Ricky Williams to retire

[DEAD!]

this really is a shame, because Ricky was a premier talent in the game, and to just leave it after not really complishing much just to smoke pot is pretty pathetic.

on the other hand, THIS IS AWESOME! i am a hardcore Bills fan, so therefore i hate the Fins! This leaves them scrambling to find a replacement, or else go with unproven Travis Minor. As of now, i wouldnt be surprised to see the Fish at the bottom of the AFC East this year

I saw his stats against the Bills on the local news. Can't blame you for being happy.

[NJTank]

Dolphins are going to be a disaster this year maybe taht will get Dave Wannstedt fired whic is what is clearly needed.

This team is now dead if they win 6 games Ill be shocked.

[sportsfan331]

no offence,but he is an idiot

[DEAD!]

Dolphins are going to be a disaster this year maybe taht will get Dave Wannstedt fired whic is what is clearly needed.

This team is now dead if they win 6 games Ill be shocked.

I thought Wannstedt should have been fired a long time ago. Now I actually feel sorry for him and the Fins since Ricky left the team, and I'm not a Dolphins fan at all. I never condoned what Ricky did. I'm sure no one's boss would like you just quitting on them without any advanced notice. So how many yards will Jay Fiedler throw for this year?

[epper]

i kinda feel sorry for the dolphins.....

wait a sec...NOT!

[jkrdevil]

Some of the people defending Ricky is a sad commentary and shows how the world is in peril. There are some things that are not ok, and what Ricky did is not cool.

First off we need to go back to a scoiety where RESPONSABILLITY is important, and to simply call this a life choice and to feel good for him i worng.

If he has a drug problem let him go to rehab and get cured, but to just walk away saying he lost the heart is bogus.

But there are 40 men on a football team and millions of Dolphin fans all over the place I being one of them, this is a spit in the face at us. To just up and leave and say hey man Im outta here is totally classless.

Do I want him back?

Not now I hope he goes over to Asia and finds himself in acountry not so tolerent of drugs and ends up like Midnight Express.

As far as I am conserned he go :censored: himself.

But dont dare say this noble dont dare honor him, look at him as a piece of :censored: that he is.

Yeah he has the freedom to what he did, but that does not make it right morally.

How is it a sad commentary. If you had a job that you didn't like and you had the ability to quit wouldn't you quit. There is no difference here. No one should be forced to keep their job they don't like.

The people defending Ricky are defending that he has the right to quit a job he doesn't like. You don't know for a fact that he quit because of drugs, and even if he did it still doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that he didn't like his job and so he quit it. Just because he plays football doesn't mean he can't quit it because he hates it.

[tajmccall]

I'm kind of surprised at this reaction.  I mean, I never could stand the guy from day 1 so his absence wont bother me a bit.

But, so many other baseball and basketballers sign  huge deals and "hang it up" so to speak while still on the payroll.....for years.  Ricky certainly puts the Dolphins in a bind here, but I feel it's kinda decent of him.  He could half-ass it all season or Keyshawn it ...not play and still get paid.  He's not doing that.  He's quitting his job....same as you or I could do.  Two weeks notice is nice, but meh.

As for the weed thing.  I think it's cute all the DARE programs in your communities worked so well.  ANd in general substance abuse is nothing to laugh at.  But weed has never hurt anyone ever.  The level of the propoganda campaign against it, linking it to both terrorism and gun crime is both preposterous and uncalled for.  Compared to the litany of perfectly legal substances that we gorge ourselves on and kill ourselves with .... (the aforementioned tobacco and alcohol) which also get slammed on the CCSL.  But worse yet are the caffeine addictions we probably almost all share and the growing epidemic of Type II (self freaking induced) diabetes which is a helluva lot more serious than sugar shock.  The only difference with weed is, we don't have systems/companies in place to make it immediately profitable like we do smokes n booze.

