It doesn’t seem that difficult, but with the Baltimore Ravens having more than a few Achilles Heels on offense, its only natural to wish more hands into the offensive make-up.

Even if those hands are attached to regularly handcuffed wrists.

I was an advocate for the Ravens pursuing Chad Johnson, because if you have a receiver that can go get it on deep throws and turn short throws into long gains, sometimes it matters not who’s on the throwing end of the equation. Just ask the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders.

But still, it is Chris Henry. The same Chris Henry who is more likely to be an unlockable character on Grand Theft Auto IV as he is to be on a roster for the 2008 NFL season. And as much as you don’t want to put a chronic criminal in a town that could easily be confused for Liberty City on any given summer day, its worth a shot.

Its worth a shot for Ozzie Newsome to think he can mentor and reach Henry where other executives couldn’t. To have Ray Lewis take Henry under his wing and show him why trouble is never as cool as it appears in videos and movies. To have Derrick Mason leave a lasting impression on Henry that transitions him from raw talent to polished performer.

But then you snap back to reality, and realize that those things could never work. Chris Henry will likely reform and mature as a person, but it will never come in tandem with the riches and notoriety that accompanies NFL stardom. For all that Chris Henry could bring to the Baltimore Ravens as a solid receiving option, it’s not worth him leaving behind a chance to be a productive member of society.

Rarely will you see any content in this space in support of the Cincinnati Bengals, but recent developments with my employer have motivated me to speak out another instance in blog bashing, courtesy of the NFL.

You can catch the full story here, but to make a long story short, the Cincinnati Bengals threatened to sue the Fan-Sided fam for putting up images (which were fully credited) on the StripeHype blog. It’s messed up that the franchise, which isn’t in the best of situations with a disgruntled superstar receiver, a couple of sub-par season and jail birds every other week, has the time and energy to intimidate a fan blog. Emphasis on fan, because ultimately, each blogger in the Fan-Sided family cares about the team they cover and wants to see it succeed.

The NFL, in all of its pomp and circumstance, can sick lawyers on bloggers but can’t create proactive player development plans to ensure that their employees aren’t models of athletes-behaving-badly? Make that make sense. Bottom line, a decent blogger quit on principle, and the fellas that run the Fan-Sided operation are now probably a significant must-read on Roger Goodell’s RSS reader.

Can’t we all just get along? If only the suits would see that blogging isn’t designed to hurt anyone. At best, it’s a cost-efficient marketing tool that can reach millions of people in a matter of seconds. At worst, it’s still photos of Carson Palmer doing a beer bong.

Make sure that you check out the Stripe Hype, and comment on this unfortunate situation. If there’s any justice, the tiger will roar once again in the near future.

There’s no question about who the Baltimore Ravens’ starting running back is, but there are questions about who will back up Pro-Bowler Willis McGahee. With the addition of Ray Rice in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft, the Ravens have quite a log jam for the back-up running back position between veterans Corey Ross, P.J. Daniels, and fellow rookie Allen Patrick. Here’s how they stack up.

Pick and Choose - If you go simply by how high each player was picked, Ray Rice gets the nod. The Ravens scooped up the Rutgers University wunderkid with the 55th overall pick, although many experts had him much higher on their draft. Second year back Ross joined the team as a free agent in 2006, Daniels was a fourth round pick that same year, and Patrick was nearly Mr. Irrelevant, going in the seventh round of this year’s draft.

Notoriety - Rice is the most noticeable of the group, but it doesn’t mean he’s the best option. P.J. Daniels set an NCAA bowl game rushing record with 307 yards and four touchdowns in the Humanitarian Bowl, and ran for more than 3000 yards in his Georgia Tech career. Cory Ross is the ninth all-time leading rusher in Nebraska history, and Allen Patrick had a productive senior season at Oklahoma, his first out of the shadow of Adrian Peterson.

In the End - It’s all about immediate impact. Cory Ross has already made a name for himself as a special team standout, and P.J. Daniels sat most of last year with injury. You never can tell until training camp, but a good bet for the depth chart heading into June is:

Ray Rice

P.J Daniels

Allen Patrick, who also has defensive and special teams experience at Oklahoma, will be a great special teams player on kick coverage. Ross will continue to grow into the kick return role, particularly with the departure of BJ Sams to the Kansas City Chiefs.

So the big buzz out of Baltimore Ravens training camp surrounds the three way dance for the team’s starting quarterback position. The immediate front runner for the job is Joe Flacco, the QB out of Delaware who the Ravens drafted with the 18th pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. Off top, he’s the guy most people want to see.

But year in and year out, Kyle Boller manages to sneak up in there, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he opened the season as the starter for the team. Throughout his five tenuous years with the Ravens, Boller has always shown flashes of brilliance, only to be dimmed by untimely mistakes in crucial moments. You have to assume there’s a reason why the franchise has kept him around the longest out of all the QB busts that have come through Charm City.

And then there’s Troy Smith, the former Heisman Trophy winner who made the team as a fifth round pick last season, but never had a true opportunity to show if he had the stuff Super Bowl winning quarterbacks are made of. He’s the X-Factor, because there’s a chance Smith may start with Boller as the back-up for the season’s first 2-3 games due to Ravens fans’ general allergic reaction to Boller under center.

In either case, the Flacco regime will begin if the Ravens have two wins or less five games into the season.

But until then, can you call this a controversy? QB controversy has long been that a difference of opinion can arise with either player getting the nod. But with the collection of unproven NFL quarterbacks in Baltimore, the greatest controversy won’t be who is the starter, but how long will it take until Joe Flacco comes in.

I’m always looking for good places to watch the Ravens game at, not because I’ll actually be able to go, but because I want everyone else to know where the best football watering holes are. I’ve tried out a few, but there are so many bars in Baltimore and so little time before kickoff starts.

