In the wake of today's report from Sports Illustrated related to Ray Lewis and deer antler spray, Kevin Blackistone went off on Around the Horn today. Blackistone said that ESPN, which is hiring Ray Lewis after his playing career ends as an analyst, should rescind their offer because of Lewis' refusal to answer questions about the article at the Super Bowl Media Day today.
It's a little ridiculous for Blackistone to say that ESPN is hiring Lewis to be a "journalist" considering that Lewis is going to have little to no journalistic role with ESPN. He's going to be analyzing what happens on the field. And to be fair to Lewis, it's not as if he gave a "no comment" in regards to the story. He said that he dealt with the same report two years ago, it wasn't worth his time then, and it wasn't worth his time now.
I'm not really sure what Blackistone wants from Lewis days before the Super Bowl, aside from maybe some sort of exclusive interview. But for him to start preaching about journalistic integrity in regards to someone who isn't even being hired to be a journalist is a stretch.
