plaxico gunshot collateral damage: antonio pierce will testify before grand jury

the ny post reported this morning that antonio pierce has agreed to testify before the grand jury in connection with prosecution of plaxico burress for criminal gun possession charges. pierce's decision to play ball - pardon the pun - with prosecutors (and disjointed alliteration) significantly bolsters the prosecutors' case against burress.

it may also mean, if pierce's attorney has wisely negotiated the appearance before the grand jury, that pierce himself will likely avoid any charges in the matter.

pierce seems to have dodged the proverbial bullet :D

but, how will all this stuff play out in the field? the giants have to play philly this weekend. it's now thursday and almost all the giants coverage has focused on the gunshot incident and the fallout from it. coach coughlin tried to refocus attention on the upcoming game yesterday at his press conference. good luck!

giants suspend plaxico burress for rest of season because of gunshot incident

yesterday the giants suspended plaxico burress for the remaining 4 games of the 2008 season, as a consequence of his self-inflicted gunshot wound. technically, the giants put burress on the "non-football injury" list after he was examined by the team doctor. the self-inflicted gunshot wound just cost plaxico the remaining $823,529 of his $3.5 million 2008 salary - and any shot at playing in the post-season. the giants also fined plaxico over the gunshot incident, but did not disclose the figure.

the team suspension and fine may be the least of plaxico's worries at this point because the two felony gun possession charges he was arraigned on monday afternoon carry 3 and a half year mandatory minimum jail terms (each).

in other fallout from the incident, fellow giant antonio pierce has yet to meet with police and explain his involvement. while this is obviously frustrating to police, it's what any self-respecting lawyer would advise him under the circumstances. not to be put off, the ny post reported that the police impounded his s.u.v. to look for traces of blood and gunpowder residue. looks like an episode of csi: ny in the making.

and the hospital where plaxico went for treatment, new york-presbyterian weill cornell medical center, was excoriated by mayor bloomberg for its failure to report the gunshot incident to the police. as a result, the hospital launched its own internal investigation and suspended the doctor who treated burress in connection with the failure to report to gunshot wound. the district attorney is also investigating the hospital's conduct.

a lot of fall-out from one gunshot!

update: on friday, april 3, 2009, the giants officially released plaxico burress!

brooklyn half marathon blues - again?

the brooklyn half marathon is tentatively set for may 30 on the nyrr 2009 schedule. it was almost a case of the brooklyn half marathon blues all over again because i initially thought the date was on memorial day weekend! that would have put it up against the pineland farms 50 miler and/or the b.u.s. pioneer memorial 100m trek! but before the blues kicked in, a heads up from brooklyn running pointed out the date is actually the weekend after memorial day! phew, bullet dodged!

still, the brooklyn half just can't seem to catch a break from the nyrr's. this is the third straight year the race has been pushed back, back, and now even further back, from its traditional march date! last year it was slotted in the for the last week of april - only to be pushed into the first week of may. that last minute change worked for me - and i was able to run it. the year before, 2006, it was held the same weekend as the boston marathon. thanks to modern technology, the automobile, i ran it on saturday, then drove to boston and ran the marathon on monday.

it's gotten a lot tougher lately to line up for my favorite new york road runner race. the last few years, in reverse order: may (09, tentative), may (08), april (07), march (06), march (05), and april (04).... but, if at all possible - it will always be the one nyrr race (except for that holiest of holy races, the nyc marathon itself) that i won't miss!
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hold the presses!! the brooklyn half marathon has mysteriously disappeared from the 2009 calendar (as of 2/6/09). are we getting a third case of the brooklyn half blues?

i'll post an update when the nyrr announce the new date.

pete mcardle cross country classic 15k: race report

what a difference a year can make! in 2007 the weather was sunny - beautiful, actually. this time around, we had rain, wind, and lots of mud for the pete mcardle cross country classic 15k. some might even consider those conditions perfect for cross country races - ha. still, despite the great weather last year, i struggled to finish that race. between a nasty cold and malarone (malaria) pills for an upcoming trip, my 1:19:52 was the slowest 15k time i ever posted! so, rain or no rain, this year the race was a bit of unfinished business.

i was glad when rob decided to go in - despite the rain! there was little chance i'd get nine miles in that morning, unless it was during a race. still, was second guessing myself halfway down my driveway to his car - i was soaked before getting in the car! that was merely a prelude to the drenching we'd undergo in the short trip from the car to race registration. at one point i had to laugh as the paper entry i had in my hand started to disintegrate before i could reach the table to hand it in!

between registration and the walk across the flats to the start, there was a break in the rain. it was still windy and raw, but it had quieted down enough for the starter to make announcements and for the crowd to move up to the actual starting line. i was wearing shorts but had on two tech shirts and my windbreaker. i also wore a headband and baseball cap, covered by the hood from the windbreaker. it was hardly the picture of aerodynamic smoothness! when the gun went off, i was at the back of the pack. i was shivering, and not in any great rush.

a good chunk of the parade grounds was fenced off because of construction. we followed the curve of dirt track along that fence (and faced a lot of puddles), before we started the first of three loops. by design, the first loop was longer than the second two loops. at the south end of the flats we went off the dirt track and cut across the grass to the other side. that's where we were greeted by some incredibly powerful wind gusts. for me, that windy stretch was the most daunting course element (more so than the hills themselves).

midway across the east side of the flats we turned right and headed onto the trail and hills. there was one decent climb, among the rolling hills, before we reached the footbridge and crossed over to the back hills. that loop included 2 more decent climbs and a couple of steep drops before we returned to the footbridge. back on the other side, we had a nice downhill all the way back to the flats, then back on the dirt track to finish the loop. the first time around took me 27:01 complete. the second loop and third loops went by with almost identical splits: 22:23 and 22:22, respectively!