So here’s the deal. From now until September 4, 2008, I’ll be holding a monthly contest for you to write in about the best bars in the Baltimore area to watch a Baltimore Ravens game. It can be based on the atmosphere, food, drinks, or anything that makes the Ravens fan experience unique. Every Friday, I will feature the best submissions of the week, and on the final Saturday in the month, a fan poll will determine the best submission for the month.

The monthly grand prize will be a 24-pack of the beer of your choice. (Or the cash equivalent) The grand prize will be a staff writer position with EbonyBird.com, another 24-pack of brew, (or the cash equivalent) and a $50 gift certificate to the restaurant of your choice located in Baltimore’s luxurious Inner Harbor. And if we’re lucky, the bar that is crowned Baltimore’s Best Ravens Bar will name a stool after you.

The contest begins today, and all submissions for this week’s drawing are due by midnight tonight. The winner will be posted tomorrow evening after 6:00 p.m., so keep checking to see if you are a winner.

Submissions should not exceed 250 words, and must not contain any offensive or profane language. A tip is to be as funny or insightful as possible, and it helps if you are good with grammar and punctuation. Entries should be submitted to jarrett@svpstyle.com, or via the EbonyBird fan forums, which is located in the navigation bar just above this post.

Good luck!

Joe Flacco is already endearing himself to Baltimore Ravens fans everywhere. He took time out to conduct an interview with Dewey of Yardbarker fame and Blogimore Ravens roots. You can peep the interview here.

Lord willing, the next stop on Flacco’s Baltimore Sports Blog tour will be right here, but we’ll let the good folks at Reebok sort it all out. In the meantime, here’s some Flacco footage for you to enjoy until training camp gets here. I find special enjoyment in the fact that the first highlight you will see is Flacco pitching it around on Towson University.

Well, Sandy Shaw didn’t really flop, but I just needed an excuse to post the video of ladies trying out for the 2008 Baltimore Ravens Cheerleaders. Did you know the squad is the only one in the NFL with guys on it? Yeah, we’ll just ignore that and focus on what’s really important.

The 10 faithful readers of this blog know well that I have no love for the Baltimore Sun. Sure, they probably have the most in-depth Baltimore Ravens coverage, but it’s not because they have an overwhelming resource of talent, they just have enough hack reporters and columnists to throw at the training complex. The best Ravens beat writer in the world is Aaron Wilson at the Carroll County Times.

But there is something the Sun does absolutely well, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I once mocked it’s new blog “The Life Of Kings,” written Kevin Van Valkenburg. Perhaps it was the blatant reference to the recently canceled “The Wire,” or the assumption that Van Valkenburg would be another biased, no-good mouthpiece for the region’s most overrated paper.

Boy, was I mistaken.

Not one post has been composed on The Life of Kings that I don’t absolutely enjoy. Plus, he recently used his platform to fire up Sports Illustrated’s Peter King and the ‘hunch’ that the Ravens would take Chad Henne, which I too decried in this space.

Yesterday, Van Valkenburg composed a post on why Ravens fans should root for second-round pick Ray Rice, and gave some background on the tragedy that was present in Rice’s life beginning with the tragic loss of his father at a young age. If you haven’t made up your mind on Ray Rice yet, this post will make it up for you.

Journalists are often lampooned by bloggers for their holier-than-thou approach and brash tone with athletes and fans. Kevin Van Valkenburg didn’t deserve lampooning from me, and I’m sorry I unfairly dished it.

If you don’t read any other Baltimore Sun blogger, and my suggestion is you don’t, I strongly suggest keeping up with Van Valkenburg’s ‘The Life of Kings.’

If you are a Baltimore Ravens fan, you probably jumped for joy at the team’s selection of Delaware quarterback Joe Flacco with the 18th pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. Then, you thought about how many quarterbacks have lined up for the Ravens throughout team history, and you promptly slumped back into your couch and thought “uh oh…”

But take heart, things will be different this time around. Joe Flacco will be a solid player in less than two years, and here’s five reasons why.

5. Flacco has no one really challenging him for the starting job. - Kyle Boller and Troy Smith are veterans, but have no real claim on the starting job. The Ravens will be one of the few teams with an open race for a starting quarterback, and its really Flacco’s job to lose.

4. No offensive gurus allowed. - While Cam Cameron is regarded in circles as such, he won’t have to answer for personnel decisions and managing egos. That’s on Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, and that makes for better development with Joe Flacco and forming the playbook around his strengths.

3. Joe Flacco has nothing to lose. - He might have been a high draft pick, but he can still play with the chip on his shoulder of coming out of Delaware and fewer expectations heaped on someone like Chad Henne or Brian Brohm.

2. The Ravens fan base has nothing but patience. - Ravens fans have seen the worst out of their quarterback play, and are willing to wait a while if they seem even an iota of potential. It could’ve come through for Kyle Boller, but Billick and company gave him too much too fast under too much pressure.

1. Joe Flacco will not be expected to win games for the Baltimore Ravens. - The Ravens have been contenders with a super defense and a fairly middlin’ offense. They don’t need Joe Montana or Joe Namath to walk through the door, so Joe Flacco is just fine.

You knew he would get a job running his mouth, as it was one of the things he was good at as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Developing a quarterback? Nah. Brian Billick would rather talk up the media and invent stupid slogans like ‘Festivus Maximus.’

So now he’s been hired by Fox Sports to be an in-game analyst. His partner has yet to be named, but there’s sure to be no shortage of “I’m too smart for this job” remarks.

Between Brian Billick on television and Jason Whitlock online, Fox perhaps might have a real shot at its 2008 summer goal, supplanting ESPN as the most hated sports news outlet in the world.