Ray Lewis Should Be Fined For Wearing Gold Cleats [UPDATE]

Unless you have been living in a location without electricity, newspapers, or any other form of information from the outside world, you know that Super Bowl XLVII is Ray Lewis' last career NFL game. You know that he's cried a lot and that he apparently has a taste for deer antler spray. Now we all know what he is going to be wearing on his feet.

NFL.com shed light on a report earlier in the day that the Ravens linebacker will be sporting a specially made pair of gold cleats by Under Armour in honor of his last professional football game.

Of course, gold Under Armour cleats are not the cleats that help make up the standard Baltimore Ravens uniform and, with the NFL's incredibly detailed uniform policy, this should result in a fine for Lewis. However, it doesn't appear as if a fine is going to materialize.

This is just another hypocritical stance by the NFL to cater to its more marketable faces while only pretending to care about the rest of the league.

Remember, this is a league that actually had to consider whether or not to fine Reggie Wayne for wearing orange gloves in the Indianapolis Colts' Week Five win over the Green Bay Packers, a gesture by Wayne to show support for the Colts then-leukemia stricken head coach Chuck Pagano.

It is also the same league that threatened to EJECT Chicago Bears' wide receiver Earl Bennett for wearing orange cleats that were not the standard issue.

So, just so we're clear, Ray Lewis can wear whatever cleats he wants, but a player of lesser stature that isn't saying his goodbyes to the NFL can't do that exact same thing. Seems a little hypocritical, no?

Herzlich is dead on in this case. If the league wants it to be known that no player is allowed to stand out by wearing a different element to their uniform, it should be an across the board policy. Instead, it is yet another case of selective judgement by Roger Goodell and his judge, jury and executioner act.

UPDATE 10:59 A.M.: Here is a link to the cleats Lewis will be wearing. If Chad Ochocinco wore something like this, Roger Goodell would have hunted him down and shot him in the neck with a blow dart.