Why does Ray Lewis do his pre-game dance (“the Squirrel”)? Here’s the explanation, in his own words:

“The pre-game dance, I’m telling you, it’s just like this:

A childhood friend of mine, who was in the Armed Forces, he used to always do this dance. And the dance was famous in our little hometown. We lived in little country towns. We named the dance ‘The Squirrel.’ You see how country that is? So we named that dance the Squirrel…the way a squirrel moves. And he used to always do it: this guy was a retired Vietnam vet, and he had some complications after he came back.

And one day we met years, years ago.  He’s my biggest fan, he has a tattoo – my number – on his shoulder, everything.  Kirby Lee.

And I said, ‘Guess what?’

He said, ‘What?’

I said, ‘I’m going to do your dance one day.’

And he said, ‘No you won’t!’

I said, ‘I’m going to do your dance one day, I’m telling you!’

So this is just when they started introducing the defense one day. And this is how this animal actually got started. So as they started introducing the defense, I came out last one time, and I said, ‘I’m going to do it.’ And then I did it.

Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images

And from the moment on, it was like, ‘Ok, you gotta do that every game.’

And then the city got hold to it.  And then when the city got hold to it, the stadium…that’s like everybody’s thing.”

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Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

[Source: Channel One]