Ricky Williams’ debt is owed to the Dolphins, not to an unfair, criticizing media

Ricky Williams’ crime is thinking that there are things in this world more important than… Ricky Williams’ crime is thinking that there are things in this world more important than football. You know what? Good for him.

Granted, I’m not a Dolphins fan, nor will I ever care about Dolphins fans, but I have a hard time understanding the flak Ricky’s been taking in the media lately. Sure, this has something to do with the fact that Sean Salisbury and Trey Wingo have absolutely nothing better to talk about at the moment than where Ricky’s “heart” has gone, but the degree to which this guy has been chastised for not giving his heart and soul to the NFL is absurd.

Look, for the last two weeks we’ve been checking on Terrell Owens every time he sneezes in training camp. Terrell had a sandwich today and he didn’t like the cheese on it. Terrell played Madden 06 and didn’t like the graphics. Donovan looked at Terrell disapprovingly today and it made him have bad feelings inside. You know what? Screw Terrell Owens. I don’t care if he breaks both legs and comes back to catch 18 balls for 200 yards in the next Super Bowl (which he won’t), Terrell Owens only cares about one thing: himself.

But nobody seems to have a problem with that. Maybe it’s because Eagles fans are so desperate for a Super Bowl that they’ll worship at the altar of whatever golden calf might usher them from their pathetic championship-less exodus. I don’t know. But Terrell Owens shows up for camp “not happy” and everyone soils themselves over this, hoping and praying that Terrell will be happy enough to pull up his Pampers come September and maybe play ball for the team he signed a 7-year contract with.

Meanwhile, nobody on this earth is interested in cutting Ricky Williams a break. So what if he lost his way? So what if he failed a few drug tests? So Ricky smoked some weed. He can join the relevant clubs. One of them is the rather-large club of people on this earth who have smoked or do smoke weed. Another is an also-populous crowd of football players who — surprise, surprise — take drugs of one sort or another. Whether it be some nose candy Jamal Lewis thinks he can sell to his buddies, or it’s whatever cow hormones Bill Romanowski may or may not take until he’s got enough “heart” to break a teammate’s face open, I wouldn’t bet the house on Ricky being the only guy in the NFL who’s had issues with substance abuse.

So why the deluge of criticism? Well, he had five carries for eight yards in the Dolphins’ preseason game against, of all teams, the odious Chicago Bears. Stop the presses. A veteran running back might not have given his all in a preseason quarter? Somebody call Skip Bayless so he can tell us what went wrong.

Let it be said that I have no doubt in my mind that Williams is back in the NFL to pay back his sizeable debt to the Dolphins organization and probably not because he’s just so in love with football. He owes the team something in the neighborhood of $8 million, and at this rate, he’ll have made that back for them in just 16 more seasons at tailback. He’s allowed himself to come back into a system where nobody wants him, where everyone’s waiting for his first and most conclusive sign of failure, and I don’t doubt he knows it. He’ll shape up and gain 25 pounds for a second-string position on a team where being second string is less illustrious than starting for the Bad News Bears.

He’ll take a beating in the media, make nearly no money, see next to no playing time, and then allow himself to be trade bait whenever it works conveniently for Miami. Despite Sean Salisbury’s musings as to whether, or when, Ricky’s flight back “from Mars” to Earth might arrive (and what the hell does that mean, anyway, Salisbury?), I think Ricky knows the score.

He left his team out to dry last season, yes, and he no doubt is aware of that. But let’s be honest, where were the ’04-05 Dolphins going to go, even with Ricky? Suggesting they might have had a chance to go to the playoffs would be like saying the Raiders would’ve had a shot last year if their (insert skill position here) players had panned out. But it doesn’t matter.

So now Ricky’s back, and he’s trying to pay his debt to “society” (if you take “society” to mean “The Miami Dolphins”). Just because the guy doesn’t say generic crap in press conferences that the pea-brained, so-called “analysts” on ESPN are used to being able to break down with their eighth-grade educations doesn’t mean he’s waiting for a connecting flight from Mars to South Beach. It just means Ricky’s a bit different from other players in the league. Yeah, his heart and soul may not belong to the NFL, and maybe that makes him a garbage locker-room presence, but the man is honest and up front about what he thinks, and that’s not something we chide T.O. for, no matter how stupid the next thing out of his mouth is.

Ricky’s real crime, as far as the media is concerned, is not speaking the language of the NFL. He speaks philosophically, spiritually and not in football cliches, even if that means that those like Sean Salisbury don’t have a damn clue what he’s talking about. Maybe Williams is something more than a whackjob who retired from the league to study Ayurvedic medicine. Maybe Williams deserves another shot, and maybe he’ll pay dividends to someone willing to give him that shot. Nick Saban isn’t stupid. He knows that could be the case. After all, Williams did get six touches for 39 yards Saturday against a respectable Jacksonville Jaguars rushing defense. Meanwhile, T.O. hasn’t played a single preseason game yet (and it’s looking like he may not play one at all), and he had to go on television twice in one day with his daddy — excuse me, agent — Drew Rosenhaus to call his coach disrespectful and his quarterback hypocritical before we stopped fretting over whether he likes a pina colada Slurpee or a Coke Slurpee at midday, and how getting those Slurpees might affect his willingness to play in the upcoming season for eighteen billion dollars. And Ricky Williams is the one from outer space? Please.

an Richey is in compliance with the NFL’s substance abuse policy. E-mail him at manager@pittnews.com.