http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/stor...6pLid%3D251953

this actually almost makes me cry.. i dont even like the Ravens, but i think Ray Lewis is the greatest defensive player IMO over the past 20 years... his motivational speeches are legendary and his work ethic is unrivaled.. i will post more once i learn more.. but this is truly sad news to me

Saddened, but I do believe it's time. After 17 years, he's done all he can do. Nothing left to prove, except his love of the game.

Sad news indeed but there comes a time when you gotta hang up the cleats. A true team player and first ballot HOF. Big shoes to fill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcSBw76_tpk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M62iU4hWV_g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bb1jQ4DtSI

He has had a huge impact on his team and fans. He will be missed.

Hell of a player, but I can't say I'm sad to see him go since I'm a pats fan.

Why, thats Tom Bradys favorite player.. lol... no really.. look it up

I am a fan of Ray Lewis, he is a leader.

Sad to see him go but I am glad he is doing it now vs. later and risking damaging his body even more than it probably already is.

Such glowing praise for a man who was charged with murder, then had that charge reduced when he agreed to testify against his co-defendants. Same guy who's suit he was wearing the night of the murder mysteriously vanished. Same guy who in civil court settled with the family of murder victim.

Sorry but I can't heap praise on a guy for his athletic ability when he was involved in such things.

Oh I hate to admit I forgot about that :-)

:-) :-) :-)

+1 I wanted to write something similar, but I was having trouble coming up with something this tasteful.

I'm glad to see him go, but I'd like to see Ed Reed, LeDarius Webb, and Terrell Suggs gone, too.
And I'd like to see Ray Rice in the Steeler's backfield. :-)

There's a good show on ESPN, 30/30 or Legends of the Game or something that did a Ray Lewis story. It cast him in an awful good light, as I'm sure it's supposed to, but it makes it very easy to read between the lines and figure out he's grown up and put his head on straight since he got in trouble, for what that's worth.

yeah because nobody has made mistakes in life..

because every professional athlete is a shining example of proper behavior (especially NFL)

lets get real here people.. everybody has had their brushes with the law, has made a mistake, has altered the lives of others.. Who are we to judge this man of things we have no facts on.. What does that make the people judging him?

puhlease.. that is bullshit.. the guy is a first ballot hall of famer. Without question... He was also deemed innocent.. So we ought to treat him as such

Well so was OJ. The fact is, that there is a lot of mystery surrounding what actually took place during that event. He settled a civil suit which doesn't mean he's guilty, but doesn't point to innocence either. Hell of a football player, but don't tell me I have to believe that he did not have something to hide there.

Sorry, Ron.
I have made mistakes in life. As I am sure you have, too.
But I don't think either of us have been charged with murder.

Helluva a player. I don't disagree.
But don't put the man on a pedestal. Ask yourself this. Could you look past his "mistakes in life" if he were dating your daughter?

And there is nothing "innocent" about him.

Wish he would play another year or three. He is a shell of what he once was, and the way the Steelers played this year, they need all the help they can get.

I understand he is your favorite player, Ron, but making mistakes, and being implicated in a murder are not exactly the same thing. Seems you are judging the people who choose to judge Lewis a bit harder than you do.

Sorry Peter.. im AM putting him on a pedestal.. He is the best defensive player to take the field since Lawrence Taylor.. Im not willing to look past that for some mistakes and bad judgements he made in his early 20's..

And im also sorry, but i do believe that a person is innocent until proven guilty.. And if he isnt/wasnt charged, then he is innocent.. You want to blame somebody for that, blame our judicial system.. but thats the way it is.. Fair is Fair.


Yes Peter.. Yes i would..

Thats like a person who has never had a drug addiction telling an ex drug-addict that "having an addiction is for weak people".. Um, how would you know until you've been in that position.? Easy answer.. That person WOULDNT. lol



Tom, i know you are in the law enforcement field, but i still think every person should be given a second chance.. I was given one, and not a day goes by where it doesnt cross my mind.. especially as a motivational piece.. Maybe that is why his situation hits hard for me.. This man has earned the right to live his life and move on.. he has been an upstanding citizen ever since his run-in.. What more does he have to pay? Ive had enough of society rejecting people because of their past.. Its shallow and pathetic.


____


Infact.. why are we having this conversation of social acceptance in a post that was made to celebrate the FOOTBALL career of a first ballot hall of fame football player?

Enough is Enough