Ray Lewis

"Saturday Night Live" tapped into excitement over the Super Bowl and the amusement over Ray Lewis' exuberance during the Weekend Update segment. Kenan Thompson appeared in jersey and face paint as Lewis, whom host Seth Meyers interviewed. The highlight came with Thompson's promise that, upon winning the Super Bowl, he would kneel down on the 50-yeard line and ASCEND INTO HEAVEN. Thompson: Whooh! Oh, Seth. Meyers: So, Ray, are you excited for the big game? Thompson: Aaah.

Baltimore isn't known as the City of Great Sports Billboards. But perhaps it should be. A taunting billboard that went up in January, shortly after the Ravens beat the Patriots in the AFC playoffs, was called the "Best Sports Billboard Ever" by columnist Jessica Isner of bleacherreport.com. The billboard, put up by Clear Channel Outdoor's DC/Baltimore branch on all 19 of its digital billboards in the city, proudly announced that Ray Lewis ' retirement party was being put off until Feb. 3 -- not coincidentally, the date of Super Bowl XLVII.

Wearing a black fedora and a dark checkered blazer and with his daughter at his side, Ray Lewis attended the premiere screening of the DVD that chronicles the Ravens' Super Bowl winning season last night at the Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric. His first offseason appearance in Baltimore as a retired player, Lewis admitted that it felt a little weird to not be preparing for another year of football. “Honestly, there's no pressure because every year is always a new year, every offseason is always a new offseason.

More than three months after playing the final football game of a storied 17-year career, Ray Lewis has apparently found his next challenge. The former Ravens linebacker said today on his Twitter page that he will climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to raise money and awareness for clean water projects in East Africa. Lewis will undertake the mission, which he has billed TackleKili, next month. Kilimanjaro is the highest free-standing mountain in the world and is over 19,000 feet above sea level.

There will come a time — no one is sure when — that Ray Lewis will retire from the National Football League. When he does leave the grueling training and game schedule, he'll turn to running an eclectic collection of companies trading on the strength of his name and brand. The 15-year Baltimore Ravens veteran, one of the most fearsome linebackers ever to play the game, recently launched a real estate firm and a clothing line. He's developing an entertainment complex in Hunt Valley, featuring bowling lanes and a sushi bar, that could evolve into a national chain.

I totally agree with letter writer Bruce R. Knauff's complaint about the excessive coverage of Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis ("Enough about Ray Lewis," Jan. 8). We are sick of hearing about Ray Lewis.  Why do you need a sports page if you continue to put sports stories on the front page? Rachel Miller Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

I think it spoke to the true essence of the man that Ray Lewis has become that after the playoff game against Indianapolis, the last game he would play at M&T Stadium after a hugely successful 17-year run with the Baltimore Ravens that (after completing his on-field victory dance) he peeled off his No. 52 jersey when it was time to address the media ("Ray's Day," Jan. 7). Knowing that thousands of people would be tuned in to hear the words of this icon on this important day in sports history, Ray chose not to be seen as the awesome Ravens player that he is, but rather as a soldier of God. The black t-shirt he wore simply said "Psalms 91" but his words spoke of "giving all the glory to God" and how "God is just amazing.

I've had enough of the Ray Lewis drivel in your newspaper ("Lewis' stronger denial should help," Jan. 31). It's bad enough to take up so much space in the Sports section but when his big mug is plastered on the front page, well that's quite overdoing it for me. The front page should be for more important news of the world instead of another overpaid athlete. Everyone is putting him on a pedestal like he's a god of some sort. Apparently, they have forgotten his involvement in the stabbing deaths of two innocent victims a while back.

When the Ravens made Ray Lewis their second-ever draft pick, they knew they were getting a highly productive player from the talent-rich University of Miami. What they could not have known was that Lewis would become perhaps the greatest middle linebacker in history and one of the faces of his NFL generation. Through 17 seasons of controversy and excellence, Lewis' Baltimore ride has never been boring: 1996 On April 20, the Ravens select Lewis with their second pick in the first round of the NFL draft, 26th overall.

Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, who has missed the past four games with a toe injury, returned to practice on Wednesday. Lewis hadn't practiced since the week leading up to the 16-6 win over the San Francisco 49ers. As Lewis walked out onto the practice field and pulled his purple No. 9 practice jersey -- worn in honor of the late Steve McNair -- over his gray hooded sweatshirt, his teammates clapped and cat-called the 36-year-old. Before Wednesday's practice, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said that if Lewis wasn't able to practice this week, he wouldn't automatically be ruled out for Sunday night's game against the San Diego Chargers.

