2013 NFL Playoffs Thread

[OILFAN #81]

Aw man, I missed it.

[Bobblehead]

It is doubtful Michael Crabtree will be charged.

A second female witness backed up Crabtree's version of the events to police, according to the source, and there's a feeling in the organization that these events will not develop into anything more than they already have.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2012...ed-source-says

Edit:

According to a San Francisco law enforcement source, the woman who lodged the allegation was one of three women who joined Crabtree in a party at a room in the tony W Hotel on Third Street.
The other two women have told investigators that Crabtree didn't assault anyone, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.
Police haven't found any physical evidence of an attack, the source added. It hasn't been disclosed whether the woman who said she had been victimized went to a hospital to be examined.
The woman went to Oakland police four days after the party; investigators there promptly referred her to San Francisco police, according to multiple sources.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier...#ixzz2IouXOwf9

[Drake]

I'm shocked by this, Tom Brady fined $10,000 for his leg slide, but somehow Frank Gore ends up with a bigger fine for wearing his socks too low in NFC Championship Game. Wait. What?

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap100...n=Twitter_news

[Senator Clay Davis]

I know Ray Lewis has to be thrilled to be in the Super Bowl...but this next week could be a nightmare for him (and deservedly so) if the media is ready to lay the screws to him a bit. I diss ESPN a lot but kudos to them for doing an Outside the Lines on Ray Lewis effectively getting a pass. I also see a few other articles about this, and that Ravens players are getting pissed and defensive if anyone dare ask about it. I especially like this quote from the OTL.

I find it inexcusable that that organization from the top down from the owner to the coach went into that Super Bowl and somehow acted like Ray Lewis got a bad deal. Ray Lewis got a raw deal? Compared to who? The dead guy?”

[Spuds_Buckley]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I know Ray Lewis has to be thrilled to be in the Super Bowl...but this next week could be a nightmare for him (and deservedly so) if the media is ready to lay the screws to him a bit. I diss ESPN a lot but kudos to them for doing an Outside the Lines on Ray Lewis effectively getting a pass. I also see a few other articles about this, and that Ravens players are getting pissed and defensive if anyone dare ask about it. I especially like this quote from the OTL.

Give it a rest already. I'm getting really sick of people focusing on the one mistake he made 12 years ago. He was young, he knew he screwed up. What off-field trouble has he been in since then? None.

The fact is Ray Lewis has spent his career since then working as a positive inspiration to athletes not only in football, but in other sports as well. This is a guy who flew to England on his own dime in the offseason to give a speech to a soccer team comprised of troubled youths because their coach wrote Ray a letter. THAT is why he is so respected throughout the league.

People screw up all the time and should be defined by how they atone from that mistake. So are Ravens fans / players defensive of Ray whenever this is brought up? Yes... and they should be.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Spuds_Buckley

Give it a rest already. I'm getting really sick of people focusing on the one mistake he made 12 years ago. He was young, he knew he screwed up. What off-field trouble has he been in since then? None.

The fact is Ray Lewis has spent his career since then working as a positive inspiration to athletes not only in football, but in other sports as well. This is a guy who flew to England on his own dime in the offseason to give a speech to a soccer team comprised of troubled youths because their coach wrote Ray a letter. THAT is why he is so respected throughout the league.

People screw up all the time and should be defined by how they atone from that mistake. So are Ravens fans / players defensive of Ray whenever this is brought up? Yes... and they should be.

I think people are pissed about Ray because many feel he didn't deserve the appropriate punishment for his crime, and the he hasn't served his time. Now that's not Ray's fault, that's on law enforcement and the justice system, but the same can be said for O.J.

Hell, look at Mike Vick, who did serve his time and has done just as much for the community since coming out of prison, yet people still won't forgive him or let it go.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by Spuds_Buckley

Give it a rest already. I'm getting really sick of people focusing on the one mistake he made 12 years ago. He was young, he knew he screwed up. What off-field trouble has he been in since then? None.

The fact is Ray Lewis has spent his career since then working as a positive inspiration to athletes not only in football, but in other sports as well. This is a guy who flew to England on his own dime in the offseason to give a speech to a soccer team comprised of troubled youths because their coach wrote Ray a letter. THAT is why he is so respected throughout the league.

