
On Monday night, Ray Lewis took a page out of the Tebow playbook, writing a message on his eye black strips.
Lewis applied to the material the initials of late Ravens owner Art Modell. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports that Lewis wasn’t fined.
It’s a clear violation of the league’s strict uniform policy. Last year, for example, Giants safety Antrel Rolle was fined for displaying the University of Miami logo on his eye strips.
While we’re not saying the league was wrong to make an exception, the question is whether the league may have stepped on a banana peel perched at the top of a slippery slope. What if Tebow now decides he’s going to start putting citations to Biblical verses on his eye strips, like he did at Florida?
Apart from the P.R. nightmare that quickly would develop if the league fines Tebow for promoting his religious beliefs, the league would have to reconcile an irreconcilable inconsistency between the decision not to fine Lewis and any decision to fine Tebow.