Ray Lewis

Every morning, Monday through Friday, blogger Matt Vensel will hook you up with reading material -- mostly on the Ravens but with some other Baltimore sports stuff, too -- to skim through as you slug down coffee and slack off at the start of your workday. That way he'll have an excuse to do the same to start his workday, too. RUNNING IT BACK The Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers, 34-31, to win their second Super Bowl title . ... Joe Flacco, your Super Bowl MVP, is going to Disneyworld . ... With a pair of big plays, Jacoby Jones also made a claim to be Super Bowl MVP . ... The Ravens defense hung on for a wild win . ... Ray Lewis was victorious in his final NFL game , but Ed Reed once again said that this was not his last ride . ... All season long, these Ravens just kept finding a way to win . ... The Ravens will hold a championship parade in Baltimore on Tuesday morning.

Standing in the Ravens' victorious locker room, Michael Phelps could not contain his emotions. The Towson native, wearing a purple shirt, took in the scene. "To be able to watch that, I was in tears," he said. "I've never cried this much for anything in my life. " Phelps won 22 Olympic medals, 18 of them gold. He is widely considered the greatest swimmer of all time. But seeing players he has come to know over the years finally achieve their ultimate goal left Phelps blubbering like the life-long fan he is. "This is a very special moment," he said.

Here is what other news outlets are saying about the Ravens, San Francisco 49ers and Super Bowl XLVII today. --- Don Banks of Sports Illustrated writes that legendary linebacker Ray Lewis ended his career on top . “You don't have to buy everything that Ray Lewis is selling -- and plenty of people don't, me included -- to enjoy the storybook ending that was his 'last ride,'” Banks wrote. “Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens are champions of the NFL again, 12 years after their first Super Bowl ring was earned, and he will forever be remembered for having gone out on top, in a fashion so few get to experience.

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.

On Monday, the realization began to set in for Baltimore-area residents that the Ravens' victory in the Super Bowl on Sunday night was something they would remember for the rest of their lives. With memory-making in mind, Shemirra House-Massie took her husband and three children to the Ravens' training facility in Owings Mills to greet the team as the players returned from New Orleans. About 50 others had the same idea and gathered outside the complex, known as the Castle, on Monday afternoon.

"Baltimore!" It was the first thing Ray Lewis said as he stood on the field, Vince Lombardi Trophy in hand, confetti drifting down around him. He'd said it before, three times in a row, at the Ravens send-off the week before. "Baltimore! Baltimore! Baltimore!" We are a city that believes - that wants to believe. But we are also a city with a chip on our shoulder. We get no respect from the media. People think we're just like "The Wire. " The Ravens know it, and they're proud of it. There were so many reasons to win the Super Bowl . To send off Lewis the right way. To prove that Joe Flacco is one of the league's best quarterbacks.

After every playoff loss during his 17-year career, I always watched Ravens Pro Bowl linebacker Ray Lewis run straight from the field to the locker room. You always felt bad for him because during that time you wondered how many rings Lewis would have won if the Ravens ever had a good quarterback and a legitimate, balanced offense. Lewis didn't have a great season this year, but it was cool watching him celebrate in New Orleans after the offense put up big numbers Sunday night. It didn't even out all those other years, but it made his farewell that much better because Lewis didn't have to carry the load. 

Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti doesn't go half-stepping when he puts on a party. The Ravens' postgame celebration for friends and family featured a live performance by Mary J. Blige, who invited Ray Lewis up to the stage to teach her his famous “squirrel dance.” The bash continued well into the early morning and Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco said at today's MVP news conference that he got maybe an hour of sleep. He and coach John Harbaugh looked pretty sharp under the circumstances, as they took another round of questions about Sunday night's game.

There are always Cinderella stories in sports, but the Ravens' improbable journey to the Super Bowl XLVII championship is one of the best stories in recent football history. A lot of the preseason experts picked the Ravens to win the AFC North, but few chose them to win their second Lombardi Trophy in 13 years. The Ravens had to hang on to win against a stubborn San Francisco team, 34-31, Sunday night before a sellout crowd in the Mercedez-Benz Superdome. What did you expect?

Ray Lewis' Ravens held on for dear life, a seemingly certain Super Bowl victory only a few yards from slipping away. In the end, however, Lewis got the finale he wanted to his decorated 17-year career, a world championship secured by one last defensive stand against the younger, faster San Francisco 49ers. When it was finally over, Lewis bellowed at the sky, his arms wide open as confetti rained around him. The face of the Ravens was a Super Bowl champion for the second time and a retiree for the first.