip off and I dive right in.

• 30:43Fred Taylor?

  But no, I really wanted to ask Plex, was the best athlete from Virginia? Allen Iverson, Michael Vick, yourself. People don't give Virginia a lot of credit. They say Florida, Georgia.

• 30:57Speaker 02

  The best athlete come out of there?

• 30:58Fred Taylor?

  Texas.

• 30:58Speaker 02

  That's not fair.

• 30:59Ryan Clark?

  Is it that Virginia is super top-heavy?

• 31:01Speaker 02

  I think we got like four or five number one picks overall in the sport.

• 31:06Ryan Clark?

  Athletically, those two dudes, right, were special. But culturally, those two dudes changed everything about basketball and football. The way people dressed, the amount of tattoos, you were able to get braids, that was AI. Michael Vick totally changed the way we looked at quarterbacks, like they've been transcendent.

• 31:23Speaker 02

  I played against him in high school.

• 31:24Channing Crowder?

  Who won?

• 31:25Speaker 02

  Well, we won the game.

• 31:26Channing Crowder?

  Are you throwing that, son?

• 31:27Speaker 02

  I was sitting like I'm covered two safeties, just sitting back there on the hash, man. And he turned that ball loose and we looked at each other. We were like, man, who the hell is that? He was probably about a hundred and sixty-five pounds or something like that.

• 31:40Ryan Clark?

  He was flying too, though.

• 31:41Speaker 02

  You can forget about it.

• 31:42Channing Crowder?

  Look, I had to spy him in the league at his prime.

• 31:45Ryan Clark?

  And you had no shot?

• 31:46Channing Crowder?

  Oh, six, oh, seven.

• 31:47Speaker 02

  Oh, my gosh.

• 31:47Ryan Clark?

  And you had no shot?

• 31:48Channing Crowder?

  And I floated over the ball in Dolphin Stadium and he took off. And he was 10 yards away from me and my first step, he was 15 yards away from me. My second step, he was 18 yards away from me and he walked away. And I went to my defense coordinator and I was like, don't do that to me no more.

• 32:05Ryan Clark?

  Ain't no good call?

• 32:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:06Channing Crowder?

  I was like, don't spy me on him no more. I was at Vick at his prime when Algie Crumpler...

• 32:11Ryan Clark?

  Monster.

• 32:12Channing Crowder?

  Vick and Algie Crumpler destroyed me. And Algie Crumpler had a little belly that looked like he was nine months pregnant.

• 32:19Speaker 02

  His basketball game, he was a state player of the year in basketball. He was the number one player in the country and the state player of the year in football. And he was averaging like forty-four points in high school. Like a game.

• 32:35Ryan Clark?

  When he talks about that, Plex, he talks about loving football more than basketball though.

• 32:40Speaker 02

  It's hard to to believe. He was who he was playing basketball and playing football. He might have been better football player than he was basketball.

• 32:49Ryan Clark?

  That's crazy. So I mentioned earlier that you played for the Giants and the Steelers. And you even said you felt like when you went out of the game, you were the best receiver in football. These are two of the most storied franchises in the history of the NFL. When you look at those two franchises now, though, having been a part of both of them, knowing what it means to win Lombardies in Pittsburgh, understanding how important, when they drafted you, I know that's all they talked about, because when I got there, that's all they talked about. Actually, winning one in New York. When you look at the two franchises and where they are now. Ben was your quarterback. When you look at those franchises, what do you see?

• 33:32Speaker 02

  It's my brother, man. And I I look at the whole Pittsburgh situation as, you know, it it was it was strictly business for me.

• 33:43Speaker 02

  And I wish it didn't have to be that way. Because I I was a young kid. I was what, twenty-five at the time? And I had to make a decision.

• 33:53Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 33:53Speaker 02

  And we had just went fifteen and one, had lost to the Patriots in the end of the championship game. And it it came down, I remember I walked upstairs to Coach Cowan, I was like, man, listen, I I want to do more within this offense. And he was like, yo, we're not going to change the offense for one person. You know, I felt that I was, you know, my my game was flourishing. You know, I was getting to where I wanted to go. And the Giants and the Steelers offered me the same exact contract. So it came down to me just, you know, making that decision. I went to Minnesota, I was like, nah, who the hell wants to play in Randy Moss shoes? He had just left and went to the Raiders. And then I went to Houston. But Dre was there.

• 34:39Speaker 02

  And I was like, man, Dre got his own show going on.

• 34:41Ryan Clark?

  You knew what that was going to be?

• 34:42Speaker 02

  Yeah. And Carolina and Smithy was like, he didn't want to play with me.

• 34:47Ryan Clark?

  Was Moose in there already?

• 34:48Speaker 02

  Rusty was there.

• 34:48Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 34:49Speaker 02

  And then C. Smith said, well, we don't need him. Why is he coming here for? I was like, all right, cool. So, uh, I came to New York and I kinda, you know, I put myself in a puzzle because when I was in Pittsburgh, I was just getting double of the X.

• 35:04Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 35:04Speaker 02

  You know, we, we was in our formation back then.

• 35:06Ryan Clark?

  I already know. It was Deuce and Bussin, yup.

• 35:09Speaker 02

  Bussin was getting the ball thirty times a game. He was getting the ball thirty times a game.

• 35:13Ryan Clark?

  Yup.

• 35:13Speaker 02

  Corey Dillon was getting it thirty times a game. Jamal Lewis was getting it thirty times a game. Eddie George was getting it thirty times a game.

• 35:19Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 35:20Speaker 02

  That, that, that's what the AFC North was at the time.

• 35:22Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 35:23Speaker 02

  And I was like, you know what? Hopefully this kid, Manning, can be just as good as his brother. I said, you know what?

• 35:30Ryan Clark?

  Right, I got you.

• 35:31Speaker 02

  I played exposition. I need a tight end on the, on the front side to get the double off me. And the tight end was Jeremy Shockey.

• 35:40Ryan Clark?

  One of the best players I ever played with his rookie year.

• 35:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:44Ryan Clark?

  Absolutely. So what would you, what do you think about Eli and Ben?

• 35:46Speaker 02

  They're different.

• 35:49Speaker 02

  Both great.

• 35:49Ryan Clark?

  Hall of Famers?

• 35:50Speaker 02

  For sure. When I look back at it, being a kid that I was, me staying in Pittsburgh would have been something real special.

• 35:59Ryan Clark?

  Because of the quarterback or just because of the organization?

• 36:02Speaker 02

  Just the whole team that we had. I mean, we, we, we went to two AFC championship games in five years.

• 36:07Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 36:08Speaker 02

  And eventual. Yeah, and eventual, uh, Super Bowl champion came into Pittsburgh and beat us.

• 36:14Ryan Clark?

  You know what's so crazy, man?

• 36:15Channing Crowder?

  But, but no, I gotta press him, I see.

• 36:18Speaker 02

  What?

• 36:18Channing Crowder?

  Tied up. Two minutes left. Eli, Big Ben. Like, you, you said you like both of them, but I gotta press you. To win the game, AFC championship, who you gonna go with? Who gonna make that play?

• 36:30Speaker 02

  Eli had more flexibility within the offense to change the play at the line of scrimmage. When you was in Pittsburgh, they wasn't changing no plays at the line of scrimmage.

• 36:40Channing Crowder?

  Ben was doing exactly what he was told to do.

• 36:42Speaker 02

  He had to. There was no flexibility within the offense for him to get to the line of scrimmage and be like. You know, whatever, whatever. But when I was here, as long as me and him was on the same page, y'all do what y'all want to do.

• 36:56Ryan Clark?

  Man, what's so crazy though to hear you talk about Ben. Me and Ben had a very strange relationship. Very respectful. He did some things for my son. They were really tight, which was weird. Uh, when he was suspended, he went to my son's football game. If you're a Pittsburgh Steeler, you can't go nowhere. And so that was, and so that's always brought him a lot of latitude with me. And so you do the job now and I do the job. And so I was asked like what they should do with Ben. Eli is obviously gonna be a Hall of Famer. He's retired. And I was like, well, the way Ben is playing now, he's hurting the team.

• 37:27Speaker 02

  I heard about it. And everybody hit me like, yo, what's up with your boy?

• 37:30Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 37:30Speaker 02

  So I said, man, everybody got a job to do.

• 37:32Ryan Clark?

  Right. I don't care. I've always been like this. That don't bother me. I was just talking about what I saw on the film. And so like you get into it and you start to see how the fragility of success and greatness works. What people miss is all the times people do protect you. All the times things can be said and they aren't.

