Ray Lewis tells Ravens teammates to avoid Lombardi Trophy poses

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Baltimore Ravens welcomed CBS to their suburban facility Wednesday to take head shots for the Super Bowl XLVII broadcast, and they brought a prop – a non-engraved Lombardi Trophy.

A few players got cozy with the NFL's Holy Grail, up for grabs in 10 days, when the Ravens meet the San Francisco 49ers in New Orleans.

Then Ray Lewis showed up and set them straight.

"Everybody wants to have you take pictures with it. And it's like I told my team, 'Don't ever take pictures with something that's not yours, nothing that you haven't earned,' " Lewis said Thursday. "When we hold that Lombardi, whoever holds it next Sunday, you've earned it.

"I don't really believe in jinxes and all that, and just believe, don't set yourself up for something."

Lewis, 37, is the only player on the current Ravens roster who was on the team that trounced the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV. The Lombardi Trophy from that Super Bowl is encased in glass near a fireplace in the plush lobby at Ravens headquarters.

's OK to ogle that trophy, as quarterback Joe Flacco has admitted to doing in the past, but there's no touching that one or any other until they earn it.

"I think it's great," said Ravens running back Ray Rice of Lewis' order. "I'm not superstitious or anything, but I don't want to see anything that's not rightfully ours yet. We've got to work to get that."


(usatoday.com)