I remember how difficult it was to maintain my vocal support of Ray Lewis back in 2000, when the Ravens made a remarkable run to a Super Bowl championship. The year before he was on trial for the obstruction of justice. People weren’t sure what to think. It certainly wasn’t popular to voice support and admiration for the man. I couldn’t help but admire the football player. I was blessed to land in the right place in order to play middle/inside linebacker for my high school football team (which was Desert High, the name of my novel, not coincidentally). This guy plays the position the way it should be played: with intensity, smarts, toughness, speed, the appetite for hitting and a ball-hawkish nose for the football. It seems like he had it all. Take Dick Butkus or Ray Nitschke and give them 220 volts of 4.4 speed and you have an impentratable perimeter just beyond the line of scrimmage. I loved watching him play and I ate up that 2000 Super Bowl where the Ravens demolished the New York Giants. I remember hearing people complain about that Super Bowl game, but I loved it.
Ten years later I was watching a game somewhere and when the pre-game introductions came on, some man next to me started shouting at the television set: “Murderer! You’re a murderer!” He sounded like a wounded woman to me and I was kind of shocked to hear that someone was still convinced that this guy was guilty. A little bit of baggage came with that pent-up accusation, I think. I don’t know Ray Lewis and I could be wrong, but I took him at his word when he defended his actions about the Super Bowl night incident years ago. Some things are just so large and compelling that it’s almost impossible to shed the memories and associations.
But I’d like to talk about what I heard this morning on the NFL Network.
Ah… I first must pause and comment on how much I am digging this television network. I love football. I love having a network that is run by the league and features football coverage year-round. Sure, I appreciate, love and play other sports, like baseball, basketball, hockey, skateboarding and such. But, if you compared my love for those sports to my immense love for football, it’d be like saying “I hate basketball.” There’s such a large gap in my affection for the sport. I was really leery about switching from Time Warner cable to DirecTV satellite for my television signal. I was worried that rain storms and wind and other conditions would weaken the signal. So far, no such problems. The digital signal and all the HD channels in the basic package are pretty awesome. I’m watching a little NFL Network every single day at some point (if I can). I love it.
Anyway, this morning they had a brief interview with Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, which always gets my attention, and they said, “Wait ’til you hear what Ray Lewis said in his post-game speech to the team in the Ravens’ locker room. I love this “behind the scenes” access that the NFL Network brings. I’m a fan.
This speech was in the locker room after his team was on the losing end of a tough loss that came down to the final play (a missed “chip shot” field goal by former Dallas Cowboys kicker Billy Cundiff). The emotions of that kind of situation are immense. The fans feel it, but the players lived it. As they take off their uniforms and prepare to shower, get dressed and meet their families and friends that await them, they’re probably feeling the “finality of it” (as John Madden used to comment). Their football season is over. There’s no more games for them to play for the rest of the year. It’s a shock to the emotions. It’s tough.
“I tried to tell y’all, God has never made a mistake. He’s never made a one mistake. ALright? So, it ain’t about one play. It ain’t about nothing. This year – we did what we were supposed to do. We fought as a team. We fought as a team. There will be one Super Bowl champ crowned at the end of this year. That’s it! So, the way we feel, somebody’s gonna feel like that tomorrow. Somebody’s gonna feel like that in a week. That’s a fact! The fact is we’ve got to come back and go to work to make sure we finish it next time. That’s all we’ve gotta do. Joe, you played your (bleep) off! You hear me, man? I’m telling you, man – don’t ever drop your head when it comes to a loss, dog! There’s too much pain outside of this, that people are really going through. This right here only makes us stronger. Let’s understand who we are as a team. Let’s understand who we are as men and let’s make somebody smile when we walk out of here. We’ve got an opportunity to keep going on here. Let’s be stronger as a team. Let’s keep going on. Ravens on three. Let’s go.”
