2002 was a bad year for Ray Lewis, who missed most of the Ravens season with a shoulder injury and was not selected to the Pro Bowl for the first time since his rookie year.
2002 was a good year for Nelly, who released the multiplatinum "Nellyville" and had hormonal teenagers everywhere misspelling the word "here."
On Thursday, we hopefully will get the best of Lewis as he lip-syncs the best of Nelly. The future Hall of Fame linebacker will take on future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez in "Lip Sync Battle" on Spike TV, choosing "Hot in Herre" to pretend-sing.
For advice, Michael Phelps, aka the Real Swim Shady, told Lewis: "Just be yourself." (Translation: Do the "Squirrel" dance!)
But really, that's bad advice. Be Nelly. Rock a Band-Aid on your left cheek. Because Nelly wouldn't have had it any other way.