This post is part of our feature on Money Losers of 2008. See all 20.

I love football players. When they're not entertaining me with their athletic prowess, they can usually be found doing something reckless or saying something ridiculous. Plus, several of them have ushered me to a Super Bowl victory in the 2008 Schaeffer's fantasy football league (Andre Johnson of the Houston Texans, if you're reading this: you complete me). As such, Plaxico Burress is the best of all possible worlds -- a gifted wide receiver with absolutely no common sense.

As you've probably heard by now, the New York Giants suspended Burress without pay in early December after he accidentally shot himself in the leg with an unlicensed firearm. The Super Bowl-winning wideout arrived at a club in Manhattan with the loaded weapon concealed in his pants, but the .40-caliber Glock unexpectedly discharged outside the VIP area.

In other words, Burress's suspension was mostly a formality; it's hard to run those out routes with a bullet wound in your thigh, and he was already battling a hamstring injury. The withheld salary was hardly symbolic, though.