Ray Lewis

According to owner Steve Bisciotti, The Ravens will construct a statue of Ray Lewis outside M&T Bank Stadium. This seems....wrong.  

"I think he set himself apart in Baltimre sports history...and I will not be surprised if there is one there in the next year or two."

In case you missed this article from Friday, Simmons does a great job discussing a couple of "modern miracles" that may warrant a bit more scrutiny. I'm not saying that I know that any of these guys are juicing, but Simmons's list of "people who should have to pee in a cup" makes some excellent points. Interested to hear what the board thinks of it. Why don't we have better PED testing in sports? Reasons cited often include players' freedoms, and that blood testing is invasive, or something. Well, there are all kinds of random and invasive rules commiserate with playing pro sports. Hell, the combine has a literal meat market where players walk around in their underwear and are measured in front of hundreds of men. I'd think that the clean players would push hard for more testing.

Remember as you hear today that a 37 year old tore his triceps 2 months ago and is now on a "victory tour" making tons of tackles... that the NFL doesn't test for HGH. 

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8904906/daring-ask-ped-question

The following anecdote is also 100 percent true … When Bertrand Berry and Ty Warren suffered a complete tear of their triceps, it took them six months to recover. When Arizona left tackle Levi Brown suffered a complete tear of his triceps in August 2012, the Cardinals immediately put him on their season-ending injured list. When Ray Lewis suffered a complete tear of his triceps in mid-October, we thought he was finished for the season … only he returned to action a little more than two months later. During the third month of his "recovery," he made 17 tackles in a double-overtime playoff game in Denver. In 13-degree weather. At age 37. So when Lewis's name landed in this week's PED scandal, nobody tumbled over in shock. We wasted the rest of Super Bowl week talking about him, wondering whether he cheated, watching his denial for signs that he was lying, Googling "deer antler spray" and talking about everything other than the game. Eventually, the moment will pass, like it always does. Nothing will change. Sadly, the collective irresponsibility of some sports media members — call it "cornballbrotheritis" — ruined any rational media member's chances to question the current environment. You don't trust our ability to handle such a loaded subject, nor should you. We've ruined your trust too many times.

The Detroit News has a short article regarding Amani Toomer's impressions of the Ray Lewis spectacle, labeling Lewis a "caricature".  All in all I think it was good of Toomer to call Lewis out on Lewis's antics.

A theme in Toomer's comments is that in addition to Lewis's checkered past, Lewis is largely all about Ray Lewis and less so about his team.  That jibes with my impression of Lewis.

I am a big believer that people can redeem themselves, but also think that most people who do show contrition and humility.  I haven't seen much of either from Lewis, so I'm hoping he goes out with a thud rather than a bang.*  Lewis strikes me as positively unrepenetant regarding his involvement in the Atlanta murders.

On the other hand, Ed Reed seems to be on the way out of the NFL himself, and has been a model of humility.  Anyway, let's hear your thoughts on this topic since it's the off-season.

"It's definitely all about him," Toomer, a former NFL player whose Giants lost to Lewis and the Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV, told USA Today. "Once a guy goes to the center of the field, goes into the victory formation on the last play of his last home game … I just don't think the Giants or any organization I've ever been a part of, even growing up, would allow somebody to single themselves out like that.

*Insert off-color joke about Lewis's crew's victim going out with a bang. Feel bad because the victims were real and the crime horrendous. Wring hands about dilemma of including this comment. Realize the victims were stabbed rather than shot.  Hang head in shame.