After the press conference was held to announce his signing with the club, he did the usual courtesy interviews. Never one to hold back his true feelings or expressions with the media, he said things like:
- “When I was growing up I wanted to be Ozzie Newsome. I can’t think of a better place to play, because I’ll see the guy every single day. And he can see me every single day as I break his records.”
- “My Grandfather told me this, and I believe it. If you enjoy your job, you never have to go to work. I love everything about football – everything.”
- I think the big thing that I’m here for, aside from catching passes – 67 or 70 passes – is keep the guys level. Don’t let the guys get too high when we win or too low when we lose…to realize we’re someplace in between. Keep them working hard, paying attention in meetings. The little things.”
- “What I did the last 10 years was for the Broncos. I haven’t done anything for the Ravens yet. Why should they listen to me? I think the thing for me to do is come out here and be as productive as I possibly can early on, and once the season starts, go from there. Let my actions speak.”
Sharpe left the press conference – and it’s never easy to pull that man away from a microphone – and went to BWI Airport that afternoon. He flew home to Atlanta and his next speech was to new teammate and new friend Ray Lewis, who had spent the previous several weeks in jail in Sharpe’s hometown on a murder charge.
The two really didn’t know each other very well, but it was Sharpe who used Lewis’ pull in the Ravens’ front office just weeks earlier. Lewis and Sharpe had met at a party in Atlanta prior to the Super Bowl and Sharpe had expressed interest in the Ravens and urged Lewis to call Newsome to let him know that he was serious about coming to Baltimore.
It was now Sharpe who was serious about helping a teammate. Sharpe and Lewis were inseparable much of that off-season, either in Baltimore or Atlanta lifting weights. During Lewis’ murder trial in Atlanta in May, Sharpe would meet Lewis every evening and the two would hit the weights at the end of the long days in court. Even after the trial was over, Lewis returned to Atlanta to live in Sharpe’s basement, so he could continue working out with his new friend and teammate.
“When Ray was going to the Pro Bowls, everybody was patting him on the back and telling him how great he was,” Sharpe told The Washington Post. “When he got in this situation (on trial for murder), everybody wanted to distance themselves. They didn’t want to be associated with Ray Lewis in one respect…I thought this would a great time to take a guy in. I told Ray, ‘You can’t afford a hit like that to your character.’ Granted, he was found not guilty. That moniker will be with Ray Lewis the rest of his life. I told him, ‘Ray, I make people prove to me that I can trust them.’ I can’t afford a hit on my character, or for my family or this organization to have that.”
It was that wisdom and that concern that forged a deep friendship. By the time they got to training camp in July, a bond had formed.
“Shannon is a major, major acquisition for us,” owner Art Modell told The Washington Post at the time. “He’s critical to the chemistry of our team. He’s our leader. He’s the savior of Ray Lewis. The savior. Every team should be so fortunate to have a Shannon Sharpe. It’s flattering that he came to us.”
Lewis, who had become so close to Woodson the two previous years that Woodson would fly to Atlanta to testify on his behalf and told the court that he would supply the money to cover the bond, then introduced his two mutual friends. Woodson and Sharpe had played on four Pro Bowl teams together but really had exchanged nothing more than pleasantries. The bond between the three future Hall of Famers began in training camp when Lewis and Sharpe decided to participate in Woodson’s voluntary post-practice running sessions. The three amigos were inseparable and united before the first preseason game.
“It’s a troika you would never imagine or orchestrate, but if you think about it, it makes perfect sense,” Billick would tell The Sporting News. “The three of them are Pro Bowlers and unique players. They can relate to each other in a way less talented players can’t. Why do movie stars marry other movie stars?”
