Pissed off for greatness

Ray Lewis is still balling. His career is alive and kicking for at least one more week after the Ravens beat the Broncos and Peyton Manning today. He is not the same player he used to be even 5 years back, but I am happy that his 17-year career is continuing for now. Ray Lewis is an amazing story of redemption, especially from my perspective. We live in a culture that loves winners and we forgive any kind of sin as soon as the accused athlete wins the Super Bowl or the World Series or the NBA championship. Nothing makes us fans forget a murder or a rape faster than a championship ring and MVP honors. But I am personally pretty unforgiving when it comes to these athletes with a sketchy past. I sometimes think I need to be a little more willing to give people a second chance - everybody needs one at some point. For some reason, Ray Lewis is one athlete who has come full-circle in my book from the bad guy who was accused of murder to an interesting, talented, and almost an inspirational figure I have learned to like. And it has very little to do with the fact that he was a Super Bowl MVP the season after he got into legal trouble.

I am a Ray Lewis fan for many reasons. He has kept his nose clean since the incident. He invokes the name of God, which many guys do especially after running into legal issues. They either truly find God during their troubled times or their agent tells them to become more godly to fix their public image. But Ray sounds genuine when he talks about God or anything in general - not that his godliness is relevant or important to me. His genuine passion about life and football is endearing and he has been consistent with that passion for more than a decade now. His teammates seem to love him too and his talent on the field of course speaks for itself. Guys who are such high-level performers definitely work hard and have a level of drive and love for the game that is hard to dislike. On top of that, Ray gets high marks for his leadership skills from everybody around him. Last, but not the least, I have become a big fan of his inspirational speeches. The man can talk. Both his style of delivery and the content of his words make for some great sound bites. If you have not seen the video below of Ray talking to the Stanford basketball team before a game last season, I would strongly recommend it.

"Pissed off for Greatness" and "effort is between you and you" may end up being 2 of the classic quotes ever. Ray is nowhere near greatness at his age right now, but Joe Flacco might be considered great as of today. This guy is the most inconsistent quarterback in the league and today, he beat Peyton Manning - on the road, in cold weather, under hostile conditions, with impressive numbers, and long touchdown passes. Flacco might be a better quarterback in the playoffs than the regular season. That definitely seems to be the case with road games as he goes AWOL on the road during the regular season. But the guys just wins playoff games and every time we say he is not elite, he looks super elite. He has won playoff games in every year he has been in league and thats a pretty impressive stat for any young quarterback. He may be the only elite, inconsistent, playoff tested, and unreliable winner in the NFL.  He is going back to the conference championship game and so are the Harbaugh brothers. They are both in the championship round just like last year and the talk of Har-Bowl shall begin in right earnest.

Colin Kapernick was brilliant today in a game that presented a weird vibe for the Niner fans going in. They felt very diffident with some injury concerns and with an unproven, young QB at the helm. While Kaep had shown some promise, he had also shown his inexperience and made some "rookie" mistakes.  It was only to be expected that he would face his toughest challenge under the glare of the playoff lights against a MVP caliber QB in Aaron Rodgers. Sure enough, he came out and threw a pick-6 and I bet most Niner fans imagined the worst from Kaep and the niners the rest of the way. But he shrugged it off and was just unstoppable the rest of the way. He is just unbelievably FAST! One expert called him "Cam Newton with a brain" a few months back and he looked every bit like that today. The Packers had no answer to his legs as he out-rushed Michael Vick and every other quarterback in the history of the game with 181 rushing yards. He showed why Harbaugh and some fans are excited about him. While his inexperience is what made Harbaugh's mid-season QB switch scary and confusing, his innate talent and abilities were never in question and it was all showcased in full tonight. His legs were awesome, but he also made some throws that Alex Smith can never make. In fact, very few QBs in the league can make those bullet passes with accuracy. Good day for him and the Niners and a bad day for the Packers. Their defense was bad and their offense and special teams had one crucial turnover each that donated points to the Niners in the first half. Now we get to see Kaep in the NFC championship game next week. Good for the kid. He better be "pissed off for greatness" next week.