By Vaughn McClureImagine this: Ray Lewis, that brash, intimidating linebacker from the Ravens, sitting on the floor with his legs crossed practicing yoga.
Sounds funny, doesn't it?
Lewis, 34, told the Chicago media today that he has been doing yoga in the offseason for the past two to three years. It has rejuvenated him as Lewis, who will lead the Ravens against the Bears on Sunday, nears the end of his 14th season.
"Faithfully," Lewis said of his yoga classes. "I'm talking about an hour-and-a-half yoga classes at times. And the crazy part about it is, once you actually get into it a good two or three times, you really miss if you don't do it. It stretches you that much.
Photo: Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis uses yoga to retain flexibility. (Winslow Townson/AP)
"For us being muscular people anyway, it's kind of really hard to always keep your muscles very flexible."
Lewis is not sure how much longer he'll play, but he doesn't sound like he'll be hanging up the cleats anytime soon.
"Whenever God says it's time for me to go, I'll go," Lewis said. "But I'm just having too much fun playing the game still."
Lewis is not sure how much longer he'll play, but he doesn't sound like he'll be hanging up the cleats anytime soon.
"Whenever God says it's time for me to go, I'll go," Lewis said. "But I'm just having too much fun playing the game still."
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Yeah, your plan worked perfectly, if it was to make yourself look like a jackass. But keep trolling around.
i knew you'd the bait. sucker.
You're full of it. Check out this Neal Pollack Slate story from 2005:
"In the cover story of this week's Sports Illustrated, Jeffri Chadiha unearths the "radical training methods" of NFL stars...Green Bay Packers wideout Donald Driver does something called "moving yoga." The Lions' strength coach makes his team do Pilates every week.
A fresh, insider's guide to the offseason habits of our favorite NFL stars? No, more like 2005's most prominent manifestation of the annual lazy-reporter chestnut: the wacky workout story. Beat writers never tire of telling us that football players improve their reflexes and flexibility by doing yoga, karate, and ballet. At this point, they might as well tell us that our heroes wear helmets.
The stories go back to at least the 1970s, when fans were informed again and again that graceful wide receiver Lynn Swann honed his skills by taking ballet, jazz, and tap classes. The genre bloomed from there. A 1985 New York Times profile of Jets receiver Al Toon noted that he had studied dance and tai chi, "an Oriental martial art." (Toon, who I guess knew easy publicity when he saw it, told the UPI a year later that ballet lessons "helped me learn to position my body to help me, quote, break tackles.") ...
http://www.slate.com/id/2124158/
Hey Olly, how about if I get in the half moon position and you give it a good kiss. Ray Lewis practicing yoga? He's a big dumb football player, not exactly creatures known for their open-mindedness.
That only sounds funny if you haven't followed dozens of stories on this trend over the past two decades. As it, it sounds lazy.