Joe Flacco is no longer barraged with questions about former offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, finding consistency or even his capability to win the big game. Now the owner of one of the richest contracts in the history of the sport and two weeks away from receiving a sparkling Super Bowl ring, Flacco's status as the Ravens' franchise quarterback will probably never be this secure. Yet as he took the field Tuesday, the 28-year-old felt no different than he did during organized team activities the previous five years.

The story of Monte and Patrice Sanders just might be the classic fitness fairy tale. Girl hires trainer. Sparks fly over sit-ups. Trainer turns boyfriend, then fiance, then husband. Healthy, happily ever after. As Baltimore's newest power couple approach their first anniversary, they're closer than ever, indulging in candid displays of public affection, embarking on projects together, thinking about expanding their family and, after a fairly hushed courtship, talking about how a news anchor fell for a celebrity trainer.

Ravens Nation, you feel better about things, don't you? The great panic is officially over. Oh, it was rough there for a while, watching the Ravens clean house and get rid of the old guys and the locker-room lawyers and the over-valued players who somehow had other teams lobbing sacks of money at them. You looked around one day and everything had changed. Ray Lewis and Matt Birk retired. Then Anquan Boldin was gone and so was Paul Kruger and Dannell Ellerbe, Bernard Pollard and even Ed Reed.

Here is what five national NFL analysts are saying about how the Ravens did in the 2013 NFL draft. --- Mel Kiper Jr. of ESPN gave the Ravens an A-minus grade and said they did a good job addressing needs. “The Ravens needed to come out of this draft with an inside linebacker and a safety, and with their first two picks, they got two really good players at those positions. Matt Elam has played high-level football at Florida, can move around (particularly up to the line of scrimmage)

Eighteen years ago during their inaugural draft, the Ravens landed future Hall of Fame middle linebacker Ray Lewis late in the first round. It was a masterful selection, especially since there were questions surrounding Lewis at that time due to a lack of ideal size. Lewis wound up winning a pair of NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards, providing leadership for two Super Bowl championship teams. Now that Lewis has retired, the Ravens are tasked with replacing him to bolster an inside linebacker spot weakened by Dannell Ellerbe signing with the Miami Dolphins and Jameel McClain still not medically cleared from a spinal cord contusion.

Each weekday through tomorrow, the day before the first round of the NFL draft, The Sun will look at where the Ravens stand at each position, the likelihood that they will address that spot early in the draft and some of the prospects that they may consider. Today we'll examine inside linebacker: Current inside linebackers under contract : Jameel McClain, Rolando McClain, Albert McClellan, Josh Bynes, Bryan Hall, Nigel Carr Chances that the Ravens draft an inside linebacker in first three rounds : High.

The new Madden NFL won't be out for a few months but judging from the way Ray Lewis acts on the game's trailer, it's safe to say they've sold at least one. In the minute and a half long trailer, released online this week by EA Sports, Lewis lets loose an impassioned stream of dialogue that's part poetry, part prayer. He doesn't mention the game. But that's kind of beside the point. It opens with soft, somber, piano music -- none of that thumping bass that usually introduces anything selling football.

The Sun should apologize to Ray Lewis and be more concerned with his behavior now rather than that unfortunate incident in Atlanta involving a murder ("Ray Lewis, the 'life we learn with' and the 'life we live with after that,'" Jan. 15). Mr. Lewis' good points include his stellar play on the field, his personal appeal to fans and the numerous charitable things he has done. He has been done a great injustice by your article. Joseph F. Palmisano, Ocean Pines Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Most Ravens fans will tell you that inside linebacker Ray Lewis was the greatest draft pick in franchise history. But the fine stat heads over at ESPN have calculated that Lewis was the NFL's most valuable pick since 1994. In this week's ESPN the Magazine, they put together a chart of the best draft picks from each franchise based on Surplus Approximate Value (AV), which essentially measures the difference between what each player produced during his career compared to what he was expected to produce based on where he was drafted.

The conversations didn't just start in the aftermath of the Ravens' victory in Super Bowl XLVII. They actually began four months earlier when Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome , owner Steve Bisciotti and coach John Harbaugh started to meet and plan for 2013 and beyond. “What happened after we won the Super Bowl, that's something that Steve, John and I probably started talking about in October, November, as to what the team was going to look like in 2013,” Newsome said yesterday.