Human beings are complicated and pretty much nobody is actually a pure hero or a complete villain. Well, Vlad the Impaler was most likely not the nicest guy on the planet. And Clay Travis is not very redeeming. When it comes to famous athletes, this truth is all the more inconvenient. Our sports heroes are very often also extremely problematic people. This is somewhat true for every team, not just the Baltimore Ravens and Chicago Bears, who will square off in Charm City on Sunday.
Take a direct look at the Green Bay Packers, and the top two all-time quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre.
The former is apparently okay with spreading disease and lying about it while the latter stole money from the least fortunate portion of society and left a paper trail trying to cover it up.
So it’s every team, but the Bears and Ravens are somewhat different, because some of their biggest icons happen to also be arguably the most troublesome.
Ray Lewis
The biggest icon in franchise history, just bringing up the Ray Lewis murder trial can be a controversial topic. But no matter what you think, “at the end of the day” and “it is what it is” to use the most tired cliches possible.
Lewis registered a guilty plea to a misdemeanor of obstructing justice in a murder trial, acknowledging that he told defendants to “keep your mouth shut” and did not give complete statements to police.
As part of the plea deal, the murder charges against him were dropped as he agreed to testify against his two friends who were also involved in foul play.
During the investigation, blood from one of the victims was found inside Lewis’s limousine, but the jury decided there was not enough evidence to provide a guilty verdict. It was ruled to be self-defense.
Lewis received 12 months of probation. However, the white suit he was wearing the night of the murder has never been found.
Brian Urlacher
Without a doubt a Bears Mt. Rushmore guy, Urlacher was the face of the franchise the last time they reached the Super Bowl. Hall of Fame linebacker, elite level player, but not a good talker, nor comprehender of social issues that are much bigger than football.
In 2017, I had an exclusive with Urlacher, who was doing a promo for a sausage company/grilling up bratwursts at North Avenue Beach for the brave souls doing the Polar Plunge into Lake Michigan.
He seemed like a really nice, very professional guy, but he was not a great conversationalist. Honestly, I considered never even publishing the exclusive because he just wasn’t interesting.
Nothing wrong, or offensive, just kind of blah. Then I realized why Urlacher never made it as a media figure/television analyst.
Then we all heard Urlacher express himself on sociopolitical issues, and we quickly understood why talking is not his specialty. An avid advocate of Kyle Rittenhouse, Urlacher is….well, we just said enough already.
If you want to go down the rabbit hole and see just how MAGA he is, on everything, well, have at it. We’re not going to get into that here.
Ray Rice
There was a time, if you flash back 11 years, when you might remember the Ravens were the main character in the NFL, and for all the wrong reasons. When the Ray Rice domestic violence video went viral in September of 2014, he instantly became the biggest villain in the NFL at the time, and deservedly so.
The club cut ties with him as quickly as they could, and never looked back. Nor should they, as that video was beyond the pale of disturbing.
l the second leading rusher in club history.
Mike Ditka
Given how big his brand is, you’d think he won more than one championship. He didn’t. When you consider all of the fame that he enjoyed after retiring from coaching, you would think he had much more of a prolific coaching career.
He did not.
But hey, props to this man for taking one accomplishment, from 40 years ago, and keeping himself relevant off of it.
Also, much love to a man who can somehow plug every single product on the face of the planet, while also standing firmly on the wrong side of history on just about every single social issue.
As Jay-Z would say “being broke is childish, and I’m quite grown,” so I do respect Ditka’s hustle for product pitching.
It’s especially noteworthy because corporations hate controversy, and being controversial is often a quick and easy way to lose your endorsements. Yet somehow that rule doesn’t seem to truly apply to him.
His far-right world views have kind made him more closer to irrelevant in recent years, but at least he has a bedrock on this. There is a bridge too far for Ditka- he turned down a chance to speak at the 2016 Republican National Convention.