Ray Lewis: Hall of Famer?

          Yes, I know what you're thinking. "Kev, you put a question mark up there by mistake." Actually I didn't. This isn't a post to argue statistics, because Ray Lewis has them all. This is merely to describe a hypothetical situation. The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio has halls lined with the busts of all time greats. Coaches like Vince Lombardi and Bill Walsh and players like Bart Starr and Steve Young, the names that resonate with fans of the game. A 46 member selection committee is charged with the task of determining who belongs in the Hall of Fame. From the Pro Football Hall of Fame website, "The Committee consists of one media representative from each pro football city with two from New York, inasmuch as that city has two teams in the National Football League. A 33rd member is a representative of the Pro Football Writers of America and there are 13 at-large delegates." These men and women determine who belongs in the halls of Canton, and anyone who gets 80% 'Yes' votes gets in. Which brings me to this question, should they pick Ray Lewis?
          Before I answer that question, let's examine how baseball selects their hall of famers. In order to be on the selection committee for baseball, you must have been a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America for at least 10 years, and last year there were 573 votes cast. Anyone with 75% 'Yes' votes gets in. But here is where I make my point. According to the website for the baseball hall of fame, "Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played." And according to those criteria, apparently no one deserved to be elected this year. This was undoubtedly due to the prominent use of steroids in the era, and being linked to steroids has no doubt kept Clemens, Bonds and others out of the Hall in recent years because their use of steroids defies the "sportsmanship" portion of the criteria which I have no problem with.

Lewis in his court appearance in 2000

            The NFL doesn't seem to have this specific criteria. Only that each player will be evaluated thoroughly in the election process. Which finally brings me to Ray Lewis. Ray Lewis has been one of the most dominant defensive players that this game has ever seen. He is the only player in NFL history with 40 sacks and 30 interceptions in his career, and has anchored a feared defense for 17 seasons. His numbers are mind boggling and are certainly worthy of Hall of Fame recognition. But if the NFL followed suit with the baseball Hall of Fame voters, would Lewis get in? The reason I ask this is because of an incident that happened after the super bowl in Atlanta in 2000, causing Ray Lewis and two other men to be indicted on charges of a double murder. To make a long story short, Lewis plead guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of justice charges in exchange that he testify against his two friends who end up being found not guilty (You can read the whole story here). Lewis got only a year of probation and served no jail time.
          Now in no way am I arguing that Ray Lewis was guilty of murder, though there are plenty who still feel he is. What he is guilty of, is being involved in a very messy situation, one that does not present a good image for the NFL and certainly does not teach children a good lesson about the game. To get back to my question, after being involved with such and incident, should Ray Lewis be rewarded with the Hall of Fame? In baseball, Pete Rose received a lifetime ban for allegedly betting on the game of baseball. Rose was not implicated in a murder charge, he was making money on the side by influencing the games one way or another. The all time hits leader won't make the hall of Fame because he bet on the game and "ruined its integrity." And very soon (should Lewis retire this season) another type of 'hits' leader will be eligible for selection to his respective Hall of Fame. There isn't a doubt in my mind that Lewis will be selected, and probably in his first year. But if the tables were turned, would we be so sure? Does Ray Lewis' past demonstrate character, integrity and sportsmanship? The real answer is I don't know. What I do know is this: in this day and age with sports being as prominent as they are (especially the NFL), voters should not turn a blind eye to off the field conduct. Because we should not reward athletes who have escaped the arms of the law with a slap on the wrist because of their fame.
          And now, the Ray Lewis dance we've all seen for 17 years and wondered what the hell he was actually doing...

          And on a more positive note, something we can all take away from Ray Lewis, "If tomorrow wasn't promised, what would you give for today?"

What a weekend

          Wow. Simply wow. What a weekend in the NFL. Easily one of the best weekends of football I have watched in a long time. All four losing teams scored at least 28 points, and in the game that was the least competitive we saw Colin Kaepernick break a single game record. It was both heartbreaking and triumphant. Extreme emotions flowed from both ends of the spectrum, depending on which team had your support on the day. But if we look at the games simply as a spectator it was an incredible weekend to be a football fan.       

