TAMPA — Ray Lewis, you've just won the Super Bowl. What's next?
"I ain't going to no Disney World," Lewis, the Baltimore Ravens' star linebacker, said in the Super Bowl day-after news conference yesterday. He said he would be joining his teammates in Baltimore today for the championship parade.
Lewis, the Super Bowl MVP who was linked to a double-killing last year, was shut out of the traditional endorsements after his team beat the New York Giants on Sunday.
Instead, it was Ravens quarterback Trent Dilfer who shouted, "I'm going to Disney World!"
And General Mills chose five other Ravens - tight end Shannon Sharpe, wide receiver Qadry Ismail, offensive lineman Jona-than Ogden, defensive lineman Michael McCrary and safety Rod Woodson - to appear on a commemorative Wheaties box.
"We look for a great story, and Trent Dilfer offered us that story," Disney spokesman Craig Dezern said yesterday.
General Mills Inc., which manufactures Wheaties, said in a statement, "The five players who appear on the Ravens Wheaties box represent the entire team and reflect its historic accomplishments this season."
Industry analysts say that Lewis' marketability has been tarnished by his connection to the fatal double-stabbing after last year's Super Bowl in Atlanta. Lewis eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice and was fined $250,000 by the NFL. No one has been convicted of the murders.
"Whatever the result of the trial, to have someone who is close enough to a double murder as recently as last year is not the kind of spokesman that corporate America wants to have represent them right now," said Sean Brenner, managing editor of the Chicago-based IEG Sponsorship sports-marketing newsletter.
Lewis said yesterday that he did have some endorsement opportunities, but did not name them.
Disney traditionally has asked the Super Bowl MVP the "What's next?" question and featured that player in a parade the next day. This was the fourth time in the ad's 15-year run that the MVP did not ride in the parade.
"Obviously, I'm honored," Dilfer said after he took part in the parade on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom yesterday. "Although Ray is deserving of any award he gets, he did throw me a bone - it's usually an offensive player that gets to experience this."
Lewis shrugged off the apparent Disney snub after the game: "I wasn't going there anyway. I have kids who were not going to let me go to Disney World. They wanted to see me."
