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There were many sights & sounds from the post-game celebration in the Ravens locker room on Sunday night. Below are a few along with plenty of background celebrating.

Anquan Boldin

Ed Dickson discusses championship & degree to which his time in Eugene, Oregon helped him become a world champ

Terrell Suggs loves being a World Champ

Ed Reed encourages Jacoby Jones to flash his touchdown dance

Super Bowl XLVII was a tremendous game and one that will be remembered for a long time by those who watched, particularly yours truly.

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Ray Lewis’ grand finale ended up as one of the most entertaining of his entire career as the Baltimore Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers by a final score of 34-31 in Super Bowl XLVII at the SuperDome in New Orleans.

This season’s playoffs were some of the most dramatic in recent memory and thus it was fitting that the final game would come down to the final 2:00. The Ravens defense came up with a vintage goal-line stand on Colin Kaepernick and the Niners on their final possession much to Lewis’ delight, “of course it came down to a goal-line stand with our backs against the wall…That’s what we do! It’s what we’ve always done!”

Ray Lewis Celebrates

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Everyone is banged up this time of year but one can expect everyone on the list below to bite the bullet and give it their all on Sunday night.

It should be noted that 49er stud defensive end Aldon Smith is still battling a nagging shoulder injury and was limited in practice.

Aldon Smith – photo courtesy of AOL.Sportingnews.com

Jack & Jackie Harbaugh – photo courtesy of NOLA.com

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Opening statement:
Jack: “Before we open up for questions, I’d like to tell a quick story. Back in 1957, Jackie and I were freshmen at Bowling Green State University. One of the great college coaches, his name was Doyt Perry. He’s a Hall of Famer, he was our college coach there. Our second year there, he held a class. It was Football 101. There were 35 guys in the class, all purporting to be coaches. That’s what they wanted to do, high school coaches and possibly college coaches. On the first day of the class, Doyt stood up and he said ‘How many of you here want to be coaches?’ and of course 35 hands went up. And he said ‘To start the class, I’m going to tell you the three things that are going to be necessary for you to be a coach. Number three, you have to have a love and passion for the game of football. Number two, you needed to outwork the people that you were coaching against.’ He said, ‘The reason I say that, I’ve been around you for about a year and there’s not many of you here that are going to outsmart anybody so you had better be prepared to outwork them.’ And he said ‘Number one on the list, if you want to be a coach someday, marry wisely.’ I guarantee the only advice that I know I listened and followed from the great coach Doyt Perry was the marry wisely part. Jackie Harbaugh is the foundation of this Harbaugh family. She is the rock of our family. She’s the one that moved us 17 times in a 43 year coaching career. She sold houses at every stop and she bought houses at every stop. She took them in to school and out of school. She went to school when things didn’t go well. This is my hero right here, Jackie Harbaugh. You’re going to ask us how we feel on this historic day? Jackie, who has it better than us? Nobody!”
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QUOTES FROM BALTIMORE RAVENS MEDIA SESSION

Ed Reed

(on how great it is to be back home in New Orleans for a Super Bowl) “I can’t explain it. This is awesome. To come home, to be in Louisiana, in front of the home team, the home crowd, playing for the Super Bowl…I can’t really explain it. I’m really speechless. For everything that I’ve been through to get to this point, everything we’ve been through as a team to get to this point, it’s just awesome. I’m just trying to enjoy it and not hold everything in, just enjoy the moment and soak this up. I remember being here in ’97 for Media Day when the Patriots and Green Bay played, I had won a Punt, Pass & Kick, and I remember this right here, because I was at Media Day.”

(on if it’s tough to imagine what it would be like to win a Super Bowl in his home town) “Yes. You’ll have to ask that question after the game, because I’m sure the guys on San Fran are saying the same thing. They’re a great team and we’re a great team and at the end of the day, there’s only going to be one of us who is going to be crowned champion. That’s what we’re here for. That’s what we’re playing for, and that question can come a couple days from now.”
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QUOTES FROM BALTIMORE RAVENS MEDIA SESSION

Ray Lewis

(on if he thinks about the ‘lasts’ of his career this week) “I think honestly that I have already put it aside. I promise you that is the last thing on my mind: Is this the last? Is this the last? The most important thing for me is to be the leader that I am for my team, and really go out and try to win this football game. That is really the only thing on my mind right now.”

