Ray Lewis is well respected for his work over the last several years in the NFL.  He is known for being one of the best Linebackers in the league.  He is not known for his ability to speak well on any given topic.  That couldn’t have been more obvious in a recent statement that he made to ESPN about the NFL lockout.  Lewis said that we would see an increase in crime because of it. 

Rather than make a statement about some of the shady things that have happened in his past, I want to look at what he apparantly thinks.  He seems to think that those of us that are football fans will have nothing to do on Sundays and will turn to crime because of it.  We are so desperate for something to do that we will steal, cheat, vandalize and make trouble simply because our team is not on the field. 

For most NFL fans this couldn’t be further from the truth.  For many of us, we are taxpaying citizens that have jobs and families that take up our time.  Life is happening everyday at my house and I’m sure that the same could be said at your house.  For me, I can say I would find something else to occupy my time and I generally have in the past anyway.  As a Bengals fan, I can tell you that there are some weeks that I wish there was not football.  It’s been painful to follow that team some years as you can well imagine.

That aside, many others will find other sports to follow.  After all there is NASCAR, Baseball, Basketball, Arena football and even college football that would occupy our attention.  On top of that Lingerie football has announced that if there is no NFL football, their games will be played on Sunday afternoons.  I can’t imagine that this idea will escape too many red blooded American men that love football as well as the fairer sex.

For Ray Lewis, there appears to be a disconnect with the people that are fans of the game that he has played so well for the last several years.  We do not come to football as a means of keeping us out of trouble.  We come to football to escape the pressures of life.  We live through our teams, celebrating when they do well and being upset when they don’t.  If they are not there, we as fans will simply wish that everyone could get together and get it done and then we’ll escape to some other pasttime. 

I know that Ray Lewis simply wants what we all do, an end to the labor difficulties in the league.  This is not the way to get that to happen.  Fortunately for him, he’s not the only one that has had their foot in their mouth recently because of the lockout.  That said, it doesn’t make the players case any better when statements come out in public like this.