Never at all during this Ray Lewis murder investigation ordeal was I hoping
Lewis would be found guilty. Never once was I hoping Lewis would be sent to
jail or have his football career and life ruined.
|  | | Ray Lewis testifies in Fulton Superior Court after he and his legal team struck a plea bargain to avoid murder charges. |
All along, all I ever wanted was the truth. Innocent souls or not, two men lost their lives that January night outside an Atlanta nightclub, and
there seems to have been enough evidence presented to tell us that Lewis at
least knows what went down that night.
Now, though, with the charges being dropped against Lewis and the Baltimore
Ravens' linebacker seemingly ready to walk away unscathed from this mess, the
chances are we'll never really know what happened that night, never find out
why those two men were murdered.
This is a shame.
So, too, will Lewis' life be if he never comes clean about that night.
Unless we hear the actual truth from Lewis his reputation will be scarred
for life. There will always be a shroud of mystery surrounding the man if he
doesn't tell of his involvement in the murders.
Lewis will soon rejoin his teammates, participate in training camp and play
ball once the season begins. But if he thinks his life hasn't been changed by
the last five months, he's naive. If he thinks his life merely continues as
it was without a hitch, he's wrong.
Until Lewis is honest with himself and the public about his involvement in
those murders -- however minute it was -- in the court of public opinion, his
name will forever be sullied.
The NFL has come out quickly and said that Lewis will not be suspended by
the league, which was the right call.
After all, he was charged with only obstruction of justice, which is a
misdemeanor -- something akin to stealing a six-pack of beer from a liquor
store. Though not condoned, this is not an action that warrants being
suspended.
Reaction from Ravens management, coaches and fellow teammates has been
mixed, though all in Lewis' favor.
"Some vindication, some relief," Ravens owner Art Modell said. "More
happiness for Ray, his family, his teammates, his coaches -- everybody who
knows Ray Lewis as we do know him. I never had any qualms about his
innocence, about the false statements. I think he was terrified of the
police, scared. Who knows what happened?"
Lewis knows what happened. Though the prosecution screwed up the case enough to fail to put up much of a fight against Lewis and his lawyers, there seemed to be enough evidence that showed Lewis knows what took place that night.
"I'm glad for him that's it's all over," Ravens safety Rod Woodson said.
"The evidence showed a lot of things they say happened didn't happen on Ray's
part. So it's over and done and I'm glad he can get back on with his
life."
The trial is over for Lewis, but the people's doubt about his character is
not.
Ravens quarterback Tony Banks said there's "no doubt I think it's over"
regarding the Lewis ordeal.
"I imagine he doesn't want to talk about it much, so we're going to try to
keep it off his mind as much as possible," Banks said.
Ignoring it and sweeping this thing under the table without it being
properly addressed, however, is going to exacerbate the situation. This way,
Lewis will constantly be dogged by the hidden truth.
One of the few Ravens players who seemed to get it was tight end Shannon
Sharpe, who said, "It's still going to surface up. The thing I told Ray is,
if he has a bad game, it's always going to go back to that. I told him
he can't let that affect him. 'The thing for you now is just to think
about football.' "
Lewis should be allowed to do just that, but not until he truly clears his
name in the court of public opinion.
Invasion of Turner's privacy
As a reporter I'm paid to uncover the truth and deliver it to readers. But
the recent incident involving the illness and eventual horrible death of
former NFL safety Eric Turner at age 31 disturbed me.
| |  | |
| Turner |
When it was first reported that Turner was gravely ill with a serious
stomach ailment that was possibly cancer, Turner issued a statement through
his agents on May 15 saying that reports concerning his illness were
overstated.
"I realize people are concerned, but I have chosen to keep this issue
within my family," Turner said in that statement. "Contrary to published
reports I have not lost 70 pounds and am not gravely ill ... I will
make another statement when my family and I deem it appropriate."
Sadly, Turner was never able to make another statement.
Yet when he died, there were some tones in some reports criticizing the fact
that Turner didn't tell the truth in that statement.
My problem is this: Why shouldn't Turner have been given the same privacy
about something as gravely serious as his illness that any other person not
in the public eye would be given?
This is an area where I believe reporters crossed the line. I was not close
to the situation, but had I been involved in uncovering the story and found
out about the severity of Turner's illness I would have kept it quiet if that
was Turner's wish.
Perhaps that goes against what my editors pay me for, but there are some
things more important than unearthing a story and beating the competition.
This was not about whether Turner was going to sign a free agent contract or
anything he did on the football field. This was different. This was something
that only he and his closest frinds and family should have been privy to.
In his final days, Eric Turner deserved to be treated to the same privacy
that anyone else would have been afforded.
Cherry looks like sweet pick
He wasn't a big-name star who was going to be an impact player for the
Patriots, but J'Juan Cherry was made an example of by Bill Belichick, falling
victim to the kind of discipline Belichick is bringing to New England.
Cherry, a cornerback whom the Patriots spent a fourth-round pick to acquire
from the supplemental draft, recently allegedly hit a patron over the head
with a beer bottle at a Boston bar and a friend he was with was stabbed as
they left.
Boston police didn't charge Cherry with anything, but it was clear his
involvement in such an incident was not tolerable by the Patriots.
"It wasn't going to work out," Belichick said. "This wasn't just one
specific event, it was a series of things that led us to this decision."
Belichick wouldn't elaborate on the other things that led to Cherry's
release, but it's clear he won't tolerate needless off-field incidents.
"Guys have a serious outlook a whole lot earlier than we did last
year," Patriots special teamer Larry Whigham said. "The message we're
getting is it's his way or the highway. By this time, if you're not doing it
his way, you're on the plane leaving for somewhere else."
Pats linebacker Chris Slade said, "He's the boss. He lets it be known by
those types of moves."
Jags' Taylor has new appetite for success
Watch out for Jaguars running back Fred Taylor. Word out of Jacksonville
this offseason is that the injury-prone Taylor has taken significant steps
toward staying on the field more often.
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| Taylor |
Taylor's arms and chest are bigger and his waist smaller thanks to more
working out than he's ever done and a new diet that has him staying away from
McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell. His body fat is reportedly down from 7
percent to 5 percent.
The Jaguars believe Taylor's eating habits have been a big reason why he
missed six games last season with a sore left hamstring. The hamstring injury
also limited Taylor to playing in just six games from start to finish.
Taylor, who gained 1,223 yards and scored 17 touchdowns in his rookie year,
had just 732 yards and six touchdowns last season becuase of the injuries.
"Everybody thinks my eating habits are bad and that's what led to my
hamstring problems last year," Taylor said. "That's why I'm working to
change the way I do things. I have to keep my muscles hydrated. I still drink
some soda, but I try to stay away from them as much as I can.
"I want to play 16 games," Taylor went on. "I hear that all the time
from my friends, my family, my homeboys. They always say, 'Man, just
play 16 games and show them what you can do. Everybody doesn't know that
you're the best running back in the league. They won't know that until
you play 16 games.' "
If he does play all 16 games in 2000, it would be the first time
Taylor accomplished that feat, because he missed one game as a rookie.
The Jaguars don't have the safety net of James Stewart this season. Stewart
is now in Detroit, making it that much more critical for Taylor to stay on
the field for the Jags.
Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post writes an AFC notebook every other Thursday for ESPN.com.
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