Ricky Williams was well on his way to a HOF career. Won't make it if he retires. Robert Smith even sat out his Sophmore year at Ohio State because they would let him take a class. http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Shores/6605/rsmith/robertsmith.html
WTG Ricky. I admire someone who has the balls to quit the sport before he is hurt permanently, someone who realizes that $20 million is not much less than $40 million. Go and do something you enjoy.
What's funny is that on Saturday morning before Ricky's annoucement, some guys on ESPN radio were talking about Robert Smith, and one of the guys was calling him a snob. I tend to agree. I'm happy for Smith that he was able to walk away from the game and do something that was more fullfilling to him, but don't turn around and diss the game that made you rich and famous. If he's so above the NFL, the let him give his money back. If not than he should STFU and go on about his life.
i.e. having to use crutches to walk by the time he's 50. Ricky Williams always marched to the beat of a different drummer. Perhaps he got sick of the conditioning. Perhaps he got sick of the pounding he took. Either way, the guy made some serious scratch, got to play in the NFL, and gave it up while he could still walk. Let him live in peace.
Was living in New Orleans at the time of the Coming of Ricky Williams over there and I gotta say, having Mike Ditka for a coach didn't help him enjoy the game I'd imagine... man shoved the spot light right up in his face; being the type of person that he is, I'm sure that's not exactly what Ricky wanted... Those first three years may have gone a long way to kill his love for the game...
Robert Smith is a weird one... he quit the Ohio State football team because it interfered with his academics...then rejoins the football team...then leaves after his Junior year to play in the NFL and still hasn't graduated from OSU.
Don't know whether this is a good decision or not for Ricky. He is living up to his contract by exercising his right to retire just like when the Dolphins are living up to a contract when they use their option to end a contract. Its business. If you don't want someone to exercise an out in a contract, you need to negotiate a contract that will make it costly for someone to do, but generally this will cost you something in return.
I don't want this post to just get passed over, the irony is classic. It points out that people, even players, can assign a different value to football than most of us. Maybe to Ricky it wasn't any more important than checking groceries. There are probably a lot of us that wouldn't quit smoking pot , or drinking or smoking cigarettes in order to keep a job checking groceries especially if we had a chunk already in the bank. It's not exactly the same but that famous Dallas Cowboy philosopher Duane Thomas when asked if The Super Bowl was the ultimate game said, " If this is the ultimate game, why are they going to play it again next year?"
I saw this last night and i have to say, this is the stupidest thing I've seen...but only ricky knows what he's doing... Honestly, he's probably got some shrink telling him he needs to be happy and if football doesn't make him happy, then just quit...he can say retire, but he's quitting...he's screwing the team, the fans, everyone... If he was some freakin' backup, then yeah, but he's the best in the game...reminds me of the playmakers LB who wanted to quit... this sux...
Good point. A friend of mine played 9+ years in the NFL and after the third year, we were talking about education and he noted in a bored, slightly ticked-off way that he already had the equivalent of a Post-Doc in football. We used to get so frustrated in High School because you had to do the same play over and over again until the last guy got it with some regularity. It was mind-numbing in High School and apparently even more so in college and the pros. He liked the money and he liked Sundays while distinctly not liking the other days of the week. Through him, I met some other pros and it quickly became obvious that fame and money can mess people up big time. It's easy for most of us to sit back and look at the lifestyle cliches like money and women, but all those come with a price... some people willingly pay that price, others don't like it at all. Just depends on the kind of person. I can understand the decision... he apparently felt the costs for his lifestyle were too great for him to shoulder any longer. I wish him well.
yea . .and if he had torn an ACL they would have DROPPED HIM LIKE A HOT POTATO It runs both ways Rocket RIver
didn't he have the crappiest contract in the league New Orleans Saints screwed him badly [them as his IDOIT Agent] Rocket RIver
You can credit that to his wise selection of Master P as his agent. But the payment I was refering to wasn't necessarily the cap money, but the draft picks spent for his services.
I'm not defending Ricky's choice, but to call him mediocre is silly. There wouldn't be this uproar over the decision if he was mediocre. First, of all he has been the focus of the offense built with a "mediocre" QB, one good WR, and a overrated offensive coordinator. Defenses consistently stacked the line with 8 in the box. He's probable not as good as LT or Lewis but he's an elite NFL back, period. Regardless, i do realize why his teamates and dolphin fans are upset, but stop posting the "he's average" nonsense.
The guy is on drugs....fact. He is not only on drugs, he is an alcoholic. I spent the weekend with a buddy of mine and 3 pro athletes (2 NFL guys) and its well known throughout the league why he is "retiring"
as for the grocery sacking story... In any job it is considered common courtesy to give 30 days notice before you quit.. so people thinking ricky should have given more notice... thats not unreasonable to think..
