Until now, the hardest part about this NFL lockout ordeal for most of us was worrying about planning our fantasy football draft parties, but it turns out that people out there actually depend on the NFL for their income and supporting their families. Who knew? But according to Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, this whole lockout thing goes way beyond franchise employees, stadium vendors, parking attendants and posse and entourage members.

“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,” Ray Lewis told ESPN.

“There’s too many people that live through us, people live through us,” he said. “Yeah, walk in the streets, the way I walk the streets, and I’m not talking about the people you see all the time.” (New York Daily News)

Of course we all know that Lewis was charged with obstruction of justice in 2000, after he lied to the police about the stabbing of two men after a Super Bowl party in Atlanta. Lewis was originally charged with the murder of the men, but his lawyer had the murder charges dismissed if he agreed to testify against his friends, and because Lewis’ white suit, presumably covered with blood, was never found. Meanwhile, Lewis settled privately with the families of the men that his friends killed, because that’s what most innocent men do. I just wanted to refresh our memories and bask in the irony.

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While many NFL players have spent the offseason and lockout trying to stay in shape by working out wherever they can, Chad Ochocinco or Johnson or whatever is living every coach’s nightmare. Sure, the aging wide receiver has been running and working out in Atlanta to be ready to torment Marvin Lewis next season, but he also decided that he wanted to ride a bull at the professional level. He could have waltzed into a bar in some podunk tourist trap and tried his hand at a mechanical bull like any good sorority girl would, but no. He wanted to ride a 1,500-pound living, breathing, pissed off bull.

In this case, Chad’s 1,500-pound bull was named Deja Blu and he almost stomped the life out of the 33-year old Saturday night at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia. Chad made it a whopping 1.5 seconds on Deja Blu to earn himself a $10,000 appearance fee, before the bull angrily tried to crush Chad’s helmet with his hind legs.

“I was mad that I couldn’t ride it out of the chute,” said Ochocinco, who received a $10,000 appearance fee.

“I knew I was in over my head,” Ochocinco said.

“I’m sure the NFL is pissed, but I don’t follow their rules anyway,” Ochocinco said. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Forget the NFL, I have to think that somewhere Chad Pennington saw this story and just yelled, “Are you f*cking kidding me?”

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