Ricky Williams analogy...

This is coming from a very distraught Dolphins fan. We have two quarterbacks who, at best, are competent backups... we have no offensive line to speak of... we just lost our star offensive player... we can basically kiss the playoffs goodbye. Zach Thomas can only do so much.

I read most of the other Williams thread... the first 4 pages, anyway... and I must say that many people seem to be saying, "I'm totally with Ricky, he still has his health, he's rich yada yada yada..."

Well I've got an analogy for you to put things in perspective.

Thrasher fans - what if out of the clear blue... Kovalchuk retires?
Bruin fans - what if out of the clear blue... Thornton retires?
Flames fans - what if out of the clear blue... Iginla retires?
Canuck fans - what if out of the clear blue... Naslund retires?
Lightning fans - what if out of the clear blue... Lecavalier retires?
Blue Jackets fans - what if out of the clear blue... Nash retires?
Wild fans - what if out of the clear blue... Gaborik retires?
Red Wings fans - what if out of the clear blue... Datsyuk retires?
Devils fans - what if out of the clear blue... Gomez retires?
Avalanche fans - what if out of the clear blue... Tanguay retires?
Blackhawk fans - what if out of the clear blue ... Ruutu retires?
Sharks fans - what if out of the cleat blue... Marleau retires?

Noticed how all the examples I used are of young players whose teams rely heavily on for his offensive production now (hence no Ovechkins), and in the future (hence no Yzermans). And before Bruins fans let me have it... I know.

Now your very young, very talented, and very promising player is retired.

How would you all feel then, huh? Pretty crappy, right? I dont think many of you would be saying, "Oh, yes. He's young, he's rich. Good for him, I hope he travels the world!" No, it would feel like a rug was pulled out under you.

No, you would feel upset and ripped off that a young and talented player with great years ahead of him just quit on you for no apparent reason. You got no assets in return, you got no compensation for his leave, you got squat. A young player leaves your team that you were relying on for his present and future production. You couldn't even trade him away for a draft pick. How would you feel?

I think you would feel the way I feel.

*wishes the rangers had a player to be devastated about if he retired*

Well, that's great, but why only compare it to great young players retiring? What if Ricky were a crappy or average young player? You wouldn't give a damn, and you probably would wish them the best.

IOW, you don't care one lick for Ricky the person, you only care about his talent. Which is why he owes you nothing. It may be selfish of him to pursue his own happiness, but compared to the people who seem to think his talent entitles them to his services as a football player, he's far from the most selfish party in this scenario. Can't blame Ricky if he didn't want to end up like Earl Campbell, who can barely walk now after just 7-8 years in the league as a RB.

If it makes you feel any better, however, the Dolphins are probably better off. Getting left at the altar sucks, but would you rather have someone enter into a marriage where they don't love you?

And more importantly for the Dolphins, he was about to burn out anyway. You know how many backs have had 370+ carries in a single season? You know how many burned out within 1-2 years of doing so? Here's a list:

Jamal Anderson - blew out ACL next season
James Wilder - frequent injuries starting 2 years later
Eric Dickerson (4 times) - an absolute GOD
Eddie George - went from 3.7 to 3.0 yards per carry, has stayed that way
Gerald Riggs - dropped under 4 yards per carry, never recovered
Terrell Davis - blew out ACL next season
Barry Foster - played 20 games total the rest of his career
Edgerrin James - blew out ACL next season
Walter Payton - another GOD
Marcus Allen - dropped by 1 yard per carry, never sniffed All-pro level again
George Rogers - injured the next year
Emmitt Smith (2 times) - 1st time still great afterward, 2nd time dropped to 3.7 ypc
Jerome Bettis - dropped under 4 ypc, only one good season in the 7 years since
John Riggins - injuries 2 years later, retired
Earl Campbell - from 5.2 to 3.8 ypc, retired soon after
Ladamian Tomlinson - RED ALERT! RED ALERT!
Christian Okoye - never a feature back again

Basically, you have Dickerson & Payton who kept going, and then you have a whole lot of backs (some of whom are HOF caliber) who spent the rest of their careers dealing with major injuries (or who simply started to suck) after just one year of a heavy workload (except for Emmitt, who dodged the bullet once).