          I personally had my heart ripped out of my chest with the mind blowing shocker in the mile-high city. I am unashamed in my support of Peyton Manning. I firmly believe he’s the greatest quarterback of all time, but I will also admit that there are plenty of very reasonable arguments for other signal callers (especially that super model’s husband in New England). I was devastated to see Manning do everything he needed to win the game, only to have it ripped from his hands by what could be called the WORST play by a safety in recent memory. I also firmly believe that John Fox blew the game by being the most conservative coach EVER. He decided to run the ball three straight times to try and milk the clock for every second and to leave the Ravens with as little time as possible. That is absolutely the correct strategy if Jake Delhomme is your quarterback. But let me do you a favor Fox, and introduce you to PEYTON MANNING. You know, the bionic man who led your team to 11 straight wins, holds innumerable records and is quite possibly the man with the highest football IQ the game has ever seen. But no, good old John Fox put away his man parts in the fourth quarter and made the cardinal sin in the NFL. He played to not lose the game. Allow me to quote Mr. Herm Edwards, who once said so convincingly that “You play to win the game.” Fox apparently missed that day in NFL coaching class, and instead left it up to Flacco to not come up big. Turns out Flacco has a rocket launcher for an arm and Jacoby Jones can run kinda fast. Then John freaking Fox decides that 30+ seconds and two timeouts and Manning at quarterback isn’t enough time to try anything, so he takes a knee. The expletives that flew from my mouth at that moment were enough to make a sailor blush. I’ll paraphrase by saying that Fox has the same genitalia as a Ken doll. Yes my hero Manning did throw the game away in OT with that bonehead interception, and ultimately I guess you can blame the loss on him. But if you did blame him, you’d be wrong.

Flacco's miracle heave (Sorry, best quality I could find)

          The Patriots won, despite losing the little engine that could Woodhead and the “Half man half hulk” who seems to have hit the next level of the evolutionary chain, known to most simply as Gronk. Any of this sound familiar to anybody? Because it should. The boys from the North do this all the damn time. It’s sickening, but admirable. They just win, and as the lovably loquacious Billy Belichick always says… wait he never has anything to say. This section is short because there’s nothing unique to say about this game. It’s January, in the NFL playoffs, Tom Brady and the Pats won. In other news the sky is blue and the sun rose today.

This one is for the ladies

          The Atlanta Falcons, the number one seed that nobody thought was any good. All we heard all week was the team that tied for the best record in the NFL had no chance. Matt Ryan was a choke artist and the Falcons never show up in the playoffs. I’ve got news for you, that’s not true anymore. Ryan jumped all over Seattle, giving his team a 20-point lead early in the game. Then, as if it was scripted for Hollywood, the Seahawks charged back led by the rookie quarterback who was “too small to be a pro.” But the Boston College product known to Atlanta faithful as Matty Ice put that Hollywood finish on hold, surprising the shit out of everyone by driving his team into field goal range in the blink of an eye and watched as Matt Bryant silenced all of the Atlanta critics… for now.

Falcons got a nice cold glass of Matty Ice

          Then we have the 49ers. What an interesting story, Alex Smith leads the team to the conference finals last year, and was in the top five in the NFL in QBR until a little bump on his head changed everything. A young man named Colin Kaepernick ripped Smith’s job away in about 4.43 seconds, which happens to be Kaepernick’s 40 yard dash time. But what would the second-year pro do in his first playoff game? He’d probably fold under the pressure of the big stage, right? Wrong. He ran for an astonishing 181 yards, an NFL single game record for a quarterback, and discount double checked Aaron Rodgers and the Packers all the way back to Green Bay. Can Kaep keep this show rolling? Only time will tell.

