FReepmail scott says to get on or off this ping list...
This is a fairly high volume ping list....
Posted on 10/15/2005 5:26:24 PM PDT by nuconvert
RICKY WILLIAMS Next stop: the end zone
Ricky Williams returns to the Dolphins' backfield on Sunday -- after a strange journey that has taken him all over the world.
BY JASON COLE
Oct. 15, 2005
Ricky Williams was literally lost in translation for at least one night during his 15 months away from football.
In July 2004, shortly after he retired from the Dolphins, Williams flew from the United States to Tokyo to attend a Lenny Kravitz concert. It was just a day trip to take in the show, but the trip quickly went awry.
First, Williams went to the wrong stadium. Second, he couldn't find his hotel, the Park Hyatt Tokyo, which, coincidentally, was the site for the 2003 movie Lost in Translation. Third, he couldn't figure out the ATM machines to get more cash that night to continue his journey.
With no alternatives until the morning, Williams simply meandered around the city that night, whiling away the hours until his next flight.
From the end of the 2003 season to now -- Williams returns to his first NFL regular-season game Sunday at Tampa Bay -- Williams spent time wandering the globe. There were concerts in Japan and Europe. There was learning yoga and holistic medicine in Northern California and India, where he spent a month in an ashram.
There was even the idea of becoming a farmer in Australia, where Williams lived for weeks in a tent with a guy named Mystic Steve. There were stops for tea in Thailand, arguments with the NFL in New York and dancing in Las Vegas.
MARIJUANA
Oh, and there was plenty of marijuana smoking along the way. That habit has stopped, for now. If it resumes, Williams, who will be tested for drugs for the rest of his career, faces further suspension from the NFL after being suspended for the first four games of this season for failing drug tests.
It's all part of a story that is beyond wild. Heck, even small portions of it are hard to believe.
''I had friends congratulate me on the fiction I wrote on Ricky Williams from Australia,'' said Esquire writer Chris Jones, who spent eight days with Williams in Byron Bay, Australia, last year. Jones, who is ''shocked'' that Williams returned to the game, has written another article on Williams in this month's edition.
'I'd say to them, `Didn't you see the pictures of him there?' There were pictures with the article. That's why I write nonfiction. You can't make this stuff up,'' Jones said.
Jones was there when Williams went to a lawyer in Australia to investigate becoming a citizen and buying a 165-acre farm that overlooked the ocean. Jones was there when Williams was negotiating a $1 million purchase of the farm with a Realtor. Williams was all set to pay cash.
Williams had elaborate plans for the property, including what he would grow and who he would have run it (Mystic Steve, a hempgrowing buddy Williams met in Australia, was set to be Williams' ranch hand).
At another time in his excursion, Williams had serious plans to be a holistic healer, traveling the world in a Bohemian life, dispensing the techniques he learned in exchange for food and shelter.
Williams' stream-ofconscious life was reined in by some hard realities. He has three children by three different women and he has a contract with the Dolphins that forces him to pay the team $8.6 million if he remains out of the game.
The contract runs through 2007, and the Dolphins hold a court judgment against him for the money.
In short, the money is talking a lot more than the flights of fancy.
''It took a long time for us to get him back to the place where he saw the whole picture of what he was going to have to do,'' said agent Leigh Steinberg, who has battled not only with Williams, but with the Dolphins and the NFL to get Williams to return to the league.
Williams declined interview requests this week. He wasn't allowed to conduct interviews while at the Dolphins' facility during his four-game suspension for violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy.
COOPERATIVE
But Williams has been cooperative in about every other way, particularly with first-year Dolphins coach Nick Saban. Saban earned Williams' trust through a series of phone calls during which Saban made it clear he would help Williams as long as Williams was willing to commit himself to the team.
''We try to be supportive,'' Saban said.
'I have said this [to Williams]: `What did you learn in your year off? What do you want to do about it? And how can we help you do it?' If we are going to do this, let's do it in that way and that is how we have tried to do it and I ask the players to do the same thing . . . Everybody respects what everybody is trying to do.''
Williams has done everything asked of him.
Saban praised Williams numerous times in training camp for being one of the five hardest-working players on the team.
Williams, who was down to about 195 pounds when he was away from the game and began a vegetarian diet he maintains to this day, is back up to 225 pounds.
That's about 10 pounds less than when he was one of the NFL's premier running backs.
He looks lean and played well in training camp.
Still, Williams has a different perspective.
Recently, several reporters who cover the Dolphins were talking to some players about the problem of finding hotel rooms in Baton Rouge for the team's game against New Orleans on Oct. 30.
Ricky Williams had a suggestion.
''Why don't you use a tent,'' he said.
Replied a reporter: ``Can I borrow yours?''
La-hoo-su-her
football pong
don't you mean football bong?
Anybody else see the ND-USC game today? Best game I've seen in years, even though I think Notre Dame got screwed at the end.
Lol
I only caught the end.
I think the officials rightly corrected the call.
Trust me, I have no love for Notre Dame, but there was just something hinky about the way the refs gave USC a free play at the end. It's just kind of dissapointing that one of the best football games in years, college or NFL, should come down to the refs at the end.
Except that the ball went out of bounds at the three, possibly four yard line on the fumble. The ball should have been placed there with maybe three ticks remaining. They would have had to kick the FG there. I heard that USC's head coach made the call NOT to utilize instant replay for this game. Looks like he chose wisely! I enjoyed the game immensely but was pulling for the underdog just a bit. And I've never been a huge ND fan.
I'm not a fan of either team.
You're right, the spot seemed too generous to me too, and 7 seconds seemed like a long time. But USC did deserve the ball with a few seconds left on the clock.
I watched the game, and the replay, it was the correct spot... here is our little discussion-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1502974/posts
How? I ask curiously?
Leinart fumbled out of bounds, the clock stops. And with 7 seconds left, to sneak it in instead of spiking the ball. WOW
The real travesty was ND giving up the big play on 4th and 9 while USC was still in their own territory. Leinart's pass was dead on the money. If the ball was just a bit underthrown on that play or if the corner played perfect defense ND wins. Again WOW.
Really? That's surprising. I have to admit, I stomped off after Leinart crashed into the end zone. I'm sure I'll catch the replays.
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