People screw up all the time and should be defined by how they atone from that mistake. So are Ravens fans / players defensive of Ray whenever this is brought up? Yes... and they should be.

Of course, just like Notre Dame fans will always believe Manti was naive and taken advantage of. You're allowed to believe what you'd like. But two families don't have sons coming home ever, and Ray Lewis is treated like a saint by Ravens fans. Murder isn't just something you just let go of, especially not since the offender has gone on to prosper into an almost deity to an entire fan base. That SB35 week they acted like Ray Lewis was the victim because god forbid people wonder about his (highly likely) involvement in a double murder.

And before any Ravens fans point out he was never convicted, nor was anyone, I pose the question that I have never received an answer to : What innocent person destroys crime scene evidence?

[North East Goon]

Originally Posted by Cortez

All I said was that switching teams is the definition of bandwagoner to me. Had nothing to do with you being a Pats fan, although I was refering to you about being the one that gives us all a bad rap

I switched allegiances a few years back from the 49ers to the Browns does that make me a bandwagoner or just an obvious idiot?

[Pagal4321]

I think Ravens players and fans better get used to hearing the negative things about Ray Lewis. It's his last game ever, guilty or innocent, there is a story there that everyone will run and probably in the same breath with just how much he has impacted the game of football. And your team is in the biggest national spotlight it's been in for many years, I'm sure every writer will want to run a piece on that story.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I know Ray Lewis has to be thrilled to be in the Super Bowl...but this next week could be a nightmare for him (and deservedly so) if the media is ready to lay the screws to him a bit. I diss ESPN a lot but kudos to them for doing an Outside the Lines on Ray Lewis effectively getting a pass. I also see a few other articles about this, and that Ravens players are getting pissed and defensive if anyone dare ask about it. I especially like this quote from the OTL.

To me this is stupid.

It has been over 10 years since the incident, why didn't you decide to run this special over that time frame if it was some news breaking story that people needed to hear about Lewis, and wanted to question the case.

They are not trying to be brave by running an Outside the Lines about Lewis getting a "pass". They just know with the hype surrounding the Super Bowl this will get good ratings, will cause some controversy, and will cause more people to watch ESPN prior to the game.

They are just creating an unneeded sideshow (one that already occurred before the 2000 Super Bowl) because its a supposed "story". If he really did get a free pass, the probably should have ran this sometime over 10 years ago, and not have waited.

[Jason14h]

I love the "Ray Lewis Murdered them" argument

#1. Even if he "killed" them, the two people charged with the murder went with the self defense argument and were aquited. No one has ever suggested this was pre-meditated.

http://www.artclu.com/crew/bfoley/la...&story=10&pg=1

Marlin Burros, a friend of one of the victim's testified that he fired several shots at Lewis' limosine as it left the scene of the killings. Burros said he ran from the victims and got the gun out of his car.

You go out with guns picking fights with NFL players at a nightclub at 3am and bad things happen. Let's not paint the victims as saints in this whole ordeal. It was a bunch of drunken punks (on both sides) getting in a fight. Whether Lewis was in the fight and/or used a knife will forever be unknown, but let's not act like this was a "Murder"

And yes, I know there is murder 1 and 2, etc...

[Senator Clay Davis]

Option 1: Ray Lewis killed someone
Option 2: Ray Lewis is a murderer

What exactly is the difference here? He still killed someone. But of course he made sure to kill in the perfect bracket (young black males) that basically no one, especially the police, could really care. But Ravens fans seem to wanna blame everyone but Ray for this. Again, riddle me why a guy who did nothing wrong destroys crime scene evidence. It doesn't have to be pre-meditated, those guys could have pissed Ray off and he just lost it. Still makes a murderer. Again, the destruction of crime scene evidence is without question the biggest black mark here. Only people who did something very wrong would do that.

It's just the fact Ravens fans want us to forget it and move on cause Ray has evolved and is now a great person and leader (you know, the kind of great person and leader who has multiple kids with multiple women a la Antonio Cromartie?). Basically a lot of us are not buying the act, but Ravens fans totally are. It's what's annoying to us. He's not a great human being, he's a very lucky human being, lucky that his money and fame allow him to play in a different legal system than the standard person.