Yes it's corny, but oh so true

          I guess I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the Ravens, who hung around long enough in Denver to pull out a miraculous win. Led by the future hall of famer Ray Lewis, who is on his farewell tour, the Ravens have found a way to win. On the football field it is undeniable that Lewis is an emotional leader, and maybe the greatest middle linebacker in NFL history. Off the field is another story, but I’ll leave that topic untouched. Joe Flacco has been one of the most criticized quarterbacks in the NFL for a while now, because he “doesn’t win big games.” However, Flacco is the only NFL quarterback to win a playoff game in his first five seasons. The sound of critics being silenced was apparent on Saturday, as Flacco made throw after throw, hitting Torrey Smith on repeated deep throws and of course the absolute bomb to Jacoby Jones to tie the game with only a few ticks on the clock. Then Flacco and the Ravens took advantage of Manning’s mistake in OT to win the game on a field goal. All allegiances aside, it was an impressive performance and Flacco deserves a lot of credit for the win.

Apparently this is what "shit luck" looks like

          Sitting here with my fingers on the keyboard I can still feel every up and down of the emotional roller coaster that these games took me on. I can only hope that anyone reading this had half of the emotional excitement that I did watching these games, because it’s my opinion that sports have the ability to make someone forget about the world we live in. From kickoff to the final whistle, it can take your mind off of all the trials and tribulations this crazy ass world puts us through, and I believe that’s pretty special.

NFL Week 2: The Panthers and 5 things to know from around the league

          Week two of this NFL season is (almost) in the books, and I have to say that I'm rather impressed with a lot of things. I also have to say that I'm pretty unimpressed by other things, and we'll get to those as well. From this point forward, I'd like to do game analyses for the Panthers while also commenting on five other things from around the league on a weekly basis. Without further ado, welcome to week two.
          Let's begin with the Panthers, who have been both atrocious and outstanding so far this year. Week one couldn't have been more disappointing. Losing to the Buccaneers while amassing only 10 rushing yards was downright embarrassing. Granted, the Buccaneers have proven to be a good team, taking the Giants to the wire yesterday. But come on, 10 rushing yards for a team that has four very capable ball carriers? Pitiful.
           But week two brought redemption for the Cardiac Cats. They beat the Saints 35-27 in a thrilling game where the Panthers steamrolled the defense for more than 200 rushing yards and Williams, Stewart, Tolbert AND Cam all scored TDs. It wasn't just the running game that thrived, as Cam had 253 yards through the air as well, including 104 to the always explosive Steve Smith. With such a perfectly balanced offense, the Panthers present an incredibly difficult matchup for any team. Another key stat, SuperCam had zero interceptions. Last year, the Panthers were undefeated when Cam didn't turn the ball over. I've said repeatedly that he doesn't have to make more hero highlight plays this year for the Panthers to go far, he just needs to make fewer bad decisions and the Panthers will be in the playoff hunt. The offense gets an A-

Cam Newton takes badass pictures

          Despite giving up 27 points, the defense actually played pretty decent. Godfrey made a great play on the pick six (though it was mostly a gift from Brees) and our defense was able to put pressure on Brees for most of the game. The Saints may be without Head Coach Sean Payton, but that offense is damn dangerous, and being able to force Brees into two interceptions and holding him to only 63% completion percentage and one TD is still quite a feat. Bravo defense, B-

"Hey! Don't let those guys hit me again!"

5 Things around the league that caught my eye:

1. Rookie QBs: 5 rookie quarterbacks have been handed the starting position this year, a record, and it has everyone talking. In week one only RGIII was able to come up with a win, and they had more turnovers as a group than total TDs. That was a bit discouraging, but week two provided a different result. 10 total TDs to only one turnover and a combined 3-2 record. It's still way too early to speculate on how the rest of the season will play out, but this is a good sign that it won't be a complete disaster.

