jksmith269
Proud Navy Veteran 1990-1995
- Messages
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I don't think he's got his head on straight yet he says he's doesn't know then he says he has 4000 yards left in him before he walks away again. Make up your mind already.
Weighty issues
Slimmed-down Ricky Williams considers comeback
Posted: Friday May 20, 2005 11:53AM; Updated: Friday May 20, 2005 3:13PM
Before you Dolphins fans, fantasy geeks and hemp manufacturers get all hot and bothered over Ricky Williams' possible return to the NFL, here's a number you might want to consider: 195.
That's how much Williams currently weighs, 40 pounds less than his playing weight in Miami, before the positive drug test, the stunning retirement, the overseas trips, the stint in the Indian healing institute and the servitude of a swami -- but we're getting ahead of ourselves.
In an instant-messaging session with Williams on Wednesday, I asked the former All-Pro halfback whether he planned to play football again, and his answer was, "I honestly do not know."
He conceded that he'd had numerous telephone conversations with Miami coach Nick Saban, who called Williams' mother to track down the phone number at the small house the erstwhile runner and ayurveda student rents in Nevada City, an artsy town in the Sierra foothills of Northern California. Williams has a favorable impression of the new Dolphins boss, referring to him as "smart" and "interesting" and comparing him to Saban's friend Bill Belichick.
Williams, as published reports suggest, has gotten the distinct impression he'd be welcomed back by Saban if he were to decide to play in 2005, even though the Dolphins used the second overall pick in the draft on former Auburn running back Ronnie Brown. In Williams' eyes, he can offer Miami a pair of very productive seasons before stepping aside to make room for Brown and reverting to retirement.
"I've still got 4,000 yards left in me," Williams wrote, meaning two years at 2,000 per. "Who is gonna turn that down?"
Obviously, it's not that simple. There's the weight issue, along with the marijuana factor. Williams would likely face a four-game suspension upon ending his retirement, and he'd either have to alter his recreational habits or get something a hell of a lot more effective at beating drug tests than Onterrio Smith's "The Original Whizzinator."
There's also the question of how Williams would be received by his teammates, many of whom felt he abandoned them when he abruptly retired just before the start of training camp last year. He accepts the fact that there will be locker-room backlash but doesn't think it's anything he can't handle -- especially once he reminds them of his toughness during games. Certainly, most fans of the team are bitter in the wake of the disaster that was 2004. Yet something tells me that both groups, now that time has passed, might cut Williams some slack. So much has happened since he left -- Dave Wannstedt's resignation, Saban's coronation, the jettisoning of Jay Fielder, the drafting of Brown -- that it's almost as if Williams would be returning to a different franchise.
Besides, as Williams correctly pointed out, on-field heroics can cover up a lot of sins. Even among the most ardent Ricky bashers, the first time he takes a handoff, bursts through the line of scrimmage, bounces off a linebacker and outraces everyone to the end zone, it will be greeted with unabashed cheers.
To put it another way: The same guys yelling, "You suck, pothead!" will then be begging, "Please, Mr. Williams, will you sign my Zig-Zags?"
Williams finds it odd that so many people seem to chastise him more than they do those players who've tested positive for steroids, and he is heartened that he has achieved some of the clarity he sought when he bolted 10 months ago. "It took me almost a year to figure out the reason for quitting," he wrote. "The analogy I came up with was that I was renting my life. I needed to go out and make a down payment so I would stop wasting money."
Do you now own your own life? I asked.
"So many of us cannot decipher between who we are and what we do," he answered. "I am in the process of negotiating with the mortgage company."
That would seem to suggest that Williams is strongly considering a comeback, but there's a side of him that remains far, far removed from the NFL lifestyle. He recently spent six weeks in India as the attendant for Swami Sitaramananda, a Vietnamese woman he met after participating in one of her fellow swami's yoga classes at the California College of Ayurveda. Williams ultimately dropped out of school and began studying under Swami Sitaramananda.
"She has an amazing ability to understand my mind, to know what I am thinking," Williams wrote, adding that since he has returned from India, "I am in culture shock. I'm having a tough time dealing with regular folk."
While in India Williams witnessed something that he came to view as an allegory, one that may or may not shed some light onto his future plans. "I tell the story of the frustrated monkey," Williams wrote. "He wanted some cookies so bad, he put his hand in the jar, grabbed a big handful. Then, when he couldn't get his hand out, he became very angry."