In 2003, both Ricky Williams and Jamal Lewis had over 380 carries. Ricky already had his ypc drop last year after heavy use in 2002, and there's a pretty good chance he'd have fizzled out or gotten seriously injured this year or next. So his retirement may be a blessing in disguise for Miami, as well as for Ricky's health.

And if you've got Lewis or Tomlinson on your fantasy league team, better think hard about it.

Out of that list, some Canucks fans may have an idea of what you feel. Naslund, according to all the media here, and to some "differing" quotes, is planning to retire... well any time now. Thats probably one of the single most important offensive players in the NHL right now, simply packing up, in his prime, to go raise his stupid kids away from the splendour of Vancouver!

Then theres Forsberg, who just quits playing whenever he feels like, and he's the most dominant player on the ice today. But then, who would blame him, with all those Avmonkeys...

Lidstrom was planning to do this too, when negotiating his contract*


*although this may have been nothing more than a bargaining tactic.

*wishes the rangers had a player to be devastated about if he retired*

Jed Ortmeyer? :dunno:

Well, that's great, but why only compare it to great young players retiring? What if Ricky were a crappy or average young player? You wouldn't give a damn, and you probably would wish them the best.

IOW, you don't care one lick for Ricky the person, you only care about his talent. Which is why he owes you nothing. It may be selfish of him to pursue his own happiness, but compared to the people who seem to think his talent entitles them to his services as a football player, he's far from the most selfish party in this scenario. Can't blame Ricky if he didn't want to end up like Earl Campbell, who can barely walk now after just 7-8 years in the league as a RB.

If it makes you feel any better, however, the Dolphins are probably better off. Getting left at the altar sucks, but would you rather have someone enter into a marriage where they don't love you?

And more importantly for the Dolphins, he was about to burn out anyway. You know how many backs have had 370+ carries in a single season? You know how many burned out within 1-2 years of doing so? Here's a list:

Jamal Anderson - blew out ACL next season
James Wilder - frequent injuries starting 2 years later
Eric Dickerson (4 times) - an absolute GOD
Eddie George - went from 3.7 to 3.0 yards per carry, has stayed that way
Gerald Riggs - dropped under 4 yards per carry, never recovered
Terrell Davis - blew out ACL next season
Barry Foster - played 20 games total the rest of his career
Edgerrin James - blew out ACL next season
Walter Payton - another GOD
Marcus Allen - dropped by 1 yard per carry, never sniffed All-pro level again
George Rogers - injured the next year
Emmitt Smith (2 times) - 1st time still great afterward, 2nd time dropped to 3.7 ypc
Jerome Bettis - dropped under 4 ypc, only one good season in the 7 years since
John Riggins - injuries 2 years later, retired
Earl Campbell - from 5.2 to 3.8 ypc, retired soon after
Ladamian Tomlinson - RED ALERT! RED ALERT!
Christian Okoye - never a feature back again

Basically, you have Dickerson & Payton who kept going, and then you have a whole lot of backs (some of whom are HOF caliber) who spent the rest of their careers dealing with major injuries (or who simply started to suck) after just one year of a heavy workload (except for Emmitt, who dodged the bullet once).

In 2003, both Ricky Williams and Jamal Lewis had over 380 carries. Ricky already had his ypc drop last year after heavy use in 2002, and there's a pretty good chance he'd have fizzled out or gotten seriously injured this year or next. So his retirement may be a blessing in disguise for Miami, as well as for Ricky's health.

And if you've got Lewis or Tomlinson on your fantasy league team, better think hard about it.

High carries like that take their toll over time, not in one season. A player can blow out their knee as a bit player. Carrying the ball more is more chances for that to happen, but I don't think people need to be paranoid about Tomlinson or Lewis disappearing this year.

