NFL Rumors: Ray Lewis to Transition into Television Career Post-Ravens

 

In the past few days, its come to light that first-ballot Hall of Fame Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis will be retiring at the end of the 2012 NFL season after 16 seasons in professional football. Long-known as one of the game’s biggest and best trash-talkers and motivators, Lewis appears to be ready to take his loquacious nature behind the camera as soon as he walks away from the gridiron.

According to some reports, Lewis will be joining ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown” and will have a variety of other responsibilities with the Mothership which will kickoff as his time with the Ravens winds down. Lewis’ son Ray Lewis III, will be a freshman running back next year for the Miami Hurricanes, and evidently part of Lewis’ contract with ESPN required plenty of flexibility for him to attend the games he would like to, so we may not see him on a constant basis, but often.

Ray Lewis has no shortage of memorable moments led by his outspoken nature, one of the most memorable being his “pissed off for greatness” motivational speech to the Stanford Cardinal basketball team during last year’s NIT basketball tournament:

http://youtu.be/07fhOVQ9wEA

Sure, Ray hasn’t lived the perfect life, and isn’t without flaws, but you can’t deny the man’s presence. ESPN, and other networks with whom he may work behind the camera, will certainly benefit from his larger-than-life personality and ability to speak on the game he has dominated for so long with passion and intensity.

If Ray’s as pissed off for greatness behind the camera as he has been in the Ravens’ Purple and Black then television gold will be sure to follow.

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Kris Hughes is the College Football Network Manager for Rant Sports. You can follow Kris on Twitter, Google Plus and Facebook.