(on advice to teammates about Super Bowl week) “You have to be real honest with them, and lay it out. What are we really here for? The bottom line is, we are here to win a game, and there are only two teams left. For us to be where we are right now, we have to finish what we started the whole year. For me, that was one thing when we came here in 2000, there were so many guys who were so dialed in and so focused. It’s the same thing I am trying to spread to this team. What is our focus? Why are we really here in New Orleans? I know it’s a lot of things going on, there are a lot of things you could be doing outside, but the bottom line is that we are here for a business trip.”
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QUOTES FROM BALTIMORE RAVENS MEDIA SESSION

John Harbaugh

(opening statement) “Good to see everybody. Thanks for coming out. This is pretty cool, this is pretty exciting. We’re really excited to be here, we’re thrilled to be here. On behalf of the Baltimore Ravens, the entire organization, the city, the greater Baltimore area, Maryland, Ravens fans everywhere, we’re proud to be participants in the Super Bowl. We’re going to do our best to play our best in this game. We had an incredible sendoff down at the Inner Harbor this afternoon on our way to the airport. We had thousands, I’m not sure how many thousands, but lots of thousands of people there in a cold drizzle, on a January, Chesapeake Bay, afternoon. And they were there all morning waiting for us and they just went crazy. So we just had a great time doing that. Our organization, our Ravens staff putting together this trip has been flawless. Thanks to them for what they did. We have a great organization, led by Steve Bisciotti, and they did a great job. We’re just excited to be here and we’re looking forward to going to work. We had a good practice this morning, we had meetings this morning, practice this morning, things that we would sometimes do in the afternoon we did in the morning so we had our normal Monday. We’re on schedule and we’re going to work.”
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QUOTES FROM SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS MEDIA SESSION

Patrick Willis

(on what he has planned for this game Sunday) “Go out there and play the best football I can and hopefully come out with a win.”

(on how it feels taking the 49ers back to a Super Bowl) “The 49ers had a tradition for a while where they were winning Super Bowls and contenders all the time. They kind of went through a dry spell, so it feels good to be back. It feels good to be a part of what’s going on right now considering the first four years were pretty bad.”

(on being described by head coach Jim Harbaugh as getting the job done kind of guy and not taking credit type of guy) “I’ve always kind of been this way. I’ve always had high expectations for myself. Any time I’m able to make a play or do something that most (people) don’t think I could do or can do. For me, in my mind, I’ve already seen it or felt like I could do it. So I don’t get overly excited about anything because in my mind I’m just doing my job.”
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QUOTES FROM SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS MEDIA SESSION

Colin Kaepernick

(on the Ravens defensive line) “They are very physical, very big and take up a lot of space.”

(on if playing in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome earlier this year was beneficial in getting ready for the Super Bowl) “It is always good to be familiar with where you are playing. How beneficial is Sunday? It’s just being familiar with it, but you still have to go out and play.”

(on how playoff pressure is different from regular-season pressure) “I’ve said this before. Pressure, I feel like, comes from lack of preparation. This isn’t going to be a pressure situation, it is going to be a matter of going out there and performing physically.”

(on his routine during Super Bowl week) “The same routine we had when we were back in San Francisco.”
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QUOTES FROM SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS MEDIA SESSION

Jim Harbaugh

(on the benefits of having Colin Kaepernick making his first road start in the Superdome) “What are the benefits? He’s played in this stadium, just as all our team has. I don’t know how much of an advantage that is. I can’t really put an advantage quota on it.”

(on if he tried to keep the routine normal this week before coming to New Orleans) “Not to go into the plan of what we’re trying to do and what we’re trying to accomplish, we got a good idea. It’s what we’ve done and it’s been successful so far. Our team has been really focused on winning, focused on the unity of the team. I think it’s really genuine. I think it’s the best focus on unity and winning that I’ve ever seen or been a part of. This week, we tried to make it like a normal week, being here on Sunday, in the city starting Monday like it’s a week leading up to a Sunday game is our plan.”

(on playing for Coach George Seifert and what he learned) “Quite a bit. It was a real pleasure to work with George Seifert, to get a chance to know him. I didn’t get on the field that year. One of the great things was being able to meet Greg Roman, who was an assistant offensive line coach at the time. I was just so impressed with his knowledge of football and the kind of guy he was. We struck up a very good friendship within the first couple weeks I was there. I made friends right off the bat. Later, getting a chance to work with him was a real great thing for us.”
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