The news broke yesterday amid much fan fare and debate about the controversial player. I will admit that as far as his skills on the football field are concerned, he is among the top defensive players to have ever played the game, worthy of being placed in the company of the all time great linebackers etc. There is however something far larger to this discussion than his play on the field, his conduct off of it, (which I’ll get to,) and the name calling done by those fans of his so willing to label any who refuse to dismiss his behavior after what seems to them the ancient date of the previous decade, and to just, “let it go already.” The adoration of Ray Lewis and that previously mentioned dismissal is a symptom of a far larger problem with our society as a whole. I’ll call it the Kennedy syndrome, for our very first unpunished murderer turned liberal lion.
I am angry with Ray, not just for his pious holier than thou attitude with any political issue that crops up in which he has zero expertise and even less intelligent thought. There is no harm there, except for his insistence on projecting his holier than thou attitude. His anti Second Amendment stance is preposterous, especially in light of the fact that he committed his particular double homicide with knives, stabbing his victims multiple times, and then fled the scene in a Lincoln Navigator Limousine. It is not the endless stream of NFL pregame show devoted to the portrait of a man who spends his off field life in some sort of monk’s existence, an ordained minister who preaches the gospel now and counsels the youth of America on the virtues of a life following the teachings of Jesus. (What exactly does he tell kids in the Baltimore area schools anyhow, that hiding your murder weapons in the vehicle your tooling around town in is a dumb idea?) What really sent me over the edge of sanity as far as all things Ray Lewis might be concerned was his idiotic public pronouncement during the last labor dispute involving the NFL that without Football in our lives on Sunday Mornings, the rest of us heathens would spend our time swindling, robbing, and assaulting each other. He believes that the crime rates will skyrocket should we not have Ray Lewis to cheer on every Sunday. (I thought we had God and his proscribed behavior to prevent chaos from overtaking society, but it turns out, according to Ray, that we have him and his ilk for role models now, or we should anyhow.)
For those of you who are interested, you can read the initial report by clicking the link at the beginning of this sentence.
ATLANTA (AP) — Pro Bowl linebacker Ray Lewis was charged with murder late Monday in the slayings of two people outside an Atlanta nightclub hours after the Super Bowl.
Lewis, middle linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens and the NFL’s leading tackler this season, was arrested after a day of investigation into the slaying near the Cobalt Lounge in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood about 4 a.m. Monday. He is the second NFL player charged with murder in less than two months.
Lewis was taken into custody and was expected to appear in court Tuesday morning. Earlier Monday, he told reporters that he had been questioned by police but cleared of any wrongdoing.
“I cooperated fully,” Lewis told The Sun of Baltimore before he was arrested. “As for the situation, I have no comment.”
Two men were stabbed during a fight that broke out after a party at the club. Witnesses said six men had fought and argued with the two victims. The men fled in a black Lincoln Navigator stretch limousine, firing at least five gunshots as they drove away.
Police found the vehicle in a parking lot behind a hotel near the shooting scene, Atlanta police spokesman John Quigley said.
In the comments and with some of yesterday’s debate about the legacy of Ray Lewis, I have made some observations. One, liberals will forgive any sin committed by one of their own. In the case of Ted Kennedy, not an eyebrow was raised during his shameless character assassination of Robert Bork. In fact, when ever the Democrats needed an official character assassination to take place, Ted Kennedy was the go to guy. Felonious activity followed him everywhere, even after his pregnant secretary made the mistake of getting into a car with Teddy driving. Rapes at his compound, binge drinking where assaults occurred, a waitress sandwich with Chris Dodd in a trendy D.C. restaurant, and Kennedy’s name would always seem to be in the background, not as the culprit per say, but as the idiot egging on the culprit. With all of that, any press coverage of Kennedy painted a picture of a Liberal Lion, protector of the little guy, self anointed arbiter of all that was fair, good, and decent in the world. Meanwhile, Mary Jo Kopechne is still the victim of an unsolved murder.
