Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter comes off as a smack-talking buffoon, but it's all an act. He's sort of like Tony Kornheiser in that respect; he plays dumb for the crowd, but the reality is that he's a pretty sharp dude. So with that in mind, I was interested in his comments on the whole "Plax blew a hole in his own leg?!" fiasco that has since earned the Giants wideout a suspension for the rest of the NFL season and, if New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gets his way, a three-plus-year stint in the slammer for, well, shooting himself in the thigh without a permit.
Porter admits that he considers Burress "a brother" (they played together in Pittsburgh) and takes it "real personal how he's being treated."
"Everybody has their mistakes, but that's exactly what they are ... Until you've been in that situation, when you've been robbed at gunpoint or you've had a gun waved in your face or had your house broken into before or been carjacked, you really don't know what it's like."Or been shot in the butt while fleeing a night club.
Anyone remotely associated with the New York Giants is, in the wake of the 
Drew Rosenhaus
There's a well chronicled history of violence in the NFL -- it is, after all, a very dangerous sport. But there's also a heavy awareness of the even darker violent side of professional football off the field. Numerous players have been accosted, robbed, beaten and even killed in usually completely unnecessary acts of violence.
Used to be the case that during the NFL season bloggers spent their weekdays recapping the games that just wrapped and previewing those on tap. It was a simpler time. 
