A young man, 27 years old, quits his job, for no other reason than he's tired of it and wants to do something different. None of us would think much of it, right? Some of us might even applaud the young man for following his heart and taking a risk. Well, we might- if that same 27-year-old young man was a star running back for our favorite football team. This is where the hypocrisy kicks in.
Ricky Williams has done what many of us have done, or will do, at some point in our lives. He decided that he was tired of his job and walked away. I've done it myself, and I don't recall my decision generating national headlines and debate. The fact that Williams is a supremely talented professional athlete apparently translates into him having much less of a right to control his own destiny- at least if you're listening to teammates and pundits.
Channel 13's Bob Allen castigated Williams for "betraying his teammates". I've listened to Mike Ditka say essentially the same thing. Reporters and pundits everywhere have an opinion on what Williams should do or needs to do, but everyone seems to be forgetting one salient fact: Williams is a free individual in control of his own destiny. Why SHOULDN'T he be able to quit his job- after all, isn't that what this really is about?
We should not expect anyone to necessarily agree with Williams' decision, but why is it that so many people now feel the need to tell Williams what he can and cannot do? Business- professional sports in particular- is an arena that demands one-sided loyalty. Anyone with anything resembling a grip on reality will admit that if Williams' performance declined, the Miami Dolphins would drop him like a bad habit. Such is the nature of the business. A team is loyal to an athlete exactly as long as that athlete continues to be an asset. When that time is done, the "loyalty" ceases to exist. How, then, can anyone with a half a brain reasonably express shock and dismay when a star athlete turns the tables?
Ricky Williams seems to be doing what he thinks is best for Ricky Williams. Why should any of us have feel we have the right to deny him that? Williams owes nothing to his team, his teammates, or anyone else. When all is said and done, when the cheering ends and the lights go out, who is going to be responsible for Ricky Williams? The fans? Sportswriters? His teammates? Not hardly.
If you're a Dolphins fan, you're no doubt feeling disappointed and perhaps even betrayed. That is your right as a fan. Even in your dismay, though, you need to remember that Ricky Williams was one man working at one job- albeit a very well-paid and highly public one. From all indications, he has simply arrived at a point where he no longer wants to go to work. He's young, wealthy, and intelligent...why shouldn't he be able to make the decisions he feels are right for himself? No, perhaps they are not the decisions that you and I might make, but this is still a free country. If you're going to criticize a man for the choices he's made, how about looking at the White House to examine those choices? THOSE are choices that matter. No one is going to die because Ricky Williams is retiring from professional football.
Speaking only for myself, I applaud Ricky Williams for being willing to do what he thinks is right. He had to know he was going to take some heat, but he seems at peace with himself- and what, really, is so bad about that? We should all be so fortunate.
But I think that there is some validity to the "betrayal" point of view, even though you are correct that Williams has an absolute right to do what he has done (to the detriment of two of my fantasy league teams).
He was a franchise player. His team built its strategy around him, made personnel decisions around him. Now, six days before the start of training camp, the guy quits for no apparant reason beyond "I can." This places every one of his teammates at a disadvantage, and is likely to hurt a number of them financially. Had he played this season after announcing it to be his last, or announced the decision before the draft, I would argue this much differently.
This is ironic for so many reasons.
Ricky Williams is young, smart, black ... and tired of getting hammered into the concrete three or four dozen times a Sunday. So Ricky Williams says he's through doing that for money.
You'd think he'd, like, said something bad about the President or dedicated a touchdown to Michael Moore or suggested fans vote for John Kerry ... you know, some kind of act of "treason."
Ricky Williams figured out, BEFORE he destroyed his body in the service of his team and wore out his soul and spirit for the greater glory of football, that maybe football ain't all that and a packet of chips after all.
Why aren't more people cheering for him?
"This is still a free country- unless, of course, you're a professional athlete"
You're not really this dumb, are you Jack? You could take a dump on your desk at work and it probably wouldn't even make the news of the weird. This guy's a celebrity. A Heisman Trophy winner. He shows up at a Toyota-thon it's going to make the news. That doesn't mean that he is in any way prohibited from doing whatever the hell he wants to with his career, life, and millions and millions of dollars. Nor does it mean he's exempt from someone questioning his decision. Or, a zillion rabid sports fans. But thems the breaks when you get paid millions to play football.
Perhaps you could do a bit better job how his freedoms are being inhibited.