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Former Baltimore Ravens superstar Ray Lewis was always known for a quirky comment or two during his NFL career, but he might have topped them all on Friday at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The 13-time Pro Bowler claimed that when he was playing with the Ravens, he helped decrease crime in the city of Baltimore.
“When I played, crime went lower in Baltimore,” Lewis said, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN. “It’s like, nobody needs to be mad now. It’s like everybody wants to be happy and celebrate.”
As crazy as it sounds, it's not the first time that he has claimed that the NFL could lower crime. In 2011, he claimed if the lockout extended into the season, there would be an increase in crime.
“Do this research if we don’t have a season — watch how much evil, which we call crime, watch how much crime picks up, if you take away our game,” Lewis said in 2011 via Pro Football Talk. “There’s too many people that live through us, people live through us. Yeah, walk in the streets, the way I walk the streets, and I’m not talking about the people you see all the time.”
Although it is a nice thought that the NFL could help the crime rate, it sure seems like a stretch. Maybe for a couple hours while the game is on, it may decrease slightly, but there is no statistical evidence to back up this claim, especially on a larger scale across a city as Lewis proclaims.
