FanPost

Should Mr Lewis go to Denver?

01_ricelewis_news_medium

Ray Rice has asked Ray Lewis to come to Denver for the opener.

According to baltimoreravens.com, Ray Rice has asked Ray Lewis to come out to Denver for the kickoff game this coming Thursday. Here's what it says:

Rice has talked with Lewis and asked him to come with the team to Denver for the season opener.

"You might have to make the trip," Rice told Lewis over text message. "I think the guys, if he’s not going to be working, would embrace seeing him on the sidelines. Not sure how he’ll take it. He’ll probably want to suit up a little bit."

There are mixed feelings among the fans commenting on the story. It's seems that it evokes very black and white opinions; they either say that the Ravens need to let go, or it would be great to have Ray (Lewis) on the sideline one last time.

I thought about this for a little while, and came to my own conclusion; while I do see the validity on both sides, I can imagine that during training camp, and throughout the preseason, surely the name Ray Lewis is mentioned fondly, and quite often at the Castle, and on the field. As I thought about this, I realized that although Ray and the Ravens could not have asked for a better way to close his career, with a Super Bowl victory, there has not been any symbolic closure to the story. No passing of the torch other than talk of the legend known as Ray Lewis, and what he means to the organization, and will mean for many years to come.

As I thought more, I realized that this is now a different Ravens team. True that there are core people that "these" Ravens are centered around, but many of the new guys that are going to make up the team alongside the veterans, have never met Ray Lewis in person. What better way to pass the torch than to make a "surprise" appearance in Denver? It would be very similar to Johnny Unitas, and some of the old Baltimore Colts, symbolically turning their reversible jackets from the Colts logo to the new Ravens logo, when the Ravens made their debut in their first game in Baltimore. The Colts were saying, "we know you liked us, but it's a new era in Baltimore, and these guys are OK."

This is kind of what it would be like. This is truly the post Ray Ravens. This really is a new era and I like what I'm seeing so far. It would be great for Ray Lewis to make an appearance and let the team and Baltimore know that torch has officially been passed, and no matter where this goes, that the legacy that IS the Ravens will assure that these guys, like the Ravens in 1996, are gonna be OK too.

The opinions posted here are those of the writer of this article. They are in no way official comments from the team, the editors of this site or SB Nation as a whole, and should not be misconstrued as such.

In This FanPost

Teams
Players