Ray Lewis shares seat with Lombardi Trophy on flight home (PHOTO)
By ArtieFufkin
Assuming you’ve been pinned under something heavy for the past month, you probably hadn’t heard that Ravens LB Ray Lewis is retiring after 17 years in the NFL. And after yesterday’s victory over the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII, Lewis is going out in the best way imaginable, with a second Super Bowl championship under his belt.
Today, Lewis tweeted this photo of himself admiring the newly acquired Lombardi Trophy on the team flight home from New Orleans, along with the following message:
“My last ride.. Up in the clouds… This feeling is so real. We coming home with the crown Baltimore.”
(via @raylewis)
Regardless of the off-field controversy that seems to endlessly surround Lewis, you can’t deny his greatness as a linebacker, and his impact on the game during his career.
Am I nuts, or does it look like Lewis is flying coach here? Seems a little odd for the world champs to be slumming it in coach, no?
UPDATE: It appears that Lewis wasn’t the only one who got to cradle the trophy on the flight home … according to the Ravens’ Twitter, the Lombardi was passed around the entire plane:
The Lombardi Trophy was passed around the entire #Ravens team plane. Coaches, players, staff. Really cool!
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) February 4, 2013
The night the lights went out in Louisiana (GIF & VIDEO)
By ArtieFufkin
Last night, Super Bowl XLVII brought us one of the more surreal moments in sports history, as the power in the SuperDome went out during the 3rd quarter last night, leading to a 34-minute delay in play.
(via deadspin.com)
The outage came shortly after the Ravens took a commanding 28-6 lead, and the lengthy delay seemed to allow the 49ers to regroup and regain some momentum once the lights came back on. And even though Baltimore was able to hang on for the victory, the conspiracy theorists are already out in force suggesting some sort of foul play.
CBS’s 60 minutes crew was on hand and had their cameras rolling in the NFL’s control room as the lights went out, and captured this remarkable footage of the outage and its immediate aftermath:
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
This picture of John and Jim Harbaugh as Little Leaguers is classic (PHOTO)
By ArtieFufkin
In advance of the much-hyped Harbowl (or “Super Browl”, if you will), Reddit brings us this absolute gem from the Harbaugh brothers’ childhood.
Check out young John and Jim decked out in their Baskin Robbins little league unis, with the elder John towering over the befuddled looking Jim:
(via reddit)
And after some incredible interweb sleuthing, we uncovered a few more classic shots from the Harbaugh family archives, which reveal that Jim has been making that same exact face since he exited the birth canal.
PS - how bout that local little league BR sponsorship still paying dividends 30+ years later, eh?!?
MORE HARBAUGH CHILDHOOD PHOTOS AFTER THE JUMP
The NFL: A Bad Lip Reading (VIDEO)
By ArtieFufkin
Those whacky YouTubers Bad Lip Reading - who normally do their best work spoofing on film and politics – take aim at the NFL with their latest, video:
Peyton Manning shares post-game moment with Ray Lewis (PHOTO)
By ArtieFufkin
By now this photo has made the rounds, but we couldn’t resist sharing a genuine, un-staged moment between two of the greatest football players of our time.
Following the Broncos devastating 38-35 playoff loss to the Ravens – more than two hours after the game had ended – Peyton Manning met up with Ray Lewis in the visitor locker room to congratulate him on the victory:
(Photo via @CSteele32)
They say a picture says a thousand words, and with Lewis taking his final run at the post-season, we can only imagine the stories these two warriors have to share from their storied careers as opposing forces in the NFL.
What we wouldn’t have given to be a fly on the wall for that conversation. Even though only Peyton’s young son was close enough to hear what was said, fortunately for us, Ravens media director Chad Steele was there to capture the moment and share it with the world.
Wow … Jim Harbaugh was on Saved By The Bell once (VIDEO)
By ArtieFufkin
(via usatoday.com)
So this exists.
Hard-nosed 49ers head coach – and former NFL QB – Jim Harbaugh once appeared on an episode of Saved By The Bell: The New Class. As Screech’s cousin. Take a minute to let that sink in.
The video evidence is below, with Harbaugh paying a visit to The Max to have lunch with his favorite cousin Screech. He’s also conveniently there to provide counsel to a troubled teen who’s considering quitting football after pulling a DeSean Jackson and prematurely celebrating a touchdown.
And even though everyone knows that The New Class was a wildly inferior installation in the Saved By The Bell cannon, this is still a tremendous find.