We've been raised to think the war on drugs is an age old battle.  Its not, its contrived, it's a new phenomenon (30yrs) its a waste of money and its wrong.  I think sometimes you DO have to fight and occasionally break the law to set things write.  Go William Wallace on somebody.  But, its hard to get ramped up about defending your right to sit on a couch and eat Pringles....so.  I see both sides.  Its not a terribly noble fight.  I'd just encourage you guys to open your minds, not to do anything you're not comfortable with EVER....but realize that we get fed a lot of nonsense throughout our lives and to tell you the absolute truth.  Being rich, hanging it up, sitting on a beach smoking the occasional bowl doesn't sound like the worst thing that could happen.

I hope this doesn't SHOCKINGLY change your opinion of me as a collective.  This is all coming from a guy who's tried it once and pretty much didnt like it. 

I'm just saying...there's a fine line between being a good kid, and believing no one else is a good person unless they think like you, act like you....etc.

Now more than ever we have to be vigilant to defend the rights of individuals.  Its very hip to take them away and leave in their place the elusion of safety...or freedom.

Brilliantly said, i now must read the rest of the thread before i post.

[nitroseed]

I can see both sides of the coin here, in that on one side, it sets a bad example for younger kids, and says that if you don't like doing something, just quit. Everyone has to do things in life that they don't like to support families, and quitting isn't always the best idea. Ricky can do it b/c he's a millionaire. If you had that kind of money, would you honestly stay at a job you hated? I can honestly say I wouldn't. I'd be running out of there as fast as I can.

Thus, the other side of the coin. If you're in a position to where you are financially stable and can support your family, and you hate your job, then I say leave. If he has that opportunity to take off, then I say do it, regardless of what his reasons are. He makes a good point, too. If he stays any longer past the point of his desire, he'll either hurt himself or his team.

And that brings us to the ultimate point:

It's just a game.

Seriously, it's not like he deserted an army in the midst of battle. It's football. It's entertainment. Life will go on and so will the NFL. Let the man go if he wants.

[fiasco!]

you know, i used to smoke weed. lots of it. it never made me late for work. i never drove poorly while smoking. i never quit a job because of it. i never did much of anything bad while high, or in pursuit of the ganje. i ate more pizza and drank more snapple because of it.

i do have a family now. i have quit a job for a lower paying one because of it, in order to be able to spend more time with them.

i guess i can kinda see where ricky is coming from.

thanks,

joel

former pothead, current family man

[See Red]

Besides tank, I bet most players on the Dolphins are not upset with Ricky Williams retiring, but rather would have people out there with them that want to be out there, whether they're as good as Ricky Williams or not. And almost any good coach would do rather have players who are going to give 100%. It's good Ricky did this now as if he had not done so, his work ethic would suffer, as would his performance.

And it can't be said that Ricky Williams is selfish as he has put his body through the hell for the Miami Dolphins because of their poor playcalling and him having to run over 35 times, on occassion. I used to read his entries on his website, 'runrickyrun.com', and he was always willing to do whatever it took to help his team win. People are hypocritical. First they say these players should go out and play for fun, and not for the money, and then when one of them gives up the large amount of money he earns because he's no longer having fun, they criticise him.

[winters in buffalo]

You know what? I really don't care WHY he quit.

Anything that makes the Dolphins weaker makes me happy.

[STL FANATIC]

A few thoughts...

-Bad timing to his team, but if he's not gonna play with full heart...perhaps better than goin the whole season...

-The article I read makes weed a very small part of this decision...doesn't mean it is, but it's only Tank making it the main part...Tank might be right...he might not...

-I suppose I'd have to study more on the affects of weed to get a full perspective on it's harm. Right now, I've never done weed, and really hope I continue to have the discipline not to.

-Tobacco is definatley harmful to the users body, and depending on the form, others in the area. It should absolutely be illegal...screw the money it brings it...people will spend it somewhere else.

-I'm against weed (for now) and tobacco, but so as nobody assumes the wrong view of me, I'm not against alcohol, and think the restrictions on it should maybe be lessened.

-If Ricky wants to find himself...eh...ok...but...something about his comments really gives me this phony vibe...I dunno...I don't care too much either.

-I don't question his right to quit or the fact that he has played hard previously.

[Waffles]

-If Ricky wants to find himself...eh...ok...but...something about his comments really gives me this phony vibe...I dunno...I don't care too much either.

