Ravens cheerleader says she was left home from Super Bowl over 1.6-pound weight gain

And you thought Ray Lewis' deer-antler spray controversy would be the biggest distraction for the Baltimore Ravens during Super Bowl week.

That was until Courtney Lenz said on "Good Morning America" that she believes the team won't let her cheer in the Super Bowl because she gained about two pounds.

Uh, oh. This is going to throw the team off.

Lenz's story has been getting some major airtime this week. An online petition on GoPetition.com passed 25,000 signatures on Thursday afternoon and a Facebook page dedicated to supporting Lenz has drawn a lot of eyeballs.

So what's the real story here? Well, it's hard to tell because Lenz's tale about being left back has changed a bit this week. First she said the team was upset she had chosen to retire at the end of the season. But the story she told GMA on Thursday morning was that she thinks the decision to leave her home from the Super Bowl stems from a weigh-in that showed she had gained 1.6 pounds.

Lenz, 23, was on the Ravens' cheer team for five years. She finished school and got a full-time marketing job recently, and said she was retiring after the season.

Earlier in the week, in an interview with ABC News, Lenz didn't make her weight a major issue in being left back. The entire blog entry telling her story doesn't include any mention of her weight.

"They've been really hard on me this year since I told them I was leaving," Lenz said to ABC News. "I was the only three-plus year veteran that [is] not going. I immediately thought it was a mistake."

Then on "Good Morning America," Lenz said during the season she was disciplined for weight gain. She said she was forced to see a nutritionist and a counselor with the cost coming out of her pocket.

"The last straw had to come from to the weight," Lenz said to GMA. "They said I had quote-unquote, a rough year. They had to take disciplinary action, and being that I was benched for my weight."

In an interview with "Access Hollywood," Lenz said she weighed about 125 pounds and the team wanted her to be about 120. She said she was never told why she was being left home, but that the slight weight gain led to her only discipline during the season.

The GMA report said the Ravens have about 60 members and only 32 are allowed to come.

"As set by the NFL, we are permitted to bring 32 cheerleaders to the Super Bowl. Our selection process was based upon three criteria: seniority, performance ability and personal conduct throughout the season. As much as we would like to take the whole team, we are unable to do so, due to parameters set by the NFL," Ravens spokeswoman Heather Harness, said in a statement to ABCNews.com.

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There has been an uproar since Lenz made her weight claims, as could be expected. It's a very explosive accusation.

So there you go. Ravens cheerleader Courtney Lenz is the most unlikely figure to make big news during Super Bowl week.

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