Wow. Ray Lewis is a real man. I love that guy. I so admire his ability to lead other men. He doesn’t mince words. He’s tough, but he’s not lost in some fantasy that the game of football is all there is. Right here in this pivotal moment he reminded his teammates – some of the best athletes in the world – that there are other people going through big, life-changing and sometimes seemingly hopeless problems and they just competed in a game. A game. A sport. A time set aside for recreation where this team competed against that team. Even though they were one pretty easy kick away from tying the game and sending it into overtime, there can only be one winner at the conclusion.
Ray Lewis talks about God – a lot. I love that about him. There are very few things in life (maybe nothing at all) that I enjoy more than talking about God and talking about spiritual things. Whenever you open your mouth and talk about God – especially around people you don’t know or who may have made it known that they don’t follow God – it can be awkward. God and faith can be very divisive. It appears clear that Ray’s faith makes him a stronger man.
I get nervous when people mix football and God. I’m not against football players stating after a game in an interview that they want to “give all the glory to God.” No, I love that. Something resonates inside me when I hear a fellow lover-of-Jesus declare their love for the Man and God and Savior – Jesus the Messiah. I don’t get squeamish about that at all. What makes me nervous is the idea or concept that God might favor one team over the other. I don’t think God defies the laws of nature that He installed to give one team an advantage over another. I imagine that He watches, as you or I would, and appreciates the competition and fun and games that men and women have when they play a sport. I think it’s ridiculous to imagine that God would make a wide receiver’s muscle twitch so that he would drop a pass and lose a game. I don’t think many people necessarily believe that He does, but the implication seems to float out there sometimes.
Ray’s comment about God never making a mistake seems to imply that it was God’s will for the Ravens to lose. I can understand that and appreciate it from the perspective of looking back and having peace with where we are in life and the circumstances that are over and cannot be changed. God sits outside of time (in my understanding) and He already knows the next few words I’m going to type before I even type them. But He didn’t tell me to type a certain word, necessarily. And what if He did tell me to type a certain phrase and I didn’t hear it or I disobeyed Him? I can see how calling something “God’s will” is a way for us to process our circumstances and have a perspective that helps us move on. God knew that the Ravens were going to lose this game. (He could make a killing in Vegas if He ever needed the money). His will and purpose to to fulfill what He started in the beginning – making us in His image.
His desire (at least it’s the prayer of people in the Bible) is to transform us into the likeness of His Son, Jesus. God was surely not shocked when Cundiff’s kick sailed left of the crossbars. Lewis’ edifying speech to his teammates was a reminder to focus on the here and now. The past is out of our control. It would be true to say that, “God knew you were strong enough to handle this loss.” That’s my understanding of the statements Lewis said to start off his speech. God doesn’t make mistakes.
I imagine that Lewis knows one or many people in his life – whether through introduction or close family/friends – that are going through severe problems. One great thing that a lot of celebrities do is they “give back” to those around them by visiting people in hospitals and those who are “less fortunate” than they are. Imagine if you were a kid laying in a hospital bed, having to endure one test and surgery after another, feeling pain all the time and possibly fearing that your body may give out and you may die. Now imagine for a moment that your sports hero (Peyton Manning or Colt McCoy or Drew Brees) walks into your room and sits down to talk to you. You would feel like the most important person in the world for a moment! These kids eyes and faces surely light up like beacons when this happens. Ask any nurse in a children’s hospital how this impacts their patients. For a moment that person feels special. For a moment they can forget about their problems. For a moment the attention is on them, but it’s not the unwanted attention of another shot or another announcement from a doctor that things “don’t look good.” Nope. For this moment there is joy. There are smiles.
For Lewis to tell his teammates (as well as himself) to remember to make someone smile when they leave here is a very practical piece of advice. These men just went through a powerful crushing of emotions. They could carry that feeling deep into the night – deep into next week for that matter. They could wallow in gloom and “what if” scenarios. Lewis’ advice was to suck it up, be a man and use your mind, your facial expressions and your tongue to bring other people joy. This is good stuff. This transcends the game. This is why I had to blog about it today.
Great job, Ray.
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