I think he's pretty legit about this...if you read his blog at runrickyrun.com, it seems like he thinks about this a lot, especially whether he's happy with what he does and how it affects others.

He has also previously encountered some patches of depression and been diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder, if I'm not mistaken.

I think pot has very little to do with this, but his issues with it seem characteristic of his feelings of confinement and his desire to escape or rebel.

[slapshot]

Williams has a lot of demons he has to control to get on with his life. I was able to read a little of the Miami article, and ESPN had a lot about it as well.

It's very stupid if his wanting to smoke weed had anything to do with his retirement. To give up a very rich career to be able to get high is just about the dumbest thing you can do. Yes, there were other reasons as well, such as loss of heart, other ambitions in life. But to have the ability to do illegal drugs as a factor is just mind boggling.

It's hard to not go into an anti-drug diatribe on this. I've never smoked pot. or tobacco. Never cared to. I've known plenty of people who have smoked it, currently smoke it, always have some on them. I also know how screwed up their lives are, and how much more direction and respect they might have if they weren't spending their free time getting high. I went to art school...pot was one of the majors. I'll never understand the attraction. There's no point to it except for medicinal purposes.

It's hard to say exacty how selfish Williams was with his decision this close to the start of training camp. If he did this a few days earlier, Miami may have made an offer for Eddie George. But ESPN says Williams is great friends with his backup, Travis Minor. So by waiting until George was already signed, he leaves Miami with little option but to make Minor the starter.

So he was selfish to the higher-ups & coaches on the team, but very sacrificial to his friend Minor.

All I know is...one less RB in the league, and the Pats can now clinch the division earlier.

[Sterling84]

No substance should be outlawed for personal use. I could go in the kitchen right now and drink a gallon of Drano. If I'm that dumb. I SHOULD be dead. Heroin, Coke, ecstacy all of it. Peoples have used these substances (mostly more responsibly than we do) for thousands of years. When alcohol was illegal in this country, cocaine was not. It's a bunch of scared people trying to scare you. Weed rehab? Seriously? What does that consist of? Nobody has the right to tell me what to put in my body. harmful? Maybe, but so are thumb tacks. SUre, if you're driving while high, or you O.D. or you let it overcome you and put aside all else in it's pursuits... that'll create problems. But I've seen people do the same with golf, fishing, video games, work, and double quarter pounders.

The government is not my parents. If you want it to be yours. Fine.....but we needn't legislate things you shouldn't do.

Tank, I'm trying to see your point, but it just sounds like you're taking it personally. Which is ok.......please dont let me stop you. Want to be pissed?, be pissed. But Nitros right......its a job and only a game.........and quitting doesn't disgrace him. The very fact that people (who dont know him) are now going to hate him...........yeah, thats why he left in the first place. The randome adoration of strangers couldnt be more phony. Fame is a drag.

[STL FANATIC]

.....but we needn't legislate things you shouldn't do.

So, we shouldn't have laws outlawing theft? That's something I shouldn't do.

I think I very partially agree with you, but not fully on this don't outlaw anything thing.

When it can be determined that something you might do has a semi-high probability of harming others, that's when it needs to be outlawed.

I already admitted not to knowing enough about the effects of weed, but that's why tobacco, at least in smoking form, should be outlawed. Second hand smoke does exist, and it does harm others. Also, I think I'd outlaw it, because while yes, people may be "dumb" enough to do it in the first place, if they decide they wanna quit, they can't. That's not good.

You brought up the caffeine and self imposed diabetes and whatnot, and that may or may not be a good point...again, something I admittedly need to do more research on before I can debate.

[Shizznick]

What sucks for the Dolphins is that he did not do it sooner. They may have had a shot at Eddie George. Who is out there now?

[NJTank]

Nobody and its gonna be pure misery for the Dolphins.

I hope when he comes and he will want to comeback one day nobody wants him.

[See Red]

Travis Minor career - 4.5 yards per carry

Ricky Williams last year - 3.5 yards per carry

that's all.

[NJTank]

Minor wont be good he came ion during rest bits carrying the load I doubt he will get 1000 yards.