Watch the ‘SNL’ spoof that had Ray Lewis in tears (naturally)

Ray Lewis is an emotional guy. We’ve seen it week after week with his squirrel dance coming out of the tunnel or his intense behavior on the sidelines and on the field.

And we saw it earlier this month when the soon-to-be-retired Baltimore linebacker bawled his eyes out during the national anthem before his Ravens took on the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game.

A lot of us get a good laugh out of that over-the-top behavior, although Lewis seems to take himself pretty seriously. But even he had to laugh -- and, of course, cry -- over Kenan Thompson’s portrayal of him during a “Saturday Night Live” sketch last weekend.

“I just thought it was hilarious,” Lewis said during a pre-Super Bowl news conference Monday in New Orleans. “Somebody sent it to me actually last night. When I saw it, I laughed so hard. I was in tears actually last night laughing about it. It’s good to be able to joke about certain things. What I do is very serious, but for them to put it in a skit the way they did and for him to play it like he did is awesome.”

In the sketch, Thompson’s Lewis explains why the tears were flowing during the national anthem.

“It’s just I never heard that song before,” he said. “I always wear earplugs during games to block the sound of my own screaming.”

The fake Lewis also said that if the Ravens beat the 49ers in his final NFL game, he plans to walk to the 50-yard line and ascend into heaven.

Take a look -- pretty hilarious stuff.

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