The Ravens are fresh off their Super Bowl season, and now fans have a chance to vote for a Raven to grace the cover of the popular Madden video game.
Running back Ray Rice and linebacker Ray Lewis have been chosen to represent the Ravens in a 64-person, tournament-style bracket to decide who will grace the cover of Madden NFL 25.
This is the 25th anniversary of the game, and EA Sports has decided to pick one current player and one legend to represent all 32 teams. Ravens General Manager Ozzie Newsome is also part of the bracket as the legend from his playing days with the Cleveland Browns.
Rice is a No. 5 seed and Lewis is a No. 2 seed. Newsome is a No. 13 seed.
During Lewis' appearance on ESPN Tuesday, he was already starting to advocate that fans get in their votes.
"All fans, please vote, vote, vote," Lewis said. "Now you have the opportunity to go old-school, new-school, and you have the opportunity to pick one winner at the end of the day. It's the 25th anniversary of Madden, and to have that competition going on, to get the fans voting, I think it's going to be exciting because the person who wins it not only wins a good-sized purse, but also wins a level of respect as well."
Fans have a week for each round of the voting, and the opening round is March 11-20.
Rice's first-round opponent is Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly, and Lewis gets Tampa Bay linebacker Derrick Brooks.
If Lewis were to win the bracket, this would be his second time on the cover. He graced the cover in 2004, and said that he doesn't believe in the infamous Madden cover jinx.
"Ain't no jinxes," Lewis said with a laugh.
Fans can place their votes online at: http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/feature/madden25cover.
