"Ray Lewis more focused on 49ers than retirement"

From Fox Sports

Review by Luke Drayer in SRM 334 (section 2)

Now in his 17th season with the Baltimore Ravens, Ray Lewis has finally decided to call it quits. After announcing his retirement on January 2, Lewis told his teammates that this would be his “last ride” as the team’s captain and leader. Regardless of when the season ended, Lewis said he would be hanging up the cleats. However, after beating the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots in post-season play, the Ravens have now found themselves competing in New Orleans for the Super Bowl. Even with one game left in his playing career, Lewis is adamant that he isn’t thinking about his retirement, but instead about taking on the San Francisco 49ers and winning the Super Bowl. Lewis has had a Hall of Fame career, but his impact on the Raven’s over the years has gone beyond his play. Ray is known amongst players and fans of the NFL as being one of the best motivational and inspirational leaders in all of sports. He has a certain presence about him that makes his teammates rally around him and want to play with the same passion that he has. Regardless of whether or not the Ravens take home the Super Bowl trophy, Lewis will be regarded as one of the best, if not the best, defensive players to ever play the game of football. I feel that this article relates to this class because ever since announcing his retirement, there has been nonstop talk on twitter and news networks like SportsCenter about what his legacy will be and whether he will be able to walk away from the game with a Super Bowl trophy or not. It has been a huge story for the past month and I feel it has actually played a part in the Ravens post–season run. I think the Ravens feel they have something to play for, almost like they owe it to Ray to have him leave the game with a Super Bowl win. While I like both teams, I am personally rooting for the Ravens as I think it would be awesome to see Ray Lewis go out with a bang.

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Review by Kolbie Owens in SRM 334 (section 2)

Ray Lewis is a linebacker on the Baltimore Ravens. Lewis has been referring to this postseason run as the “Last Ride” because he is going to retire after this Super Bowl game. Ray Lewis is very wise in his game playing because of his long 17-year career in the NFL. In this article he states how his focus is not on his retirement, it is on this game. He is doing this for him and his team NOT just himself and wants to stay as focused as possible.

Ray Lewis is in the media for many things. One is his age, he is 37 years old and arguable the best defensive player in the NFL. Two, he is a motivational speaker as well as a successful leader. Lewis gives pep talks to his team as well as colleges. He is an inspirational speaker and is known for that because of how motivational he is. This leads to the next thing the media loves about Ray Lewis, he pregame dance. This is very familiar to Ravens fans as well as other football fans.

The dance, his age, and his motivational speeches are all good media on Ray Lewis, now here is the bad. In 2000 he was accused of a murder of his two friends. This caused a lot of drama and press on Lewis. In the end he was not found guilty for the murder, however he was guilty for obstruction of justice. Currently he has a performance enhancing drug allegation with Deer-antler velvet spray, which causes a more recent bad image for him.

This is relevant to this class because it shows how much the media represents the image of an athlete, and Ray Lewis has had many incidents that reflect good and bad behavior. He is under the spotlight for everything he does good and bad and for Lewis that seems to not have any bad effect on him because he is still an extremely talented athlete.