Ray Lewis is getting a statue

Vers: Depends on whether you count Babe Ruth.

If not, it's still Unitas, as far as I'm concerned.

LOL to the idea Boston never takes stock of its "greatest athletes."

 

Will the statue use the same paint Rev. Ray uses on is head?

 

Babe Ruth helped the Orioles' biggest rivals win World Series. Baltimorons are disingenuous for co-opting his legacy. They would have hated him had the Orioles been around then.

 

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Baltimore should hate the Yankees even more for that.

 

I don't think it's disingenuous. There is a small amount of pride I guess that he was born there and grew up in an orphanage there, but it's not like that means he's an icon exactly. Not like Cal or Unitas or even Brooks. Ruth is probably the only thing about the Yankees anyone likes or respects in Baltimore. And that's in part because most people have been to the Ruth Museum and recognize its kind of cool that one of the greatest athletes in the history of the country grew up In a dang orphanage there.

It just clarifying the question. Are we weighing athletes who played their careers someplace or athletes claimed by the city as one of their own.

Ray Lewis connectipn to the city is tied together with a lot unusual factors. Yes, he is a narcissist and a attention whore, and yes, his character is certainly a matter of debate, but a lot of how Baltimorons feel about him is tethered to the feelings of resentment people felt when the Colts left and Tagliabue told them to eat shit and build a museum because he wanted to put teams in Jacksonville and Carolina and protect his friend Jack Kent Cooke.

Lewis came in the same time the Ravens arrived and he was unapologetic and lacking tact and grace and that's kind of how the city wanted to be toward the NFL for awhile. And when the murder stuff went down, it became almost a bizarre rallying point, to pretend he'd been wronged somehow, the way the city had been wronged and made to feel second class. The whole Super Bowl season of 2000 was like a big tactless fuck you to the establishment and Lewis was the emotional lightening rod for it. That's why they'll build a statue for him, because he essentially made football fans feel like they didn't have to feel like they didn't deserve an NFL team, that a place like Jacksonville was somehow more worthy. And really, who cares if they do build one for him? To me, it's true to Baltimore.

A little tactless, a little obnoxious, but fiercely loyal and proud of the flaws that make it the place it is.

 

It's not true to Baltimore or tactless. Ray Lewis is one of the greatest players in NFL history and helped bring the city two championships. He's beloved by Ravens fans.

This is what we do, what we should do to properly demonstrate sports' value in society. It is not hagiography to say Ray Lewis played football well enough to bring great joy and pride to the city of Baltimore. His off-field exploits don't change that, a point that is up for debate with Joe Paterno's place in Penn State lore.

 

An Omar Little statue is something I would get behind, though.

 

If there's anyone who deserves to be covered in pigeon shit, it's Ray Lewis.