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When I flipped on SportsCenter this morning, they showed three plays from last night's Ravens-Panthers game that focused on the team in purple.
Anquan Boldin's first catch as a Raven, Joe Flacco's touchdown pass to Mark Clayton...and Joe Reitz getting rejected by the crossbar.
Reitz knew that was coming.
The second-year offensive tackle played college basketball at Western Michigan, but he didn't exactly show off his best D-I hoops skills last night when Troy Smith gave him the opportunity to cap off a Ravens touchdown by spiking the ball over the crossbar.
(If you missed the video, be sure to check it out right here.)
"I ran up there and I thought Troy was going to jump up in my arms or something, then he handed me the ball," Reitz explained after the game with a giant smile stretching from ear to ear. "So I'm standing there and I went off vertical. If I would have taken a step, I probably would have cleared it, but the rain soaks the pads, makes them wet, [and it] weighed me down a little bit.
"I furthered the stereotype a little bit that white men can't jump."
Reitz wants to make one thing clear: he has dunked before. Before bulking up to 320 pounds to play offensive tackle, he was a 6-7, 256 pound center at WMU who threw down "a couple times".
When I talked to him just after the game, Reitz said it was his former teammates on the hard wood that he was most afraid to hear from.
"I'm scared to turn my phone on because all my Western Michigan teammates I'm sure are texting me, and they're just going to be killing me about it," Reitz said.
Reitz knows he'll see countless replays over the next few weeks and will hear hundreds of jokes from friends, family and Ravens teammates, but he says he'll handle it all in stride.
"I've got thick skin, I'll be able to take it," he said. "We scored a touchdown there; it was a great drive, great play by Troy, and it will give them all something to laugh about. A bunch of guys are already making fun of me, and I'm sure when we watch it on film, it's going to get worse.
"But hey, it's a great group of guys, and if they rib me about it, it's all in good fun."
As for my prediction last night about Reitz making SportsCenter's "Not Top-10 Plays", he came in No. 2 on the list.
To me, that's almost just as bad as making the list at all. If you're going to go down in flames, at least take home the No. 1 spot.
That's your next goal, Joe. Work on some new moves for next Saturday against the Redskins.
