tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

The Deification Of Ray Lewis

On Wednesday it was announced that Ray Lewis would be retiring at the end of the Baltimore Ravens playoff-run. Yesterday, it was reported that ESPN has worked out a deal with Lewis to be on "Monday Night Countdown" next season. The accolades have poured in since Wednesday, some making the claim that Lewis was the greatest middle linebacker of all time. I also saw an article which proclaimed that Ray Lewis was the greatest leader in pro football.

You can't deny Lewis' on-the-field accomplishments. He has been to 13 Pro Bowls, selected All-Pro 10 times, named NFL Defensive Player of the Year twice and he was the MVP of Super Bowl XXXV. Such a career warrants a first ballot selection to the Hall of Fame. However, when it's all said and done, give me Mike Singletary over Ray Lewis any day of the week. You see to me you need to be the whole package in order to be consider a great leader and the greatest middle linebacker of all-time and in my mind Ray Lewis doesn't cut it.

I have a problem with Ray Lewis for two reasons. The first one has to do with the ridiculous pre-game performance that the NFL has endorsed. Lewis' primal screaming as he runs on the field is more befitting a rank amateur than a professional. In my mind, it's contrived and nothing more than an attempt to be an attention grabber which has worked out well for Lewis. It represents a thug-like culture which has pervaded the NFL for the last 10 to 15 years. Somehow I can't imagine Singletary, Dick Butkus, Harry Carson, Ray Nitschke or Jack Lambert coming onto the field screaming like a wild animal. Lewis' act represents the self-promoting nonsense that runs throughout all sports but is particularly frustrating to watch in the NFL especially when you see someone on defense celebrating like a mad dog when they have made a tackle or sack and their team is down by 20 points. It irritates me to no end.

The second problem that I have with Ray Lewis has to do with the murder of Jacith Baker and Richard Lollar 13 years ago outside of a nightclub in Alanta. These two men were murdered as a result of a brawl with Ray Lewis and his friends. Lewis fled with his buddies in a stretch limo where he also disposed of his blood stained suit somewhere along the way. He was initially indicted on a murder charge, then plead down to an obstruction of justice charge after agreeing to testify against his two friends, Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweeting. Neither of them were convicted and Lewis eventually reached an undisclosed cash settlement with the victims' families. I wonder if the rage that is shown when Lewis comes out on the field was also exhibited that night in Atlanta. Is it part of his personality or is it all contrived?

My question is this: how is Ray Lewis' situation different than that of OJ Simpson's with respect to the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. In fact, Simpson was found not guilty to those murders. He didn't take a plea. Like Lewis, there ended up being a cash settlement as a result of a civil lawsuit filed by the Brown and Goldman families. Simpson was persona non-grata. I didn't see OJ being offered a job by ESPN. In fact, Simpson was a pariah. Yet, Lewis takes a plea after he destroyed his blood stained clothes, is convicted of an obstruction of justice charge and is going to be given a job on ESPN. Baker and Lollar were allowed to bleed out and die outside that nightclub while Lewis and Company fled the scene. Some leader.

The NFL has a culture of violence. Commissioner Roger Goodell has tried to crackdown on some of it but his efforts have been no where near effective. Players carrying guns, driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs and committing violence against wives or girl friends have marked the NFL for the last 15 years. But the NFL has no one to blame but itself. The league and its television partners have deified one of the biggest thugs around: Ray Lewis. Whether contrived or real, Lewis' act represents a violent culture as was borne out on that fateful night in Atlanta 13 years ago. Should Ray Lewis be in the NFL Hall of Fame: yes. But should he be considered the greatest linebacker ever: no. And he should never be considered a great leader because a leader doesn't run from his mistakes. He owns them and moves on. That's not what happened when Jacith Baker and Richard Lollar were allowed to bleed to death on the street in Atlanta 13 years ago.