In America, the NFL slaughters everything, while all other leagues are merely a niche sport. Even college football, which clearly comes in second, is a very distant second. This despite all the horrible negative publicity that surrounds the team everyday. I’m not just talking about the concussion crisis. Yes, football damages brains and destroys lives but that will not deter me or you from watching it.
Neither will the criminal element within the game. Look at the New England Patriots. Despite all the horrible human beings that suited up for them in recent years, they remain one of the league’s leading franchises. The Cinncinaughty Bengals had a lot of felonies and misdemeanors. Their fanbase ain’t shrinking. Now the Baltimore Ravens.
They’re the new face of crime and (lack of) punishment in the NFL
(update: this was originally published on July 20th, and is being re-run in light of the Baltimore Ravens releasing Ray Rice, and the league suspending him indefinitely today)
If you don’t find the Ravens to be exciting on the field, I can’t say I blame you. No other NFL franchise defines winning yet boring more than Baltimore. They embodied the “defense wins championships” cliche before it was cool. Take that Seattle Seahawks! And with the offseason that B-More had, it’s Super Bowl or bust now. With the moves Ozzie Newsome made this past offseason, the bar has been raised in 2015. That’s So Ravens to be in the divisional round or beyond. It’s also So Ravens to be in the police blotter. You know disgusting human beings Ray Rice and Ray Lewis are. Those topics have already been covered. NFL teams, not just the Ravens, keep signing criminals because crime pays (sometimes) in this league.
To update the famous punchline from the 2005 film Wedding Crashers, “Crab cakes and football, that’s what Maryland does.” Now add “getting arrested” to the mix.
From the Baltimore Sun:
One month after coach John Harbaugh emphasized a high standard for players’ conduct, starting cornerback Jimmy Smith became the latest Ravens player to be arrested during an unusually rocky offseason…Police responding to a call about an unconscious woman in a bathroom at the York Road bar said they found Smith helping an intoxicated woman in the women’s restroom. When asked to step aside and leave the restroom, Smith refused to comply and became argumentative, and was eventually handcuffed, police said.
When asked for identification, police said, Smith answered: “I’m Jimmy Smith, I play for the Ravens,” before producing his Maryland driver’s license.
No other NFL team has had as many arrests as the Ravens this offseason, with the other 31 teams combining for 14 arrests. The number of Ravens arrested this year marks one more than the team’s total during the previous six years.
Smith is the fifth Baltimore Ravens player to be arrested since February. Taking the long view, the Baltimore Ravens are not as morally repugnant as other NFL franchises. They’re not the most criminal of teams, it’s just that they’re the most criminal right now. And it’s unfortunate, that every time you bring up Baltimore, the first topic that usually comes up is now a defunct cops and robbers series that used to be on HBO and featured lots of horrifying, violent death. Yes, there’s a lot more to Baltimore than the fiction of “The Wire,” just like there’s a lot more to Chicago than the fiction of CNN’s “Chicagoland.” (Believe me, that was not a documentary series. That wasn’t even reality TV. A Rahm infomercial is all that was.
So both cities are more than stereotype. Unfortunately, the Baltimore Ravens are not doing their part to fight stereotype. But hey, who cares about all that political stuff right? You don’t know want to know how the sausage is made right? This is the gridiron, it’s not the time and space to have a social conscience.
So instead of blabbering on further about socioeconomics and criminal justice, here’s a video featuring some AFC North players to watch for your fantasy team instead:
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports and Yahoo! He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world. Banks has been featured in numerous media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, NBC, CBS, the History Channel and more. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)
Leave a Reply