• 37:53Speaker 02

  Right.

• 37:53Ryan Clark?

  The different times where we could be on your head or we could speak on your character where you don't. And what happens is people get to this level of entitledness because of what they perceive they've accomplished during their job. And they have an issue with you critiquing the way they do their job. Now, the situation ended up as what it was and Ben has now played well. But I think it always leads me back to when we do whatever we do. Like you coming on here, telling your story. Whoever you were when you were Pittsburgh Steeler, when you were a New York Giant. You gotta do it in a way where you can look yourself in the mirror. Right? And that was my, my thing with that.

• 38:37Ryan Clark?

  And when I ask you about the quarterbacks though, I think about what Eli had to endure, especially late in his career.

• 38:44Speaker 02

  Right.

• 38:45Ryan Clark?

  The things that, that he was going through. Is there a difference in between the two people as opposed to the two players?

• 38:52Speaker 02

  They're opposites.

• 38:54Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 38:55Speaker 02

  Zero, from A to Z. I would say from a personal standpoint, from a friendship standpoint, myself and Ben's relationship was totally different than what me and Eli was. Even though me and Eli, we were locker mates, me, you, Chris Hope, some of the guys. But for me and E, it was more of just us going to work.

• 39:23Ryan Clark?

  I got you.

• 39:24Speaker 02

  Doing what we had to do to win football games, but there was really no interaction outside of football. Me and Seven, we developed a brotherhood because, you know, it's Pittsburgh. You know, it's a different kind of town.

• 39:40Ryan Clark?

  It's family. I tell people that all the time.

• 39:42Speaker 02

  It's a different kind of town. So it's like every Monday or Tuesday, there's nowhere to go. So all we would do was just be with each other.

• 39:50Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, and so talk about those things, the old things that happened, the old teams. I'm like, who are you now, bro?

• 39:57Speaker 02

  You know, I'm here based in the New Jersey area. And, you know, I think with, you know, like the current state of, you know, where the Giants are and just New York football in general.

• 40:12Speaker 02

  I think people, more than I thought, they appreciate how I played football. It means a lot to me.

• 40:22Ryan Clark?

  That's awesome.

• 40:23Speaker 02

  You know what I mean?

• 40:24Channing Crowder?

  You and RC were teammates, right?

• 40:26Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 40:27Channing Crowder?

  Is he square? Because he don't go to no strip clubs, like, he don't do things that I'm used to do with doing Plex. You know what I'm saying? Like, I ain't gonna put you out on our path.

• 40:37Speaker 02

  Nah, nah, nah, man.

• 40:38Channing Crowder?

  Is he square? Because he seem like a square ass dick with a tight ass pass on.

• 40:42Speaker 02

  Nah, nah, nah, man.

• 40:44Channing Crowder?

  Is he square?

• 40:45Speaker 02

  Not at all.

• 40:46Channing Crowder?

  He's not square?

• 40:47Speaker 02

  The man, he was always about his work.

• 40:51Channing Crowder?

  The dude that's always working his square, bro.

• 40:54Speaker 02

  He was always about his business. And, you know, every Friday, he would always come out with his, you know, his Sean Taylor towel on, every Friday.

• 41:05Channing Crowder?

  And he always wore them Wicker Witch of the East shoes?

• 41:08Ryan Clark?

  Bro, it's Louis Vuitton, bro. It's just Louis, just because you don't, you can't wear-

• 41:12Channing Crowder?

  Don't, don't tell me a name.

• 41:13Ryan Clark?

  What's wrong with my shoes?

• 41:14Channing Crowder?

  These are Nikes. But they look better than them damn Louis Vuittons.

• 41:17Speaker 02

  Hey, this cat put a helmet on, man. He's a different individual.

• 41:20Channing Crowder?

  He is.

• 41:22Ryan Clark?

  You know, and, and starting this, it was about having people and seeing people go through adversities, make decisions in their lives to be better and do better things. And first off, I just want to say, man, how grateful we are that you decided to spend some time with us. If you had one thing you could say as we close, what would it be? What's the thing about Plaxico Burress you want people to know?

• 41:44Speaker 02

  I'm human, man.

• 41:46Channing Crowder?

  Straight to the point.

• 41:47Speaker 02

  I'm human.