Super Bowl: 4 Reasons To Root Either For Or Against The 49ers And Ravens

Reason To Root For The Ravens: Ed Reed’s Storied Career
Much of the NFL postseason chatter has centered around Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis’ retirement at the end of the season. Number 52 played seventeen seasons with the organization, went to thirteen Pro Bowls and won a slew of awards including a Super Bowl ring. Unfortunately, the massive, muscle-bound shadow he’s kicked throughout both this year and his entire career has (at least somewhat) obscured the play of his longtime teammate Ed Reed, who was drafted a few years after Lewis and has co-led the team’s potent defense for more than a decade.

With a crazy homeless man-like beard and a relentless professionalism, Reed has gone to nine Pro Bowls, won a defensive player of the year award and like Lewis, was recently selected as one of the 100 greatest NFL players in history. He came into the league after the Ravens won their prior Super Bowl and thus, does not have his own ring to show for being one of the two greatest players on one of the greatest defenses in the history of professional football. Ravens fans would like to see him win his first title, and many hardened football fans feel the same way.

Reason To Root Against The Ravens: The Team Reportedly Fired A Cheerleader For Gaining 2 Pounds
Courtney Lenz joined the Baltimore Ravens cheerleading squad five years ago when she was eighteen. Since then, she’s gotten a bachelor’s degree, acquired a full-time job and announced she’ll retire at season’s end. In theory, her final game should have been at the Super Bowl, but unfortunately, she was left off the squad, and rumor has it, the heave-ho happened because she gained two pounds during the season.

Officials from the team are claiming they aren’t able to take Lenz because league rules only allow them to take thirty-two cheerleaders, but every single other cheerleader with three or more years of experience was shipped to New Orleans for the Big Game. The whole thing sounds like shady business, and while I think most of us can wrap our heads around the idea of a cheerleader getting benched if she got huge, two pounds seems like it could stem from drinking extra water.