Once a Flake....
Former UT running back Ricky Williams has apparently decided to "retire" at the age of 27:
Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams has told the team he plans to retire after just five NFL seasons.
Williams told the team this week of his decision, a team source told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Sunday.
"He wants to get on with his life, wants to move on to bigger and better things," Miami Herald reporter and ESPN commentator Dan Le Batard told SportsCenter.
According to the Herald's report, Williams wants to travel the world and is tired of the demands and restraints of a professional football career.
"I just don't want to be in this business anymore," Williams told the paper. "I was never strong enough to not play football, but I'm strong enough now. I've considered everything about this. Everyone has thrown every possible scenario at me about why I shouldn't do this, but they're in denial. I'm happy with my decision.
"I'm finally free. I can't remember ever being this happy."
The Dolphins are left in quite a bind by this surprise move, and probably aren't so happy.
At the very least, Williams ought to return a pro-rated portion of the signing bonus that came with his last contract.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/25/04 13:30 | Sports | Technorati
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Comments
Sounds like Ricky has been smoking too much hippie lettuce.
Posted by CJN @ 20:42 on 07/25/04
As a UH alum, Ricky has always been one of the more likeable Horn football players to come along in quite a while.
Really nice person without the UT attitude.
Posted by Vernon Guy @ 21:41 on 07/25/04
What past behavior of Williams leads you to describe him as a flake?
Posted by Pete @ 22:05 on 07/25/04
Giving interviews with his helmet on is a longtime favorite.
Posted by Kevin @ 22:17 on 07/25/04
Not that flake is necessarily pejorative. I describe MYSELF (proudly!) as a flake. :)
Posted by Kevin @ 22:24 on 07/25/04
Although I am personally disappointed to not be able to see him play next year, I can't help but smile when someone throws the media a curveball and sends them into a frenzy. Isn't the point of being rich and famous to be able to do whatever the hell you want? If he was tired of football and all the BS that comes with it, more power to him. If he comes back in a year or two to cash in again, good for him. In a league that will hire a crackhead 3 days out of rehab, I am sure a team will be willing to kick him a couple million to run the ball again.
Posted by el_longhorn @ 23:07 on 07/25/04
I don't completely begrudge him doing it for personal reasons. I do dislike it when athletes decide they'll try and force a trade or some such by announcing a faux "retirement" or intention to sit out or what have you, but that obviously wasn't the case here.
Posted by Kevin @ 23:17 on 07/25/04
Would that we all could take pictures while gallivanting across Europe and Asia. Would that we all had $15 gajillion in the bank so we could flip everybody off. I had to listen to some dork media dude describe him (on ESPN) as the "sane one." Whatever. I had his money at his age in 2004...why not?
Not that tuff a call, buddy.
Posted by Scott Chaffin @ 23:34 on 07/25/04
I'm a Dolphins fan since the age of 3, but I don't begrudge him his decision at all. I don't understand why someone deciding they don't want to beat themselves up as severely as a RB in the NFL does over the course of a season qualifies one for flakiness (he may, in fact, be a flake, but this is not demonstrative of that point, IMO).
Posted by TP @ 09:51 on 07/26/04
He's young. He's had personality quirks that made a lot of people wonder if he would ever be "all that" as an NFL running back. He seemingly overcame all that (judging by recent stats), and a playoff caliber team built their entire offense around him, never anticipating he would walk away from it prematurely and with no warning.
In sports, most premiere athletes want to be "the man." Even beyond their prime (think Joe Montana or Hakeem Olajuwon or even MJ in their declined years), they still want to be "the man."
Ricky Williams had become "the man." People were counting on him to be "the man" for years to come. It was not unreasonable to think he is/was good enough to carry the right team to a championship.
Instead, a week before training camp, when the team built around him can't possibly come up with anyone who might replace him, he announces he'd like to travel to some places?
I don't begrudge him for doing whatever he prefers with his life. I'd rather hang out in foreign countries than have linebackers pound my ass (that preference in isolation isn't flaky at all). But yeah, I do think given the totality of the circumstances that it's a little flaky.
Posted by Kevin @ 10:06 on 07/26/04
Ricky Williams had become "the man." People were counting on him to be "the man" for years to come. It was not unreasonable to think he is/was good enough to carry the right team to a championship.
Heh. Not with Jay Fiedler at quarterback.
And Williams gave interviews with his helmet on because of some social anxiety disorder, at least according to ESPN and SI.
Posted by Pete @ 10:42 on 07/26/04
That's a fair point. His timing sucks, as it left the Dolphins in the lurch, but you can't always be ready to make such a decision when it's best for everyone involved. That doesn't excuse it, of course.
But I don't see him as a flake. I see him as an honest, intelligent, forthright person who was grappling with a very difficult decision. He did not make it at the best time for his employers and for the team, and it is legitimate to criticize him for that, but only to a point, IMO.
Posted by TP @ 11:09 on 07/26/04
SAD, flaky, take your pick. :)
I did say the "right" team. Not sure if that included a team led by Fiedler (or by Wannstedt), but one suspected Williams would easily outlast those two.
More on the flaky files here:
On June 22, Wannstedt convened a group of 22 team leaders, a sort of Dolphin kitchen cabinet. One by one they spoke of their goals and hopes for the season. Williams got up and talked about how important the season was for everyone in the room, including him, and how this was their year. "He was every bit as enthusiastic as everyone else in the room who spoke," Wannstedt said. "That's what's so bizarre about this."
http://sportsillustrated.cn...
I think I'd find it less flaky if it was just a ploy to avoid the worst of training camp. Plenty of NFL veterans figure out crafty ways to do that. :)
More good stuff in that linked article, btw. I always tend to find King interesting. Maybe "rare bird" is a better term than flaky. I dunno.
Posted by Kevin @ 11:14 on 07/26/04
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