My team is not playing in Super Bowl XLVII. I have no rooting interest. I don't really care if the San Francisco 49ers or Baltimore Ravens win. It's hard for me to want either team to win.
I like a lot of the 49ers players. I really don't like their coach. Jim Harbaugh is about as egotistical and humorless as they come. And that's a really bad combination in my book. He's gotten his players to perform at an exceptionally high level. I just don't like his methods or demeanor. Plus...he went to Michigan and I went to Illinois. So I inherently can't stand him.
I can't cheer for the Ravens and the glorification of Ray Lewis. I admire Lewis for changing after his alleged involvement in a double murder following the Ravens last Super Bowl appearance in Atlanta.
I think he's become a stand up person off the field, appears to be a wonderful father and has learned from his mistakes, his huge mistakes. But tell that to the families of Richard Lollar and Jacinth Baker. Lewis is able to cap his remarkable 17 year NFL career on the grandest stage in sports. Lollar and Baker had no careers, their young lives cut short in a nightclub. Lewis pleaded guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of justice. His two acquaintances were later acquitted of murder. But Lewis paid millions to the victim's families in civil suits. I'm sorry. I can't buy into the Lewis love affair I've seen on display these last few weeks since he announced his retirement.
My one and only reason for wanting the Ravens to win a little bit more than the Niners is O.J. Brigance. He's the former Ravens special teams stand out turned front office senior advisor to player development suffering from ALS. He needs a computer operated by his eyes to be his voice. He uses a wheel chair to get him from point A to point B. But he continues to use his brain and immense spirit to motivate and inspire.
My grandmother died of ALS. I wish she had the same tools as Brigance to help her communicate with us at the end. Those tools didn't exist back then. But I can't help but be awed by the grace shown by O.J. Brigance as he battles this cruel disease. I applaud him.
I guess that means I am cheering for the Ravens...at least a little bit.
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