And how did Williams react?
"I told him to just let the cookies go."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/michael_silver/05/20/silver.ricky/index.html
Weighty issues
Slimmed-down Ricky Williams considers comeback
Posted: Friday May 20, 2005 11:53AM; Updated: Friday May 20, 2005 3:13PM
Before you Dolphins fans, fantasy geeks and hemp manufacturers get all hot and bothered over Ricky Williams' possible return to the NFL, here's a number you might want to consider: 195.
That's how much Williams currently weighs, 40 pounds less than his playing weight in Miami, before the positive drug test, the stunning retirement, the overseas trips, the stint in the Indian healing institute and the servitude of a swami -- but we're getting ahead of ourselves.
In an instant-messaging session with Williams on Wednesday, I asked the former All-Pro halfback whether he planned to play football again, and his answer was, "I honestly do not know."
He conceded that he'd had numerous telephone conversations with Miami coach Nick Saban, who called Williams' mother to track down the phone number at the small house the erstwhile runner and ayurveda student rents in Nevada City, an artsy town in the Sierra foothills of Northern California. Williams has a favorable impression of the new Dolphins boss, referring to him as "smart" and "interesting" and comparing him to Saban's friend Bill Belichick.
Williams, as published reports suggest, has gotten the distinct impression he'd be welcomed back by Saban if he were to decide to play in 2005, even though the Dolphins used the second overall pick in the draft on former Auburn running back Ronnie Brown. In Williams' eyes, he can offer Miami a pair of very productive seasons before stepping aside to make room for Brown and reverting to retirement.
"I've still got 4,000 yards left in me," Williams wrote, meaning two years at 2,000 per. "Who is gonna turn that down?"
Obviously, it's not that simple. There's the weight issue, along with the marijuana factor. Williams would likely face a four-game suspension upon ending his retirement, and he'd either have to alter his recreational habits or get something a hell of a lot more effective at beating drug tests than Onterrio Smith's "The Original Whizzinator."
There's also the question of how Williams would be received by his teammates, many of whom felt he abandoned them when he abruptly retired just before the start of training camp last year. He accepts the fact that there will be locker-room backlash but doesn't think it's anything he can't handle -- especially once he reminds them of his toughness during games. Certainly, most fans of the team are bitter in the wake of the disaster that was 2004. Yet something tells me that both groups, now that time has passed, might cut Williams some slack. So much has happened since he left -- Dave Wannstedt's resignation, Saban's coronation, the jettisoning of Jay Fielder, the drafting of Brown -- that it's almost as if Williams would be returning to a different franchise.
Besides, as Williams correctly pointed out, on-field heroics can cover up a lot of sins. Even among the most ardent Ricky bashers, the first time he takes a handoff, bursts through the line of scrimmage, bounces off a linebacker and outraces everyone to the end zone, it will be greeted with unabashed cheers.
To put it another way: The same guys yelling, "You suck, pothead!" will then be begging, "Please, Mr. Williams, will you sign my Zig-Zags?"
Williams finds it odd that so many people seem to chastise him more than they do those players who've tested positive for steroids, and he is heartened that he has achieved some of the clarity he sought when he bolted 10 months ago. "It took me almost a year to figure out the reason for quitting," he wrote. "The analogy I came up with was that I was renting my life. I needed to go out and make a down payment so I would stop wasting money."
Do you now own your own life? I asked.
"So many of us cannot decipher between who we are and what we do," he answered. "I am in the process of negotiating with the mortgage company."
That would seem to suggest that Williams is strongly considering a comeback, but there's a side of him that remains far, far removed from the NFL lifestyle. He recently spent six weeks in India as the attendant for Swami Sitaramananda, a Vietnamese woman he met after participating in one of her fellow swami's yoga classes at the California College of Ayurveda. Williams ultimately dropped out of school and began studying under Swami Sitaramananda.
"She has an amazing ability to understand my mind, to know what I am thinking," Williams wrote, adding that since he has returned from India, "I am in culture shock. I'm having a tough time dealing with regular folk."
While in India Williams witnessed something that he came to view as an allegory, one that may or may not shed some light onto his future plans. "I tell the story of the frustrated monkey," Williams wrote. "He wanted some cookies so bad, he put his hand in the jar, grabbed a big handful. Then, when he couldn't get his hand out, he became very angry."
And how did Williams react?
"I told him to just let the cookies go."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/michael_silver/05/20/silver.ricky/index.html
