When I woke up Wednesday morning, there were two thoughts in my head. After using the facilities, I was down to one:
“Man, I wish Baltimore was throwing a Super Bowl parade today.”
All of those thoughts disappeared later, however, as word began to circulate that there were shots fired into the crowd during what was supposed to be a day of unification and joy. A person died. Children were wounded. Fear and tears and helplessness, and every other heart-wrenching descriptor one could imagine in the darkest crevices of their minds, instead, filled the timeline.
Again.
I think what hurt the worst, besides the tragic loss of life, was what this parade signified. Sports is a unifier, maybe like none other in our society. That parade was not filled with men or women, white people or black, gay or straight, young or old, Jewish or Muslim — it was filled with human beings who love their team, and wanted to celebrate with other human beings.
It was pure. It was as pure of a come-together event as we see. And, in an instant, it was torn apart — leaving a violent stain in its place.
We were reminded again that sports transcend all of the other stuff when the Baltimore Ravens, an organization that had its collective heart ripped out by a Chiefs victory in the AFC Championship game, sent out this message:
Statement from the Baltimore Ravens: pic.twitter.com/weWCJmc5Vw
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) February 14, 2024
I don’t have the words to fix the pain felt by the people of Kansas City. Nobody has those words, or they would have been put to use countless times before. Just know, Chiefs Kingdom, that the Ravens Flock shares with you our prayers, thoughts and tears.
Today, we stand together.
It’s hard to really put much attention on anything else NFL-related today, but we all need an escape from some of the atrocities around us, and sports, for all of its warts, does just that.
So, let’s do this, with all due respect to Chiefs Kingdom…
Glenn Erby from RavensWire shared some potential salary-cap-related cuts the Ravens could make this off-season as they work on putting together next year’s squad. One of the names he mentioned is cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who suited up for just 10 games this season in what was a difficult season for the former first-round pick.
“Humphrey, a three-time Pro Bowl player, missed a career-high eight games this season with foot, hamstring and calf injuries,” wrote Erby. “In 10 games, he had 26 tackles, five passes defensed and one interception.
“Baltimore finished with the No. 6 pass defense in the NFL without him and didn’t allow a 300-yard passer this season heading into its AFC title loss to the Chiefs,” he continued.
I get it. Humphrey didn’t have a great year, and was toasted by George Pickens on the winning score for Pittsburgh during the teams’ first match-up this season. Cutting him post-June 1 would save $11,750,000 on the cap, per Erby.
But I don’t think they should do it.
Humphrey is a unicorn in that he can play both inside and outside at a high level, and he is only 28 years old. If he had a history of missing a lot of games, I would see this past season as evidence he is breaking down.
However, that’s just not the case. Humphrey played in all 17 games the season before and made the Pro Bowl. This past season was rocky, yeah, but he also held opposing quarterbacks to a 46.7 completion percentage when targeting him, and a rating of 64.6. He had a higher PFF rating than Arthur Maulet, who also shined in the slot.
Humphrey has made three Pro Bowls and earned a First-Team All Pro in 2019. He’s allowed to have one injury-marred season, especially when he’s only 28 years old.
[Related Article: How the Ravens can create salary cap space]
#Steelers were officially awarded linebacker Jeremiah Moon today off waivers from #Ravens, a deferred assignment after Super Bowl
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) February 13, 2024
Well, darn. I like Moon, and feel like he could eventually become a starter in this league. With Patrick Queen and Malik Harrison both potentially leaving the Ravens this offseason, it would appear there was a path for him to earn some snaps next season.
But this is a numbers game, and the Ravens didn’t have the numbers to protect him.
Also of note:
Bleacher Report proposed a trade between the Ravens and Saints
Ravens receive: RB Alvin Kamara
Saints receive: 2024 seventh-round pick (No. 247 overall) pic.twitter.com/gXrmKiQKgL
— Kevin Oestreicher (@koestreicher34) February 14, 2024
I’m sure some of these Ray Lewis plays made us fall in love with football and the Baltimore Ravens! #RavensFlock pic.twitter.com/rgRFTuN6Cc
— Nic Mason (@British_Raven19) February 14, 2024
Lamar Jackson on Instagram:
“The creator of the Simpsons need to go ahead and make the episode of us winning the bowl already.” 😂👌 pic.twitter.com/IAV66XAoR6
— 𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝙇𝙄𝙑𝙀 (@LIVERavenNation) February 15, 2024
For the people who think Chuck Clark would be willing to come back to the #Ravens …… here you go….😅 pic.twitter.com/z0dATng5Gg
— GARNET WEST (@Garnet478) February 15, 2024
5 Responses
Over 800 police at the Championship parade could not stop 1 woman from being killed and 21 others from getting hit. Half the victims were under 16 years old! Yet we have a majority in this country that still say “the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” What a stupid country we live in.
My three guns never shot anyone and it was good guys who didn’t have guns who tackled the attackers. Guns aren’t the problem; people are.
This also shows how effective cops are these days. Too many DEI hires.
Fact: the USA is the only country on planet earth that has more guns than people. Fact: More guns=more gun violence. Don’t need to hypothesize something the rest of the world already figured out. You are correct though. Cops are completely useless in a mass shooting event (see also Uvalde,) but its not because of DEI hires. The whyte cops also can’t do anything except tag cadavers in the aftermath.
This is the theme in Baltimore that took place in KC, whites and others running from young blacks shooting at them and each other.
Boy howdy, that sure is explicit racism if I’ve ever seen it! People like you are a turdskid for humanity.