Ravens LB Ray Lewis during yesterday's NFL Media Day deflected questions about an SI report that he used deer antler extract to expedite his return from a triceps injury this season, but that did not sit well with columnist Kevin Blackistone. Noting Lewis reportedly has a deal to join ESPN after he retires following Super Bowl XLVII, Blackistone said, “There’s smoke coming out of my head right now. It's because this network has offered him a deal to come on here and be a ‘journalist,’ and here he is not answering questions standing at a podium. I don’t think that’s the kind of person that should be working for this network if in fact it’s involved in journalism” (“Around The Horn,” ESPN, 1/29). AWFUL ANNOUNCING's Joe Lucia wrote, "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" (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 1/29).
