| Quoth the Raven: "Nevermore?" In the
case of Ray Lewis, the Ravens’ highest-profile player both on — and most
definitely off — the field, you still have to wonder.
Has Lewis, who had murder charges against him dropped in the Jan. 31 deaths of two men
in a blood-drenched, post-Super Bowl donnybrook on the streets of Atlanta, really learned
his lesson?
From here on out, will he really do a better job of picking his so-called friends? Or
will he continue to hang out with low-life scumbags?
Does Ray Lewis really, truly understand how fortunate he is right now to be back on the
football field, doing what he does best?
Beyond that, has he really shown the proper amount of remorse for the lives that were
lost in the tragic street brawl that came so close to ruining his own life?
I didn’t attend the June 9 press conference at which Lewis talked to the media
in-depth for the first time since his acquittal. But the reports I received from fellow
media types who were in attendance are far from glowing.
Lewis did indeed admit he was wrong in initially lying to police about the fatal
stabbings outside an Atlanta nightclub. He also said it would really be
"heartless" if opposing players used his ordeal as trash-talk ammo "because
… two people are dead."
But he never came right out and said he was genuinely sorry about what happened.
Instead, I’m told, he seemed surprisingly belligerent and, in the words of one
veteran Ravens onlooker, "shockingly" combative.
When asked if the events of the past four months would affect his focus for the season,
Lewis said with a smile, "I think I’ll be more (ticked) off to hit
somebody."
Lewis’ response leaves me with the same kind of hollow feeling as Ravens owner Art
Modell’s response when asked to comment on whether or not the league should consider
suspending his star player.
Said Modell: "If every player in the NFL charged with a misdemeanor was suspended,
we’d be playing with four-man rosters."
Modell’s quote rings even more hollow in the wake of the recent misdemeanor
charges filed against Lewis’ teammate Chris McAlister. The Ravens’ starting
cornerback was charged with possession of marijuana after Baltimore County police
discovered the drug while responding to a burglary alarm at McAlister’s home.
McAlister’s lawyer quickly claimed his client was getting a bum rap. "Other
people have access to his house," said attorney C. Carey Deeley Jr. "Chris was
in Miami, Fla., for a friend’s birthday party at the time."
In other words, some other "friends" were careless enough to leave
approximately a half-ounce of marijuana on a coffee table in the basement in full view of
anyone who happened by.
Sounds like the same kind of "friend" who was found passed out on the floor
of Ricky Williams’ new digs in New Orleans earlier this summer, high on drugs, while
Williams was back in Austin, Texas, taking classes and visiting with his mom.
When Modell gets back from the vacation he’s currently enjoying in France, I
suggest that he quit downplaying the seriousness of his players’ shortcomings and
consider the same kind of hard-line, zero-tolerance policy that has been adopted by
Panthers owner Jerry Richardson.
"I don’t expect the guys to be choirboys, but I expect them to be decent
people," said Richardson, who wasted very little time ridding his roster of alleged
law-breakers Rae Carruth and Fred Lane earlier this offseason.
"And I clearly don’t expect them to get into the situations that some of our
people have gotten into. Anybody that’s paid any attention to our team knows that if
our players aren’t doing the right thing, then they aren’t going to be
here."
To his credit, Ravens coach Brian Billick says he plans on using Lewis’ ordeal as
a teaching tool. "We will talk about it at length with the team," Billick said.
"There’s no more graphic example about the environment you’re in, the way
you need to be conscious of what’s going on around you, and not put yourself in those
situations.
"We will use that as a learning tool as many times as we have to, to put it in
front of our players."
It wouldn’t hurt if Billick enlisted the services of people like Ron Shapiro, a
longtime Baltimore-based sports agent who wrote a book on famous athletes’ penchant
for getting into trouble, entitled "High Price of Heroes," and recently offered
some valuable food for thought in a conversation with the Baltimore Sun.
"Ray’s going to have to deal with whether or not he wants to move beyond the
unreal world that some sports stars wrap around themselves into the real world of
challenges that will face him — if not tomorrow, when he finishes his playing
career," Shapiro said.
"What I mean by that is that the world of hangers-on and sycophants and entourages
is an unreal world that will do nothing to help you develop a value system to help you
avoid the kind of problem he faced in Atlanta. They’re the yes men of the sports
world."
Lewis should pay closer attention to fellow football stars like Falcons RB Jamal
Anderson, one of the NFL’s classiest, media-savvy acts.
"People who travel with me have to be able to handle themselves," says
Anderson. "I’ve always tried to influence people the way I have been —
positively. You’re going to have some friends who take the lessons and some friends
who just don’t get it.
"You’ve got a decision to make then."
Is Ray Lewis capable of making those kinds of decisions?
You really have to wonder. |
