Ray Lewis on Miami Dolphins’ Decision to do ‘Hard Knocks’ and His Son’s Commitment to University of Miami

Ray Lewis is preparing for his 17th NFL season with the same approach he’s used his entire career. In fact, when the 37-year-old joined Michael Irvin on his radio show Wednesday, you could barely hear what Lewis was trying to say because he was in the midst of a 30-mile bike ride as part of his training regimen.

Ray Lewis joined Michael Irvin and Curtis Stevenson on WQAM in Miami to discuss the Miami Dolphins’ decision to undergo the “Hard Knocks” treatment and his son’s decision to follow in his footsteps at the University of Miami.

On the Miami Dolphins agreeing to be the subject of the 2012 season of HBO’s “Hard Knocks”:
“For us, we had the right group of men. We had the right group of characters, who understood. So it wasn’t as much of a distraction as people have talked about it being. And I think for us, we enjoyed every moment of it just being ourselves. And if I have any advice to the Dolphins, it’s just try to do something in the game, let the cameras be the cameras. And just remain yourself, bottom line. … All we did was maintain being ourselves, and I think that was the beauty of how it came out the way it came out.”

On how he felt when his son committed to the University of Miami (Fla, obviously.):
“There’s no greater reward, as a father, to have that. To walk into your alma mater and look at your baby — my baby — who was born on that campus. That’s what’s so special about what all happened. That boy was born on that campus my senior year, 1995. And when I walked him back there, Coach (Al) Golden looked at him and said, ‘We want you to be a Hurricane.’ Remember Michael, I didn’t have that opportunity. I got the last scholarship the University of Miami had. So for my son to be a junior and get that scholarship? C’mon, man. All my hard work, all my pain. … That thing right there, it kept motivating me all over again this offseason. I got me pissed off all over again, Mike, because I realized what I had sacrificed for my kids. And now I realized, now I keep sacrificing for my kids.”

Listen to Ray Lewis on WQAM here