At the time (somewhere between 1994-97), Harbaugh was quarterbacking the Indianapolis Colts, and probably wasn’t the most instantly recognizable athlete in the country. So despite the piped-in cheering when Jim enters, the script makes sure the audience knows exactly who it is we’re looking at. You know, since they’ve never mentioned this supposedly close relative of Screech even once in the history of the show. But because Dustin Diamond so obviously looks like the lost Harbaugh brother, it’s totally believable.
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
John Harbaugh shares awkward post-game handshake with Mike Tomlin (VIDEO)
By ArtieFufkin
(via usatoday.com)
In case you turned off the Steelers-Ravens game after the final whistle, you might have missed this post-game exchange between head coaches Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh.
After coming out on the losing end of a hard-fought 23-20 battle against their division rivals, John Harbaugh swallowed his pride and stepped toward midfield to congratulate Tomlin on the win. But Tomlin was having none of it, and tried to pull the ol’ drive-by handshake, barely even looking Harbaugh in the eye.
That’s when Harbaugh tightened his grasp on the Steelers coach’s hand, physically pulling him back into the exchange, so he could make sure that Tomlin really heard and appreciated his heartfelt congratulations. Watch for yourselves:
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
Brady Quinn makes eloquent statement in the wake of Jovan Belcher tragedy (VIDEO)
By ArtieFufkin
On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Panthers 27-21. As we all know by now, the game was played under unthinkable circumstances following the horrifying murder/suicide by Chiefs LB Jovan Belcher just one day earlier. As details continue to emerge about the incident, and Belcher’s state of mind leading up to Saturday’s events, our hearts go out to the families of Belcher and his girlfriend, Kassandra Perkins. But most of all, our thoughts and prayers are with young Zoey Belcher, orphaned in the most tragic way imaginable at just 3 months old.
After the game, Chiefs QB Brady Quinn stepped up to the mic and delivered on of the more poignant statements we’ve heard yet about this whole situation. Quinn looks inward to ask what more he could have done to prevent this tragedy, and asks each of us to reflect on the bigger picture, and specifically how we relate to others in a social media-driven society.
It’s definitely worth a listen/read.
“What could I have done different? When you ask someone how they’re doing, do you really mean it? When you answer someone back ‘how are you doing’ are you really telling them the truth? We live in a society of social networks and Twitter pages and Facebook, and that’s fine and stuff, but we have contact with our work associates, our family, our friends, and it seems like half the time we’re more pre-occupied with our phone and other things going on instead of the actual relationships we have in front of us. Hopefully, people can learn from this and try to actually figure out if somebody is battling something deeper on the inside, than what they may be revealing on a day-to day basis.”
(Quinn speaks after Romeo Crennel declines to speak about what he witnessed in the parking lot of Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday)
Well said.
Martellus Bennett – aka “Black Unicorn” – saves a fan, gets the animated super hero treatment (VIDEO)
By ArtieFufkin
(via juanelway.com)
Giants tight end Martellus Bennett has a reputation as a colorful guy, always reliable for a good quote or tweet, and even going so far as to give himself the nickname “Black Unicorn”.
After the Giants’ 38-10 victory over the Green Bay Packers last Sunday, Bennett made headlines for saving a middle-aged man who fell from the stands when Bennett threw his gloves into the crowd. Afterward, Bennet said he “tapped into my inner super hero, which I do have”, quickly springing into action to catch the man before he could hit the ground.
“I’m usually a ninja, but my Spidey-senses told me he was going to take a fall, so I saved his life. He owes me his firstborn or something. Actually, I don’t want that. Maybe a sandwich or something.”
Well fortunately for us, Black Unicorn told the story to the guys at TheNOC, who give Bennett the animated super hero treatement, bringing his words to life through vivid, poorly drawn animation. It’s pretty great:
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
The Jets season summed up in one play (VIDEO & GIF)
By ArtieFufkin
(Photo: Robert Sabo / New York Daily News)
During one remarkable stretch in the second quarter of Thursday’s 49-19 beatdown of the Jets, the Patriots reeled off 21 unanswered points in 52 seconds, punctuated by one remarkable play that encapsulates the entire Jets experience this season.
Watch as Mark Sanchez tries to hand the ball off to nobody, then elects to take off running before getting taken out by his own lineman’s rear end. As if that weren’t enough, the impact of Brandon Moore’s buttocks on Sanchez is so great that forces a fumble that gets returned 32-yards for a touchdown:
Ouch. After this most recent embarrassing display, even Fireman Ed is giving up his post as the Jets’ unofficial mascot. This might be a new low for Jets fans everywhere.
UPDATE AND BONUS SIMPSONS-THEMED GIF AFTER THE JUMP
