According to several media outlets this week, Ricky Williams, RB for the Miami Dolphins, admitted to having thoughts during the bye week of smoking marijuana again. He said that when the team was given an off day the Friday before the bye, his initial thoughts were on getting high. That would’ve been the ultimate irony had he lost his job on his day off, and of all days, Friday; somewhere, Chris Tucker would’ve had to laugh.
This is a player, who after riding the wave of a storied college football career to great heights, came crashing down hard in 2004 when he decided to prematurely retire to become a world traveler/holistic healer/free spirit. When questioned about why/how he could leave at the height of his career he uttered that he was fine leaving the game and the money didn’t matter all that much to him. Of course, that was until an arbitration case ruled that he was on the hook to repay the $8M signing bonus he received.
Magically, the player whom Mike Ditka once traded all of his team’s draft choices for, and the player the Miami Dolphins surrendered 2 first round picks to get, saw his thoughts clear up and his passion for the sport he’d abandoned return. So he went through the reinstatement process and in 2005, under new coach Nick Saban, was allowed back on the team. It wasn’t easy though. He royally pissed off his teammates by retiring before the ’04 season because Miami had been a playoff team the previous year and were all set for another quality year; unfortunately, without its star RB, the Fins folded and managed 4 wins leading to the hiring of Saban. After going through the make nice period with his team, he came back to have a pretty solid year and shared carries with rookie Ronnie Brown as the Dolphins won 6 consecutive late games to finish 9-7, thus artificially raising hopes for year 2 of the Saban era.
Unfortunately for Ricky, he wouldn’t be around to see it. He failed another drug test, and with the new sheriff, Roger Goddell manning the commissioner’s office, Williams received a one-year suspension and a warning: fail another drug test and your banned for life.
So my question is why mention it? Why bring any unwanted attention your way? There’s has to be some influence in his life who can provide him with proper sound bites for the media, because this wasn’t it. Since he’s come back, he’s only been paid around the league minimum – a few hundred thousand per year – and he’s still not sure where he stands with the $8M he owes the organization, which he said after a recent contract extension that he so proudly admitted to negotiating himself (I’m sure the Dolphins’ Upper Execs loved every minute of that).
America’s all but in a down economy that’s shaping up as a deep recession, and he plays in a recession proof industry that provides a good living for himself and his children, so while his thoughts might wander from time to time about the good ol’ days smoking weed in the mountains, one more slip and he’s gone for life, and so is his lucrative livelihood, and while he might go on to take up a career in holistic medicine, will his clients in America 2009 and beyond be able to pay?
Ricky, if only for your family’s sake, think before you speak, please.