What irks me about Ricky is how he dropped this on his team in the 11th hour. He never gave them a chance to seek alteratives. It was after the draft, after FA was all but over. It would be like you asking me to drive you to the airport and me cancelling 10 minutes before I pick you up. If he was going to quit football to smoke up, he should have told the team at the end of next year. Not a couple days before training camp.

It reminds me of the Bo Jackson situation with the Bucs, except the Bucs chose to get screwed.

Nobody has any right in saying Dolphin fans shouldn't be dissapointed, but they shouldn't be mad at Rickey either, imho.

Yes he let his team and his fans down, and I'm sure that that weighed heavily on his mind when making the decision. But I'm sick of fans thinking of these athletes as robots that have one purpose in life: To entertain them and to put thier life on the line to do so. Athletes are people too, and just like us, they get stressed out and burn out. If Rickey's mind wasn't into playing football 100%, there is nothing that would change that and he would not be an effective player either.

If you're a Fish fan, think of this as an injury. The Dolphins should have made sure they had a capable backup in case of RW getting injured, which would have been a very likely scenario anyways.

Also, wasn't RW going to be suspended 4 games anyways? Didn't they think of that before?

Canuck fans - what if out of the clear blue... Naslund retires?
This could actually happen. Or if he goes to europe it has the same effect.

High carries like that take their toll over time, not in one season. A player can blow out their knee as a bit player. Carrying the ball more is more chances for that to happen, but I don't think people need to be paranoid about Tomlinson or Lewis disappearing this year.

True, it is an accumulated thing, but some of the guys on the list weren't THAT old when they wore out. It's not the one year that does it, no, but Lewis and Williams haven't just had one year of being overworked, and Tomlinson isn't likely to get a break anytime soon either.

Plus, if you're a bruising back like Ricky, you can lose it really fast.


What irks me about Ricky is how he dropped this on his team in the 11th hour. He never gave them a chance to seek alteratives. It was after the draft, after FA was all but over. It would be like you asking me to drive you to the airport and me cancelling 10 minutes before I pick you up. If he was going to quit football to smoke up, he should have told the team at the end of next year. Not a couple days before training camp.

But what if he didn't decide for sure until last week? He had already told people like Robert Smith that he would play one more year at most, but between then and now he's free to change his mind.

The final decision apparently didn't come until after he talked to his college coach.

From the Miami Herald:

Williams, who was in Los Angeles Monday and was said to be heading to Martha's Vineyard, Mass., would tell people he was thinking about retiring, and they would try to dissuade him or call him an idiot or just start yelling at him. His agents, his handlers, his coaches and too many people with vested interests who Williams thought were his friends kept trying to pull Williams back, but all they did in the end was push him away - all the way to another country, all the way out of football.

"They made me quit that much faster," Williams said.

...

He informed his former University of Texas coach, Mack Brown, that he was thinking about retiring right away, and Brown's reaction was immediate and freeing.

"Good for you," Brown said without hesitation. "Congratulations."


It sounds to me like he'd been trying to talk about it with people for a while, they just weren't hearing him. And the one guy who did care about him as a person was happy for him.

Yeah, the timing sucks, but sometimes a life-changing epiphany doesn't necessarily fit into an NFL schedule.

True, it is an accumulated thing, but some of the guys on the list weren't THAT old when they wore out. It's not the one year that does it, no, but Lewis and Williams haven't just had one year of being overworked, and Tomlinson isn't likely to get a break anytime soon either.

Plus, if you're a bruising back like Ricky, you can lose it really fast.

I agree that when a RB goes, he goes fast. However, I don't think a guy like Tomlinson who has only a few seasons under his belt is at that high of a risk. Lte 20's is when you see the decline.

A lot of those players you mentioned didn't wear out, they got hurt and returned. Example, Edge was a stud the last 10 games of the year.

Give Lewis and Tomlinson 3+ more years of this kind of pounding and they will wear out. Right now, those guys are in their primes and should be 2 of the top-5 backs taken off the board. If not players.

