I -Heart- Ricky Williams

[Duchess Jack]

Always interesting, mercurial Dolphin Williams gets wise at 32

Dave Hyde | Sports Columnist

 

May 24, 2009

 

He awakens by 6 a.m. each day and enters a room in his home set up just for this ritual. It's empty. It's quiet. He takes a seat and says a prayer, a simple prayer, often for the likes of good health and good friends.

 

"And that the linemen open holes," Ricky Williams says.

 

Amen.

 

He'll then concentrate on his surroundings — some noise outside, any spot on the wall — to begin clearing his head. Sometimes it takes a while. One night last week, for instance, he dreamed he had been cut by the Dolphins and couldn't chase the thought.

 

"That's my insecurity over turning 32," he said.

 

A focus on breathing comes next. Deep in. Cleansing out. Again. And again. And on his good mornings, as his mind relaxes, as his body follows, as his world fades into the next breath, Ricky enters a deep meditative state for 20, 30, even 60 minutes.

 

"That's my excitement these days," he says.

 

After all the years and all the stories, Ricky can laugh at himself. And still interest you. And surprise you. There's no one quite like him in sports. Maybe that's not a bad thing, either.

 

He has done it all. He led the league in rushing. He retired to a tent in Australia. He taught yoga in California under the Hindu name Rudra. He showed up at Dolphins camp wearing only white ("For purity," he said — and the next year said he was wearing anything but red (That's for a flashier personality than I am.")

 

Now, look, his calendar flipped to 32 last week.

 

"Older and wiser," he says, smiling softly.

 

Here's a story: Williams wanted a car for his birthday. A Dodge Challenger. Something about it appealed to him in the way his Ferrari and Hummer once did. But he resigned himself to the fact he wasn't getting it. No chance, he said. Why?

 

"My financial adviser says I can't," he said.

 

There's no getting around it: The player no one was sure would grow up is getting old by football standards. And no one seems to understand it better than him.

 

"Two more years," he says of his career.

 

Outside of Hollywood and Hogwarts, NFL running backs don't last past 35. Most don't last past 30. LaDainian Tomlinson, Jamal Lewis and Brian Westbrook are 30 now and seem like dinosaurs.

 

Only Warrick Dunn at 34, Fred Taylor at 33 and a two-months-older Sammy Morris have more mileage than Ricky and among the league's top 40 rushers (Ricky finished 33rd with 659 yards). You can say Williams is a young 32 because of injury and drug suspensions. But he carried offenses for years with a running style built on punishment.

 

"When I was younger, I got the benefit of the doubt from people because of my talent," he said. "Now, as I'm older, I won't get that. I don't deserve it. I never took a day off in practice, but now I make sure that I don't. I'm working hard. "

 

He likes it here, too. People always ask Williams if he's happy, as if that was his issue all those years. His story isn't complicated. Happiness was never the issue. Football was.

 

"I've been happy a lot in life, but the difference now is I'm happy in football," he said. "I fit in well here."

 

He talks of his respect for Tony Sparano, his friendship with Ronnie Brown, his first meeting Bill Parcells after a game in 2003 when Parcells, the Dallas coach, said, "I like the way you play."

 

His playing style was never the issue. His lifestyle was. Ask if he's still tempted by Josh Gordon, and he answers the way most people with a problem do. "There's always temptation in life, and my life is no different," he said.

 

Ask how he's different now than a few years ago and he says, "Humility."

 

Ask what it's like to be 32, he says, "I know I've lived more in 32 years than many people live in their whole life."

 

Thankfully, the story line with Ricky has slowed some. But the story itself is just as interesting. Breathe in. Breathe out. Ricky, at 32, all grown up. It's something to meditate on.

[Randall]

I like him too. Too bad UT or the NFL teams didn't diagnose his mental problem while at school. He wasted a lot of time and hurt his team/s. He may not have done anything but I always thought he was interested in his health.

 

Imagine if he were mentally healthy his whole career.