Ray’s crime is in the same vein. Jacinta Baker and Richard Lollar will never find justice for their deaths, as the man responsible for them has found rebirth as a Liberal Lion, role model for America’s youth, inspirational protector of all things related to protecting the little guy, arbitrating fairness, and just helping us all to avoid the pitfalls of not watching him play a children’s game on Sunday afternoons. The arguments defending Ray ran the gamut of he was acquitted, which is not true, to it was a really long time ago, as if Baker and Lollar might come back to life after another year paying for Ray’s sin, to anyone who mentions this is some kind of hater.
My favorite defense of Ray by far has to be the last argument, the weak ad hominem attack. Yes Ray killed two guys who he disagreed with, but you’re a hater for noticing. It isn’t the truth of the message that’s the problem here, but the messengers themselves deserve to be shunned from society. That in a nut shell represents the political left and the entirety of their philosophy. Don’t bother us with truth or objective fact, and in order to dissuade any from contemplating those things, we’ll just label you as a racist hater. Lewis was always out there in the forefront advocating against our Second Amendment Rights, when we should have taken knives and Limousines away from people, as that’s what he used. He has always told anyone who would listen how evil conservatives were, and how virtuous liberals were. If anyone disagreed with Ray, well that was only because they were haters, and not worthy of being listened to anyhow.
For those of your who believe Ray was acquitted, read the link from the beginning of this sentence. He struck a plea deal, in which he agreed to plead guilty to Obstruction of Justice, testify against his friends, and pay a hell of a lot of money to the victim’s families, the prosecution, the NFL, the limo driver, and anyone else who needed a bribe at the time. Ray it seems drove his crew of thugs to the club, and when the deed was done, which several witnesses placed Lewis’ personage in the fray at the time, he hid the two co-defendants in his limo, hid the murder weapons in his limo, and drove off. He lied to investigators about those small facts, until his arrest, at which time he clammed up, until his sweet heart deal was signed. That makes him a rat, and not a stand up guy.
ATLANTA (CNNSI.com) — A judge Monday approved a deal allowing Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis to avoid murder charges and jail time by pleading guilty to a misdemeanor and testifying against two co-defendants.
Lewis pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and Superior Court Judge Alice D. Bonner sentenced Lewis to 12 months’ probation, the maximum sentence for a first-time offender. Under the terms of the sentence, Lewis can not use drugs or alcohol during the duration of the probation.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard refused to say how the plea agreement was brokered but said his office made the right decision to prosecute Lewis.
snip
Samuel said Lewis will testify against his co-defendants as part of the deal, which also calls for aggravated assault charges against the linebacker to be dropped.
Now, just to throw this in, for the fools who will claim that Lewis is the greatest linebacker to have ever played the game, here is another reason to label me a hater. Jack Ham and Jack Lambert were both top quality linebackers with the rival Steelers organization. Both of them have four championship rings and were members of a defense that allowed a grand total of 28 points in the final 9 games of the 1976 season. Five of those 9 games saw the Steelers shutting out their opponents. Has Ray even seen 5 shutouts during the entire course of his career? Let those numbers sink in for just one moment, and compare anything Ray Lewis accomplished with that. Add that to the fact that neither Lambert nor Ham was involved in a double homicide, and there really is no comparison.
Schedule
Week Date Opponent Time (ET) TV Result
1 Sunday September 12 at Oakland Raiders 4:00 pm NBC L 31–28
2 Sunday September 19 Cleveland Browns 1:00 pm NBC W 31–14
3 Sunday September 26 New England Patriots 1:00 pm NBC L 30–27
4 Monday October 4 at Minnesota Vikings 9:00 pm ABC L 17–6
5 Sunday October 10 at Cleveland Browns 1:00 pm NBC L 18–16
6 Sunday October 17 Cincinnati Bengals 1:00 pm NBC W 23–6
7 Sunday October 24 at New York Giants 1:00 pm NBC W 27–0
8 Sunday October 31 San Diego Chargers 1:00 pm NBC W 23–0
9 Sunday November 7 at Kansas City Chiefs 1:00 pm NBC W 45–0
10 Sunday November 14 Miami Dolphins 1:00 pm NBC W 14–3
11 Sunday November 21 Houston Oilers 1:00 pm NBC W 32–16
12 Sunday November 28 at Cincinnati Bengals 1:00 pm NBC W 7–3
13 Sunday December 5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1:00 pm NBC W 42–0
14 Saturday December 11 at Houston Oilers 1:00 pm NBC W 21–0
