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I’ve been reading some about football Giants receiver Plaxico Burress shooting himself, apparently by accident, though living in New York I always can understand. Sounds like a guy maybe just back from the city’s annual Psychotic Loner Fair. A New York friend corrected me and said Burress just was showing teammate Antonio Pierce how he was going to pistol-whip Tom Coughlin if he fines him again. Do I see a David Letterman Top 10 here? How could it not be?

So I’m thinking, OK, Burress can go get the ball as evidenced with his game winning Super Bowl catch and if the Bulls offer Tyrus and Michael Ruffin…Nah, just kidding.

But what’s not so funny is the apparently unique standard the NBA and its players seem unfairly held to compared with players in other sports and leagues, especially the NFL.

From what I have read, the Giants refused and the players refused to inform the police of the shooting, which is required by law, and according to New York police the team and the league have cooperated anywhere from “not at all” to, “Show us some ID.”

Just think of the reaction had this happened with an NBA player or the NBA.

Oh, the humanity!

Which, by the way, was the famous description from two broadcasters sent from Chicago’s WLS in 1937 to witness the famous Hindenburg zeppelin arrival and subsequent disaster.

Anyway, back to musing and ranting: When one NBA referee was accused of betting on games, the national media went into full frenzy alert, predicting the demise of the game as we know it. When an independent report came out saying it was just one referee betting, the reaction was, “Oh that.”

Not that I’m trying to be a shill for the NBA for I have weighed in often about various outrages, including the signing of Ron Mercer. But where’s the outrage about the NFL, about still another football player apparently in serious violation of the law. Yet, the New York media remains filled with angst about what could have been done regarding Stephon Marbury and how badly this has all been handled and what a black eye it is for the NBA and the league to say nothing of the economy and the crises in the Middle East.

I’ve long told David Stern when he comes up with one of those clever annual ad slogans, like “I love this Game,” that I thought he should next time use, “At Least Our Players aren’t on Trial for Murder.” OK, I wished I’d said that as I stole it from Letterman.

And, oh yeah, “Can you make a trade to get Burress off your fantasy league team?”

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