i was very pleased with my 1:11:46 finish. while it took me a good 10+ minutes to warm up, by the second mile i was running strong. i took off the hood and headband just before i finished the first loop - and kept on the cap, to keep the rain off my glasses. i wore my new balance 840 trail shoes - which would have been perfect in better weather. i would've been a little happier if i'd worn the sturdier 908's, given slippery and muddy terrain.

all in all, it was a fun time. i saw my friend tom finish and collect an age group award (last seen at the terry ryan memorial races in hastings, where he also collected age group hardware). i said hi to ruth on the course (but never caught sight of sal). after rob finished, we headed straight back to the car and drove back with the heat blasting. it will be a miracle if he and i (or any other runner out there) don't catch a pneumonia for taunting the weather gods!

here are some soggy race photos :D
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from the 2007 pete mcardle xc classic (what perfect weather):


grant, emmy, me, and francoise.

bedford turkey trot: volunteer report

this was one of those times when running the race would have been way easier than volunteering - if only because the race started at 9 and the volunteers reported for duty at 7! the early arrival time wouldn't normally have been a big deal - except i had stayed out late the night before to catch the dark star orchestra show at the nokia theatre in the city. so by the time i crawled into bed, it seemed like minuted later it was time to get up again!

okay, whining over... the bedford turkey trot was a blast. got there a couple of minutes past 7, and found myself (along with emmy) assigned to handing out bibs to pre-registered runners. there was an interesting twist to bib pick-up because a disposable timing chip was attached. runners had to remove the plastic strip from the bib and attach the timing piece to the sneaker. one tab of the small plastic strip had the instructions (and was itself immediately disposable) the other tab had the electronics - and recorded the time.

as part of the bid distribution process, we had to brief the runners on the new d-chips. most loved the them - especially not having to worry about turning them back in after the race. others found attaching them to sneakers challenging. we even had one runner with a defective adhesive strip on her chip - and required the assistance of a stapler! all in all, this disposable timing technology will probably replace the old fashioned chips - sooner, rather than later. in fact, kate reported that similar timing was used at the pequot runners thanksgiving day race.

after bib pick-up runners boarded yellow school buses for the short trip over to the start. the start was just under a mile away, and some opted to jog over as a warm-up. the course itself was basically a loop - which included a pretty decent hill climb - that returned the runners to the start, when they then continued back on a point to point down the finish line. there was great course control be the police and other volunteers - especially for the stretch that went through downtown bedford.

once the last bus left the finish area, emmy and i decided to run the course (backwards, as it turned out). we ran thru town to the start and proceeded to cover the loop in the reverse direction - which was fun because we got to see the runners out on the course. by the time we reached the start of the loop, the majority of runners were just about to complete it (including john) and head off on the point to point back to the finish. i think we did entire run (about 4 miles) in roughly 35 minutes.

back at the finish we learned that john had won his age group! but that, in turn, lead to the only real negative of the entire morning - no age group awards beyond 50-59 year olds! what a bummer it was to discover that disappointing bit of news (john was the first of 7, in the 60-69 age group). after the awards ceremony, the kids fun runs were held on the field.

as much fun as it was volunteering, next year i think i'll line up for the race as a change of pace ;)

here are some race photos.

plaxico burress surrenders to face criminal gun possession charge

just after 8 a.m. this morning plaxico burress arrived at the 17th precinct station house in midtown mahattan and surrendered to face a charge of criminal possession of a handgun.

the charge(s) resulted from this weekend's accidental shooting - burress allegedly shot himself in his right thigh at the latin quarter nightclub in the early hours of saturday morning. his attorney stated that burress would enter a plea of not guilty to the charge(s).

until the all the facts are reported, it's too early to speculate on the possible consequences to burress from the shooting (including jail time on the gun possession charge and disciplinary actions from the ny giants and the nfl).

the coverage of plaxico's self-inflicted injury - and the consequences flowing from it - has overshadowed the giants victory over the redskins yesterday!

UPDATE: here is a copy of the actual criminal complaint (heads up to the smoking gun)!

UPDATE: giants suspend plaxico for remainder of season and antonio pierce will cooperate with prosecutors and testify before grand jury.

FINAL UPDATE: on april 3, 2009, the giants officially released plaxico burress!

giants beat redskins - again, 26-7 - despite plaxico burress sideshow

giants won yesterday, 26-7, beating the redskins for the second time this year. in a nod back to the season opener, the redskins were unable to put more than 7 points on the board. this was the giants 7th straight victory, upping their record to 11-1 (and maintaining a 3 game lead over second place dallas). with only 4 games left to the season, a giants victory over philly next week (or a dallas loss) will lock up the division title!

as for the game itself, the giants once again proved that a plaxico burress sideshow would not distract their focus. eli manning racked up his 1st 300+ yardage game of the year - pointedly done with a "superstar" receiver - to remain nameless - not suited up for the game! and that wasn't the only interesting stat of the game. the giants also had a lock on the clock as well - 35:44 minutes to washington's 24:16!

all this took place on a dreary weather - lots of wind and rain - day at jfk stadium. the giants weren't the least bit intimidated by the redskins' home field advantage. the lose dropped washington to third, and into a gnarly scramble for a wildcard slot. while still possible, it doesn't seem likely from yesterday's action on the field. washington, despite the losing the season opener to the giants, started off at 6-2. but at 7-5 today, the redskins have failed to build on it.

back to the giants, even on the heels of yesterday's victory - today (and most of the week) will see a news cycle dominated by coverage of plaxico burress and his gun woes. what a bummer.

UPDATE: plaxico burress surrendered at the 17th precinct this morning to face charge of criminal possession of a handgun.