[Jason14h]

Option 1: Ray Lewis killed someone
Option 2: Ray Lewis is a murderer

Umm Option 3: Ray Lewis 2 friends killed someone?

It doesn't have to be pre-meditated, those guys could have pissed Ray off and he just lost it. Still makes a murderer. Again, the destruction of crime scene evidence is without question the biggest black mark here. Only people who did something very wrong would do that

No, witnesses have said all involved were fighting. Even the victims OWN FRIENDS testified they were all fighting and he shot at Lewis' limo!!!

And I can tell you, If I was 20, and got in a fight and my friend stabbed someone (No debating this, they pleaded self defense) and blood got all over me, It wouldn't be beyond my thought process to burn that shirt/jacket/etc

Look, Im not saying he could not have stabbed the person and get a friend to cover it up. I understand if you dislike the guy. But let's at least have some resemblance of the know/understood facts of the night before we act like Lewis went out, found some random he didn't like, and stabbed him.

Like I said before, these 'victims' were out looking to pick a drunken fight. Bad things happen to bad people

[Sylvanfan]

Lets get back to discussing the playoffs in this thread. If you care to discuss the events of Ray Lewis' past start a new thread and do it there please.

[GirlySports]

Why ESPN Is The Worst, In One Crazy Obnoxious Photo

Don't want to spoil it for you.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Uh-oh

According to Sports Illustrated, Lewis contacted a company owned by a former male stripper to obtain a deer-antler velvet extract after tearing his triceps in October.

Mitch Ross of S.W.A.T.S reportedly videotaped the phone call from Lewis.

“Spray on my elbow every two hours?” Lewis asked Ross regarding the extract, via Philly.com. (Quotes from the conversation don’t appear in the free online version of the Sports Illustrated article; presumably, Philly.com gleaned the info from the full article.)

“No,” Ross said. “Under your tongue.”

Later, Lewis asked Ross to “just pile me up and just send me everything you got, because I got to get back on this this week.”

The problem for Lewis is that the extract contains IGF-1, which is on the NFL’s list of banned substances.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...omment-2301009

[Drake]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Uh-oh


http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...omment-2301009

Talk about blowhards who should find new material.

Ray Lewis said that http://SI.com report detailed something from 2 years ago

https://twitter.com/jeffzrebiecsun

Funny how Roy Williams name also up came two years ago in the same story that Yahoo Sports did as he admitted to using the same product two to three times a day. What you know nobody made a big deal outta of then but now....

[Bobblehead]

Jim Harbaugh's Gmail:

Spoiler!

[Drake]

After seeing so much garbage on ESPN the last few days about the same topics, I found something that was well worth my time as Kevin Van Valkenburg did an excellent piece on Ed Reed. Its a little long though, I'll post this little excerpt:

So in the crush of Super Bowl coverage that is about to overwhelm you this week, when 72,000 fans will fill the Superdome on Sunday and 62 TV cameras will zoom in on every bead of sweat and broadcast it to millions around the globe, take a moment to appreciate the unique athletic genius of Ed Reed, just in case this game, which will be played just 20 miles from where he grew up in tiny St. Rose, La., is the last time we see him in a purple uniform.

That appreciation won't come easy: Reed is like a surrealist masterpiece that's been hanging next to the Mona Lisa for 11 years, and it's hard to put a finger on what makes it so special. Reed is fast, but he's never been the fastest player on the field. He hits hard, but he's never been the hardest hitter. Yet he's been voted to the Pro Bowl nine times, has intercepted 61 career passes and scored 13 touchdowns. and is the NFL's all-time leader in interception return yards. His talents are instinctual, intellectual, almost magical in a way because they're so difficult to quantify, impossible to explain.

"This might sound like the worst compliment ever, but he understands football almost like an autistic kid understands the piano," one former teammate says. "His brain has that type of transcendent talent."

And when he's gone, it might be a long time before we see another player like him.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/conversations...ng-plain-sight

[bubbsy]

i was cheering for the niners a lot this year....

however, how can a WR who plays on the team, ever come out and say they're the best at their position, when the franchise has had a guy like Jerry Rice, and to a lesser extent John Taylor???

Can't help but cheer adamantly against Randy Moss.. BOO.