The Ravens' media guide says that Michael McCrary was born in Vienna, Va. It doesn't say whether he is of this Earth.
"I don't care what planet he thinks he's from, what kind of alien he is," Ravens defensive tackle Tony Siragusa said yesterday. "He should just keep doing the things he's doing."
Someone call Hollywood. Someone call Mars.
"My Defensive End the Alien," is in production.
"Goose is always making up something to say," McCrary said. "I'm not even going to respond to that. You're not going to get me in the newspapers talking about being from another planet."
But is he?
"Can't tell you," McCrary said.
Is he?
"He might be," offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden said. "He ain't all there sometimes."
Is he?
"Mike ain't from another planet, he just thinks a little different," defensive tackle James Jones said. "Some of the things he says, you'll be like, 'Mike, where's that coming from?' You want to say he's kidding, then you say, 'Is he kidding, or is he for real?' "
Take yesterday, for instance. Asked what he wanted for Christmas, McCrary replied, "a tank." In fact, he said he has one all picked out. It's in the Neiman Marcus catalog, listing for approximately $40,000.
"I'd bring it to games," McCrary said, a glint in his eye. "They'd know you're coming for battle then. Coming up in a tank, they'd know, McCrary's ready. He's ready for war."
He's always ready, every snap, every practice, every game. Doesn't matter if he's going for a sack, chasing down a run, trying to block a field goal. McCrary never stops.
His four sacks in Sunday's 13-10 victory over Oakland gave him 12 1/2 for the season, just one-half behind Carolina's Kevin Greene for the NFL lead. His 33 sacks in 31 games since Nov. 10, 1996, are the most in the NFL.
"His tenacity reminds of Marchetti," former Baltimore Colt Ordell Braase said yesterday, referring to his fellow defensive end, Hall of Famer Gino Marchetti. "He could have played with us, very easily."
Braase was a Colt from 1957 to '68. Former defensive tackle Joe Ehrmann, a member of the "Sack Pack" in the '70s, is just as high on McCrary.
"He's one of those guys who walks around and is kind of like a mirror -- you look at him, and it reflects what you do, forces you to raise your level of play and commitment," Ehrmann said.
"As an old defensive lineman, I just love watching him. He never takes a play off. Their whole defensive line, it's great. All of those guys are throwbacks. They're fun to watch."