2. Has anybody seen Chris Johnson? Titans RB? Mr. 2,000 yard season a couple of years ago? He may as well be on the back of a milk carton, because he is completely absent from the football field. 19 carries for a whopping total of 21 yards. That's twenty-one. He has less yards than his starting QB Jake Locker. He also has less yards than Browns QB Brandon Weeden, Tim Tebow, and the 90-year-old lady in the retirement home down the road. Johnson is on pace to hit the 100 yard mark in week 10. 

"Wait... So I'm supposed to carry the ball forward?"

3. Replacement Referees suck. We want the real ones back. Pay up Goodell, seriously.

4. Eli Manning won yet another game in dramatic come-from-behind fashion. I never thought I would consider him elite, I was too big of a fan of Peyton to admit Eli was elite. But it's true. Eli Manning, despite missing a few chromosomes here and there, is an elite quarterback. Two impressive Super Bowl winning drives and a near 5,000 yard season last year prove it. His 510 yard performance in a win against the Bucs, which also included a game-winning drive, is just further proof. He is undoubtedly the best 4th quarter QB in the game right now.

5. Time for three disappointments. Joe Flacco looked more like Joe Flaccid yesterday when the game was on the line. He has to start winning games in crunch time if he wants people to call him elite. Gostkowski AKA Shankopotamus blew it for the Pats while Vinatieri is still kicking 50 yard game-winners in Indy like it's child's play. And finally the Eagles opponents, who forced them into 9 turnovers in the first two weeks and allowed them to escape with wins both times. I expect Cleveland to blow games like that, but the Ravens? Come on man.

          Lastly I'd like to give a game from next week to look forward to. All of them. If football is on TV it's worth watching. So grab the remote, grab a beer, plop your lazy butt on the couch in front of the biggest TV in your house and enjoy!

Football is Back!

          Friends hear the good news! The days of watching countless hours of mindless television are over. No longer will we be forced to watch golf on Sundays, praying for a magical shot from Tiger. Baseball will not grace my television anymore (especially since the Red Sox just shipped everybody on the roster out the door). Gone are the days of marathons on the Discovery channel watching sharks eat the shit out of little seals. In one week and two days, on Wednesday September 5th it will be official. Football is back.
          And I don't mean this half-assed preseason nonsense, I'm talking about games that actually matter. Games that don't feature John Doe from the local bakery trying to get a roster spot. We're talking about the games with all of the overpaid players on our favorite teams who we love to worship, and all the players on the other teams who we love to hate.
          The day has come when Peyton Manning is once again a starting quarterback, Rex Ryan has yet another cluster in New York, and Cam Newton takes the hopes and dreams of Panther nation on his back as he tries to deliver us to the promised land. Another season begins where 32 teams have a chance. Everyone is undefeated, and nobody has made a mistake. Except Ochocinco, he forgot that marriage is not a contact sport.

          With the season starting, Tim Tebow will now return to the spotlight.. Oh wait that never ended. Well at least he's a starting quarterback now.. wait no he isn't. Hey at least he's not on the punt team.. Oh.. yeah actually he is. I thought I'd never see the day when I actually felt bad for Mark Sanchez, but I stand corrected.

          The new era has been ushered in, both in Washington and Indianapolis. Andrew Luck has the shadow of Peyton Manning to get out of, while RGIII just has to overcome the shadow of the approximately 37 different starting quarterbacks that the Redskins have had since '05. Both will become either saviors or scapegoats in 16 games, and it will all happen before our very eyes.

          An interesting headline on the field not involving world class athletes is the lockout of the refs. Yeah, remember those guys we HATE and spend every Sunday criticizing? While they may suck, their  replacements suck even worse. And hey, at least the real guys know to spot the ball between the hash marks and can face the correct direction when making a call. So please, I'm begging you Ed Hochuli, bring your huge biceps and long winded explanations back. We miss you.
          From the rookies to the refs, from the veterans to the over-the-hill stars who think they still have it (I'm talking to you T.O.), and from every highlight to every bonehead mistake, NFL fans we can rejoice in unison because football is back!