[The Wolf]

"When I was younger, I got the benefit of the doubt from people because of my talent," he said. "Now, as I'm older, I won't get that. I don't deserve it. I never took a day off in practice, but now I make sure that I don't. I'm working hard. "

 

I love this quote. Thanks, Ricky.

[H8tank]

I like him too. Too bad UT or the NFL teams didn't diagnose his mental problem while at school. He wasted a lot of time and hurt his team/s. He may not have done anything but I always thought he was interested in his health.

 

Imagine if he were mentally healthy his whole career.

 

I don't think I have ever heard you post anything positive.

[spider321]

Ricky - Heart - Weed

Edited June 2, 2009 by spider321

[LosGatosEnFuegos]

The over/under for "number of replies until an insipid Josh Gordon comment is made" was 5. If you had the under, you may collect.

[Pope Flick]

I like him too. Too bad UT or the NFL teams didn't diagnose his mental problem while at school. He wasted a lot of time and hurt his team/s. He may not have done anything but I always thought he was interested in his health.

 

Imagine if he were mentally healthy his whole career.

 

 

As a UT alum, it's clear you have no idea what you're talking about.

 

His personality disorders only began to get in the way after the hype spotlight surrounding Ditka's trading his entire draft occured. After that, yeah he acted a little loopy (giving interviews in his football helmet and underwear) but DJ posted this for a different reason: he played his career on HIS terms by and large and has lasted far longer than anyone expected, especially when he became Rudra. You post as if he's a failure when in fact he has the most esoteric and successful football career that you are likely to see.

 

High School career

 

Williams was selected out of Patrick Henry High School in the 8th round of the 1995 baseball amateur draft by the Philadelphia Phillies, and played four years at the Class 'A' level with the Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League and the Piedmont Boll Weevils of the South Atlantic League. He was then taken in the 1998 Rule 5 draft by the Montreal Expos, who sold his rights to the Texas Rangers.

 

[edit] College career

 

He played college football for the University of Texas at Austin. Williams holds or shares 20 NCAA records, and became the NCAA Division I-A career rushing leader in 1998 with 6,279 yards (broken one year later by University of Wisconsin-Madison's Ron Dayne). Williams had a sensational senior season, highlighted by rushing for nine touchdowns and 385 yards in the season's first two games; rushing for 318 yards and six touchdowns against Rice; rushing for 350 yards and five touchdowns against Iowa State; and rushing for 150 yards against Nebraska's legendary Black Shirt defense. He also helped beat long time rival Oklahoma rushing for 166 rushing yards and two scores.

 

Williams broke the career rushing record during the annual rivalry game held the day after Thanksgiving (this particular year fell on November 27, 1998) between Texas and Texas A&M. Needing only 63 yards to break Tony Dorsett's 22-year old NCAA Division 1-A all-time rushing record (6,082), Ricky Williams approached the line of scrimmage with 1:45 seconds left in the first quarter having already rushed for 54 yards. At first and ten on the Texas forty yard line, quarterback Major Applewhite handed off to Williams who broke two tackles, sprinted into open field and received a down field block from receiver Wane McGarity for a 60-yard touchdown run and the record. Williams' record-breaking run gave Texas a 10-0 lead in its eventual 26-24 upset of sixth-ranked Texas A&M. He finished the game racking up 295 yards. He also broke the NCAA Division I-A career rushing touchdowns and career scoring records in 1998 with 73 and 452 respectively (topped one year later by Miami University's Travis Prentice), and rushed for 200 or more yards in twelve different games (an NCAA record he shares with Dayne and USC's Marcus Allen). Williams won the 64th Heisman Trophy, becoming the second Texas Longhorn to win this honor, joining Earl Campbell. Williams was sometimes known as the "Texas Tornado."[2]

Edited June 2, 2009 by Pope Flick

[H8tank]

I remember when lulu said Cris Chambers was a TALL receiver.

[FWmaker]

Freakin' Hemp-Head.

 

Single-handedly ruined one whole FF season for me.