Ray Lewis

So deep were the two victims' stab wounds that one astonished paramedic later told police she did not believe a knife could have caused injuries of such brutal precision. So many people were involved in the fight that resulted in police accusing Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis of a double murder on that bitter, January morning just hours removed from the Super Bowl that investigators could only venture a guess as to how many people may have struck the dead men. Nine.

Who is the greatest offensive player in the NFL? Ask that question, and the response might come from a list that includes Peyton Manning, Randy Moss, Priest Holmes, Michael Vick, Brett Favre and various others, depending on which NFL scout you talk to and what his franchise needs. But when it comes to naming the best defensive player, the response is virtually unanimous for Ray Lewis, the Baltimore Ravens linebacker whose marvelous athletic talent is fueled by an extraordinary passion for playing the game.

HEY, I LOVE the NFL as much as anyone else. And I'm really going to miss it if the lockout causes a loss of games. But Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis sounds like a man who has made one too many hard-hitting tackles. In an interview that aired yesterday, Lewis told ESPN reporter Sal Paolantonio: "Do this research if we don't have a season . . . watch how much evil, which we call crime, watch how much crime picks up if you take away our game. " What? Talk about having an overinflated sense of the value of a game.

IT'S TIME for Capt. Ray Lewis to change his off-duty protest wardrobe. According to recent media reports, retired Philadelphia Police Department Captain Lewis was arrested and charged while donning some rendition of his (former management level) police uniform in New York City during a demonstration. Apparently, the charges in the Big Apple were minor, and had not reached the level of "impersonating an officer," although an initial Inquirer article indicated that authorities are not ruling out the possibility of a "fake cop" allegation.

The Super Bowl is supposed to be the crown jewel of the NFL. It should be a game between the two best teams. Sadly, it was. Instead of shining like a precious stone on the finger of a wondrous season, it throbbed and stank like a cankerous, seeping boil on the rancid foot of an eminently forgetful campaign. Obviously, free agency and the salary cap have combined to create an environment in which two teams that probably should have been first-round playoff casualties - the Giants and Ravens - stood atop the league at Super Bowl XXXV.

Co-MVP Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts kept the quarterback spot on the Associated Press all-pro team all to himself, easily beating out the league's other most valuable player, the Tennessee Titans' Steve McNair, to make the squad for the first time. Joining the Indianapolis Colts star on the team announced yesterday were Associated Press postseason award winners, Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis and running back Jamal Lewis. The Eagles were shut out, without any members making the combined squad of both NFC and AFC stars, despite earning the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.

IT'S USUALLY TOUGH to get kicked out of Philadelphia's Fraternal Order of Police. You really have to screw up. Worse than, say, the cop who allegedly beat his girlfriend with a closed fist and left her a voice mail threatening to "stomp your f---ing heart out. " Or the officer convicted of child endangerment for pointing a loaded Glock at a kid who changed the radio station in his truck at the Police Academy. Or the cop who allegedly forced a suspect to perform oral sex on him in his police cruiser.

Retired Philadelphia Police Capt. Ray Lewis, who gained national attention with his defiant, in-uniform protest and subsequent arrest at Occupy Wall Street, made his first appearance with Occupy Philly on Monday afternoon. Lewis, 60, had been chastised in letters from Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey and the Fraternal Order of Police after he was arrested in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park on Nov. 17, wearing his old uniform. Again donning his uniform Monday on Independence Mall, Lewis asserted his right to free speech, calling his choice of clothing a "visual symbol" of the 24 years he devoted to police work.

Ray Lewis, the retired Philadelphia police captain who became a hero to the Occupy Wall Street movement, will not face legal consequences for wearing his old uniform at protests, a Police Department spokesman said Monday. "He will not be arrested," said Lt. Raymond Evers, spokesman for Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey. "He's exercising his First Amendment rights, and we're fine with that," Evers said. That position is in stark contrast to a letter Ramsey signed in November demanding that Lewis "immediately cease and desist" from wearing his old uniform in public.

The NFL fined Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis $25,000 yesterday for two separate plays, including a helmet-to-helmet hit on Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco. The Ravens said Lewis will appeal the fine. Both plays occurred in the fourth quarter of Baltimore's 17-14 loss on Sunday. The league deemed that Lewis "unnecessarily kicked the opponent" and later "unnecessarily struck a defenseless receiver. " During the latter play, Lewis hit Ochocinco after a pass from Carson Palmer sailed incomplete, and the 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness helped set up the winning touchdown with 22 seconds remaining.