In the week prior to the Super Bowl, nearly every player involved in the big game is under the microscope.
Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis has been the NFL’s marquee player in this year’s playoffs as his inspirational ride back to the top of the AFC has grabbed a ton of headlines. Here’s just some of the backlash Lewis has had to deal with:
– Tuesday, Lewis had to deny using performance enhancing drugs. According to Sports Illustrated, Lewis tried to obtain deer-antler velvet extract in order to return quickly from a torn triceps. Lewis missed the second half of the 2012 regular season due to the injury and made his comeback in the Ravens wild card round win over Indianapolis on Jan. 6. Deer-antler spray, which contains IGF-1, is on the NFL’s banned substance list.
“Just pile me up and just send me everything you got, because I got to get back on this this week,” Lewis reportedly said to Mitch Ross, owner of S.W.A.T.S. (Sports with Alternatives to Steroids), on the phone just hours after his injury on Oct. 14.
– After the AFC Championship game, Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker’s girlfriend, Anna Burns Welker, took to Facebook to discuss Lewis’ 2000 murder charge. She soon after apologized and Lewis accepted the apology this week.
– Lewis’ son, Ray Lewis III, was involved in a back-and-forth on Twitter also after the AFC Championship game when @TyKingman4 tweeted to him:
“@RayRayLewis5 how does it feel to have a dad who killed someone”
Lewis III, who will be a freshman football player at Miami this fall, tweeted back:
“@TyKingman4 I feel like a boss”
