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| | Wednesday, January 24
Ravens' tirades keeps Lewis story alive
By John Clayton
ESPN.com
TAMPA, Fla. -- Shannon Sharpe had Ray Lewis' back on Wednesday. He stood behind him during Wednesday's interview session and verbally lashed out at reporters.
|  | | Ray Lewis will remain in the spotlight as long as the Ravens keep chastising the media. |
Sometimes, those trying to protect a teammate can cause more problems. Consider this: Lewis wasn't supposed to make headlines Wednesday. Headlines were made Tuesday with the way Lewis reacted to reporters questioning him about the post-Super Bowl double-murder trial.
By coming over and creating a stir, Sharpe made Lewis the story of the day again on Wednesday. It's almost the same thing as Monday when coach Brian Billick advised reporters that they were going overboard in reporting about the Lewis trial. He said they were retrying Lewis for something he was found innocent.
Billick and Sharpe say they want the press to let the Lewis story die, but instead it is becoming more of a focal point. The funny part about this is that while Lewis isn't enjoying these media sessions, he's comfortable in the way that he's handling the answers to the question.
He doesn't care if columnists think he's not showing enough contrition or sympathy for the victims of the post-Super Bowl stabbings in Atlanta last year.
The difference between Lewis and Kerry Collins is vast. Collins, the Giants quarterback, has had more than a year to deal with his problems. He beat an alcohol problem. He's had time to reflect on what went wrong in his life and how he wanted to publicly handle it.
He didn't mind more than a day of questions about his past. Lewis, however, hasn't had the time to get through his ordeal. He went from the court to training for the next season. He spent the regular season shying away from interviews and not discussing the subject.
In time, Lewis may be more open. This is not the time. But if the Ravens want to stop the media from hyping coverage of Lewis' problems, they need to keep a lower profile. They consider this old news, but their actions are making Lewis the news of the day in Super Bowl XXXV.
John Clayton is the senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.
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