William's Retirement Beyond Fan Reproach

Ricky Williams is retired and the Dolphins are peeved. So are fans. So are columnists. So are fantasy football players. Everyone, it seems, except Ricky.

The Dolphins are understandably upset that his rapid departure has left them with a gaping hole at running back with very few ways to fill it. The Fin faithful gripe, and rightly so, that without Ricky carrying the ball 30 times a game, the odds the Fish will make the playoffs is right on par with the proverbial snowball in the devil’s domain. Fantasy football owners grouse that his retire has robbed them of a first round draft pick. You know what I say? Cue the microscopic philharmonic and cry me the Caribbean.

Please, people. No one in the above list has ANY right to complain.

In the NFL, no contract is guaranteed, meaning that owners can cut players whenever they see fit, exponentially reducing the income of the dropped player. Now this isn’t a tremendous problem for in-demand top-flight players like safety Ty Law, cut by the New England Patriots the week before Week One last season, only to be scooped up by the Bills shortly thereafter. But for those unheralded few fighting for those final roster spots, it’s the difference between a comfortable lifestyle and an application to sell insurance.

Now I don’t have a problem with lack of guaranteed money. Frankly I think it’s huge guaranteed contracts that are killing Major League Baseball. But, don’t tell me or anyone else that Ricky Williams owes the Dolphins something because he decided to pursue something that makes him happy (even if it is blazing up the old marijuana pipe and traveling around the world like a college backpacker in Amsterdam). The only reason the notion of reparations to the team has even come up is because he’s Ricky Williams, not Joe Schmo or John Doe or some other forgettable player who might be cut at the management’s leisure. To me, it seems that Miami got burned in the same way that teams have burned all of those last second roster cuts. Now the Fish ought to do what those cut players do. Suck it up and move on as best you can.

And to those sorry misguided fans bashing Ricky for leaving the team: Shut it. The guy walked away from a contract that would have snagged him a cool $6 million, if he met all of his performance incentives, to do something that makes him happy. I mean really, would there be any public outcry if Michael Eisner packed it in from Disney so he could spend more QT at Fang’s East Asian Opium Den? Not that Eisner has ever been to an opium den, more or less Fang’s, but would he really have to deal with hateful cries that he’s a traitor?

If Ricky Williams held any other job — garbage man, professor, reporter, chair of a board of directors, gigolo — there wouldn’t be even a mention of him as a turncoat. They’d probably gather everyone into the conference room, newsroom, or wherever gigolo’s gather, cut him a slice from a cake with his frosted-likeness emblazoned on it and pat him on the back, telling him things like “good luck,” “It’s great you’re following your dreams,” or “I wish I had the guts you do, to walk away from all of that money to travel.”

But that doesn’t happen for athletes. For some reason fans feel entitled to an athlete’s best effort and anything less than that is a horrible disappointment worthy of disgracing that athlete’s name. It was the same when Barry Sanders, arguably the best running back ever, hung it up prematurely. It was like someone hung a scarlet letter from his chest and he was scorned by football fans everywhere.

Part of the motivation for this hatred stems from the money involved in sports. With increasing ticket prices come expectations for increased returns from fans. Money in sports is a huge issue, which will be dealt with in future columns. But right now this Ricky Williams bit has a bur in my saddle so I’ll just explain why fans have no right to be mad at him using a comparison I think most people can understand.

Sports is an entertainment industry, as are the movies. Now let’s take a fairly popular franchise, say the James Bond series to compare to the Dolphins. Bond is great, a constant hit, but it is heavily dependent on its main actor for its popularity. Now when Sean Connery walks away from the franchise, it’s obviously problematic and there might be a string of years when you have to deal with a Roger Moore or Timothy Dalton at tailback, but the show goes on and eventually you find a Pierce Brosnan to right the ship. As fans of the franchise, be it Dolphins or Bond, you cannot control who plays that lead roll. Sorry. The only input you have is how you spend your money. If you don’t like Moore or Dalton, don’t go to the film/game. But you cannot hate Sean Connery for deciding to accept more non-Bond roles. If you found your job dull and wanted to leave, would you like it if your customers berated you?

Ricky Williams has no accountability to fans. He is not a government official elected and paid by the public to do a job. He is paid with a non-guaranteed salary by a private company. If you want to blame someone, blame the Dolphins for trading away so much to get and investing so much in a guy with a not-so-secretive drug habit and questionable motivation.

If you’re a real fan, you’ll cope with the blow of Williams’ departure, wish him well and keep going to games, keep supporting the team. If you’re not, you’ll just keep bemoaning Ricky’s decision and labeling him a traitor. Hopefully there will more of you in the former category.