Ravens training camp at McDaniel College wrapped up for the final time yesterday, and that meant only one thing: Rookie hazing.
“We kind of expected it,” cornerback Ronnie Prude said. “We had talked about it in the locker room. The other rookies said to be careful and keep your head on a swivel because the veterans had been talking about getting most of the rookies.”
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What has become a ritual for NFL teams across the country took center stage after head coach Brian Billick let the players go yesterday. Earlier in camp, hazing simply included carrying pads and gathering water. But yesterday it turned ugly.
Veterans quickly surrounded the rookies while brandishing tape, ice buckets and Gatorade. After grabbing their younger counterparts, veterans like Terrell Suggs, Adalius Thomas, Ray Lewis and others immediately wrapped the rookies? ankles and wrists and circled like wolves to prey.
“Samari Rolle told me I could go,” Prude said. “But then I came back and watched and Chris McAlister grabbed me.”
Gatorade showers began with orange, red and yellow liquids dousing the massive, hog-tied players. Even first-round draft pick Haloti Ngata, a 6-foot-4, 340-pound defensive tackle, took his lumps.
“He still got taped like everybody else,” Thomas said. “But he didn?t get taped to the goal post. No one here can lift him.”
The final act of the day was the most extreme. Second-round pick David Pittman, another rookie, stood in the background while most of the hazing was going on. He seemed to be enjoying watching his fellow teammates getting harassed ? until Suggs grabbed him by the collar. Suggs dragged Pittman to the goal post closest to the fans and screamed to the sidelines for more tape. After being strapped to the goal post, Pittman was doused in Gatorade and sprayed with shaving gel until his hair turned from black-and-blonde dreadlocks to white foam.
“We just call it tradition,” Thomas said. “We don?t call it hazing. It?s just a tradition we have. Some people get it worse than others depending on what you?ve done. If you?re late to a meeting or acting like a veteran, you get the goal post.”
