He’s been a fixture with the team since they were created in the mid 1990’s. Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis talked about his history with the team and his final home game in Baltimore during his postgame press conference on Sunday. He returned to the lineup after missing 10 games with a triceps injury. The Ravens handled the Indianapolis Colts 24-9 to advance to the AFC Divisional Playoffs in Denver Saturday at 4:30pm.
Here are a few of the topics he discussed:
His first conversation with General Manager Ozzie Newsome after he was drafted in the first round:
“I picked up the phone and Ozzie said hey, this is Ozzie Newsome and I want to congratulate you, we’re going to draft you. And the first thing I said to him, I was like Ozzie, what’s our team name going to be, like who are we?”
How his trademark introduction through the tunnel started:
“This guy in my hometown named Kirby Lee, he used to always do this dance called the Squirrel. I told him I’m going to do that dance one day and he was like, you’re not gonna do it. I said I’m gonna do it. One day they introduced the defense and I came out and I just did it. And when I did it, of course the crowd went crazy and then after that they were like we need to see the dance again so it just kept going. Then I started adding music to it and movie clips to it (laughs) ..”
Why he took the final lap:
“When I was doing interviews, I just saw how many people were still in the stands. I just think it was so appropriate because like I’ve said, they’ve been here since I was 18 years old. For those fans to be here now, I’m 37, the reward if I give nothing else .. I wish I could have went around and signed every autograph but I would have been here until 2 o’clock in the morning.”
You can view his entire press conference on the team’s website at the following link: