Sports

Ravens Rally Twitter Fans to Vote

NFL players, including several Ravens, are taking advantage of social media to grab votes for the NFL's all star game.

Making the Pro Bowl allows NFL players to add a coveted line to their resumes; a berth in the annual all-star game means they're one of the best at their position in the league.

There's also often a monetary bonus built into a player's contract, should he be selected for the game.

So it shouldn't be a surprise that players—who are chosen for the Pro Bowl based on votes from fans, coaches and fellow players—have taken to social media this year to bump up their fan vote numbers.

Find out what's happening in Elkridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Thank everyone for pro bowl voting for me and my #raven teammates we greatly appreciate it keep voting we have 9 days left
Vonta Leach

Leach, the Ravens' fullback who has more than 20,000 followers on Twitter, posted that message last week, and he is far from alone when it comes to campaigning for votes. Ravens running back Ray Rice wasn't shy about reminding his 216,000 followers of one important fact:

Find out what's happening in Elkridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

You can vote for the pro bowl as many times as you want so if you get bored or something just go vote lol nfl.com/probowl/ballot
Ray Rice

Other Ravens have even resorted to using fans' dislike of a certain team from western Pennsylvania to drive up vote totals.

Just found out a steeler is the only one ahead of Grubbs in pro bowl voting. He needs a boost to get past him
Lardarius Webb 

I'm in a tight race for 1st place on the Probowl ballot. The guy from Pitt is right behind me so keep the votes up please! #ravens
Brendon Ayanbadejo

Fans' votes count for one-third of a player's total in the NFL's selection formula.

Depending on how effective these Twitter campaigns are—voting ends Monday—you might be able to add NFL Pro Bowl voting to the list of things that social media has changed forever.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here