But what if he didn't decide for sure until last week? He had already told people like Robert Smith that he would play one more year at most, but between then and now he's free to change his mind.

The final decision apparently didn't come until after he talked to his college coach.

It sounds to me like he'd been trying to talk about it with people for a while, they just weren't hearing him. And the one guy who did care about him as a person was happy for him.

While Ricky didn't do anything wrong per-se, he did screw over his team. He could have filed these papers last January. He waited until camp was literally hours away, then phoned in his intentions while stopping over between flights.

Yeah, the timing sucks, but sometimes a life-changing epiphany doesn't necessarily fit into an NFL schedule.

I have a tough time swallowing the "life changing epiphany" angle.

Jim Brown got sick of it and wanted to be an actor. That I can accept, don't understand, but can accept.

Robert Smith retired while he still had his health (his last year was the 1st and only in which he played 16 games), didn't want to go through a rebuilding process and wanted to focus on intellectual pursuits. I can understand that.

Barry Sanders quit because he was sick of the Lions, knew the team was going nowhere and didn't want to wear any other jersey. He told the team either give him a shot at winning or he is done. They gave him their answer, he gave them his. I understand, even respect that. Sanders could have opted to play for another team, but didn't want to be anything but a Lion.

Nepolean Kaufman retired in his prime to become a minister. That is a definitive epipheny and I can respect that.

Why is Williams retiring? Personally, I think it is because his recreational activities are interferring with his career. He has already tested positive for dope twice and bragged to the press about using masking agents to beat the system. His off-season pals are the Marley brothers and Lenny Kravitz. Now, that is just my opinion, but I think his life changing epipheny is the kind you can roll and tuck behind your ear.

That would fit with the timing. He already faces suspension for his 2nd positive. Once training camp begins, he is subject to random drug tests as a result. He gets a 3rd positive, he is out for the year and has to file for reinstatement. Is that worth the hassel?

While Ricky didn't do anything wrong per-se, he did screw over his team. He could have filed these papers last January. He waited until camp was literally hours away, then phoned in his intentions while stopping over between flights.

It's possible he genuinely thought he could play out one more season as he originally planned, but as camp approached and it was time to get ramped up he found he just didn't have the same fire as in the past. Should he then have faked it, collected another couple mil while going through the motions, etc?

Obviously it's not ideal, but the only thing he really owes anyone as a player is an honest effort. If he can't give that, he should get out.

Why is Williams retiring? Personally, I think it is because his recreational activities are interferring with his career. He has already tested positive for dope twice and bragged to the press about using masking agents to beat the system. His off-season pals are the Marley brothers and Lenny Kravitz. Now, that is just my opinion, but I think his life changing epipheny is the kind you can roll and tuck behind your ear.

I don't think an epiphany has to be about knowing what you want to do. It can also be about knowing what you don't want to do.

Ladamian Tomlinson - RED ALERT! RED ALERT!


You're still bitter he smoked the Raiders a couple years ago in OT. :p:
Excellent post though. I would not worry about Tomlinson just yet. I mean the guy was also getting a billion carries at TCU (granted, against inferior competition), and still turned into one of the best young backs in the NFL. The thing is Tomlinson has proven to be a lot more durable in his first few seasons than either Ricky Williams or Jamal Lewis. Some guys just have incredible tolerances for pain and are somehow better predisposed to taking rough hits week in and week out. Tomlinson has yet to miss a game in his NFL career despite being the only option on a terrible Chargers team. Some guys just have IT. As much as people will call me a homer for saying LT will be better than Portis, Holmes, et al. over their entire careers, I think I will win out in the end.

(Now watch him blow out his ACL in preseason)

GP

Out of the guys on the list, Tomlinson's most comparable age wise to Emmitt Smith's first 370+ carry season. So yeah, he's probably young enough to hold up for a while.

That being said, SD should definitely look to lighten his load if they want to keep him around a long time. 5 fewer carries a game could mean a difference of a half decade's worth of great years.

Ricky didn't "retire." He's a quitter. Period.