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A video clip of Ray Lewis's locker room speech after the Ravens' loss on Sunday has been making the rounds on Facebook and Twitter. In it, he's as inspirational as ever, saying "It ain't about one play... This year, we did what we were supposed to do, we fought as a team." Toward the end, he turns philosophical, putting the game in perspective: "There's too much pain outside of this that people are really going through," and "Let's make somebody smile when we walk out of this locker room."
In a post-game interview clip posted below, which hasn't circulated as widely, Lewis explains what he was referring to when he talked about "pain outside of this that people are really going through," retelling the story of Jedan Phillips, a senior at Baltimore City College who died of bone cancer the day before the Ravens-Patriots game.
Lewis had been mentoring Phillips and last week, Phillips' mother called Lewis and asked if he could visit him, fearing the end was near. Lewis promised to come after the Patriots game, but, of course, Phillips didn't live to see the game. "How important is life really," he asked. "There's a 17-year-old kid that was waiting for me to come speak to him, but a game pulled me away from that, from ever making his eyes see my eyes." It's worth watching the whole clip, which is very powerful.
There's more info about Jedan Phillps on the City College website, including details about the funeral.
R.I.P. Jedan Phillips.
