How does that work? Unless he gave the knife to someone knowing that person intended to stab someone how the heck would he be responsible for murder?
I don’t think he’s innocent by any stretch, but I’m not following this reasoning.
Wait a second. If I give someone a gift and then they kill another person, most people would say I’m guilty of murder?
I’ve heard about the murders, but haven’t read up on them. As a Giant fan living in Baltimore, I like him. He’s brought a lot of joy to a lot of people in this depressed, crime-and-drug-ridden city.
The theory is that he gave someone the knife during the fight, not just as a gift at some earlier time.
I just wanted to add in my little Fuck You to Ray Lewis and everything about him, from his epileptic seizures, to his covering up a murder, to his bullshit bible thumping, and his city who loves him.
I’m simply amazed that nobody will let out their true feelings on this subject.
Whether it changes opinions or not, it’s worth noting that Lewis’ friends were tried, and claimed self-defense, and were acquitted.
They were tried, claimed no such thing and were acquitted. They made no claims at all and the defense called no witnesses. Unfortunately due to the circumstances and confusion it was a hard case to try. But the two men died. Lewis’ suit mysteriously disappeared and it was him and his entourage that were involved and fled the scene. He also paid off the families of the victims.
Here’s a good review of the trial:
People have all but forgotten what Vick did. Let’s not also forget Kobe. People forgot about Ray Lewis for much the same reason as they were able to forget about Vick and Kobe. They’re athletes and they were able to go back out there and perform at a high level and are remembered again as athletes.
It didn’t work the same for OJ because he not only got more publicity about the murders, that I think most people are convinced he did even if he was found not guilty, but he had already retired from the NFL. OJ never had the opportunity to go back on the field. At this point, pretty much everyone knows him better for the murder trial than for his NFL career. And he made it even worse on himself by essentially defining his public persona by that, by talking about how he was going to find the real murderers and, of course, the whole more recent theft thing.
So it’s different for these guys because their performance on the field has a way of being penance in the public eye. It may not make people happy, but that just seems to be how it works.
As for my opinion of Ray Lewis, I love watching him play, he’s a great player and has passion for the game. As for him on a personal level, that’s hard to say since I don’t know exactly his involvement. But his personal life really shouldn’t affect my enjoyment of the game for the same reason I can listen to music by an artist or watch a movie with an actor who has some objectionable stuff in their personal lives. Why should I hold an athlete to a different standard when I can compartmentalize other people?
Which is why the OP linked to it in the first post.
I am extraordinarily cynical, but I believe that Ray Lewis is exactly what he now seems to be, and that is a positive influence on the world, now. Nothing more dramatic than that. I don’t recall his responsibility level, as it’s been quite a few years since I looked at the details, but it’s irrelevant at this point.
Lewis seems to have an easier time getting endorsements these days than Vick. As for Kobe, I have similar feelings about him. I’ll always think negatively of him.
You can like someone’s music and still think he’s a dirtbag. I think Ray Lewis should eventually be in the football Hall of Fame for his football career. But I’ll never think highly of his character, never consider him a role model. For example, he seemed an odd choice to me for Visa’s candidate for a fan interview. I doubt Vick would get that recognition.
To clarify, I think that he has atoned for his actions, whatever they were, to the best of his ability, to his God (who I don’t believe in), and to humanity. You can never “make it right” when talking about murder, certainly not to the families of victims, but I think he’s done about as much as he can to show his sorrow and regret.
Fair enough, but Vick also didn’t go out the next year, win a Super Bowl, and perform at a high level for the next dozen years. He had a good first year back, then kind of fizzled. He’s not going to get the endorsement deals now because he hasn’t performed well enough, long enough to get them, but I would bet if he’d gotten to the Super Bowl this year, like some people thought they would, or at least to the playoffs, he’d probably have some endorsement deals right now. Still, I think with even one good year, the discussion surrounding him isn’t as much about his character as it is that he’s just done.
And yeah, I’m fine with Ray being a leader for the Ravens, even a football legend there, because that’s exactly what he is on the football field. Other than the whole thing in 2000, I don’t know anything about his personal life, because I don’t care, and I don’t think I really should. Tom Cruise is a nutter, but his movies are still enjoyable. Yngwie Malmsteen is a huge douche, but still a great guitarist. I can still enjoy their performances and think poorly of their personal lives. I guess I’m in much the same boat with Ray Lewis because he is an amazing and passionate player, I just haven’t bothered to learn anything else about his personal life to really have an opinion there.
I’m fine if people don’t like him on the field because of his spaz dance, his general football persona or just don’t like the Ravens and go “yeah, well he’s a douche too”, but I still think it should be more of an after thought than a reason to hate him as a player. For instance, I hate Tom Brady, I think he’s overrated and I hate the Patriots, but that he’s a smug douche is just gravy, not a reason to hate him as a player.
Has he ever publicly explained what he did that night and acknowledged any guilt for whatever his role was in the murders?
Here’s a story on the long term reactions to what happened. The impression I get is that Lewis was never punished for being guilty nor was he ever exonerated for being innocent. He just cut deals to make the issue go away.
That USA Today article says the murders remain unsolved. Other stories indicate that the two on trial were acquitted because of self defense.
My thought is that he probably didn’t kill anyone even if he was involved in the fight that precipitated the stabbings, and he acted like a coward in helping cover up the crime because he was afraid it would destroy his NFL career. That’s horrible. Has he learned from it? I have no idea. He hasn’t gotten into any kind of trouble like that again, but that doesn’t prove very much and it’s hard to gauge things like remorse when you’re talking about someone in the public eye. I think Michael Vick seems pretty open and contrite about his dogfighting days, but like I said, it’s hard to tell: he had to show contrition to get back into the football. I haven’t seen that kind of thing from Lewis. I admit I haven’t thought about this in a long time, but how can it not lower your opinion of a person?
I don’t think they asserted self-defense. I think they were just acquitted because there was not a lot of evidence. Some people at the club even said a different member of Lewis’ party killed at least one of the victims. USA Today shouldn’t have said the killings are unsolved. The police felt they got the right people and they were acquitted.
You’re going to lose money then… Take the Niners on the money line and bet the farm and your kids 
Slam Dunk Niners win.
Read the (twice) linked article above. The defense called no witnesses. Using the affirmative defense of self dense means admitting you comitted homicide but it was justified and therefore not murder. The defense looked at the evidence and felt it the prosecution could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt. Because of the chaos of the situation, some unreliable witnesses and Ray Lewis’ obstruction they were right. The case remains “unsolved” because they were acquitted. Just like Casey Anthony or OJ. It will always remain unsolved because they can not be tried again.