Predatory_Fins
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« on: February 20, 2006, 09:51:10 am » |
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from finheaven
A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream and the scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on its back. The frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion says, "Because if I do, I will die too."
The frog is satisfied, and they set out, but in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown, but has just enough time to gasp "Why?"
Replies the scorpion: "Its my nature."
Aesop probably didn’t have Ricky Williams in mind when he wrote that fable, but he might as well have. I’m not going to pontificate on the evils of drug use, or show sympathy for an addict or anything like that. I don’t know why Williams has done what he’s done any more than that poor frog knew why the scorpion stung him.
I do know this, however: in one fell swoop, Ricky Williams has probably ended his NFL career, crippled the team that bent over backwards to accommodate him upon his return to the league, betrayed friends and guaranteed that he’ll be filing for bankruptcy.
A friend of mine, some years ago, got arrested for DWI and had his license suspended. When he went to the court-ordered seminars, they had the people there total up the cost of their actions, and express it in terms of the cost of each drink they had that night. So, for example, a man who totals his $30,000 car after drinking 10 beers paid $3000 per drink that night. By comparison, Ricky Williams has apparently taken a $9.1 million bong hit.
Man, that must be some good stuff.
Williams, of course, will now have an $8.6 million judgment hanging over his head, (which the Dolphins have already showed they are serious about collecting), not to mention likely forfeiting half a million in salary this year. Assuming he is, in fact, suspended for a full season (and it’s hard to imagine any other outcome unless this is a really bizarre misunderstanding), it is impossible to envision him playing for the Miami Dolphins again, and probably anywhere else in the NFL.
Williams will be 30 before the 2007 season, will have missed almost two and a half of the previous three seasons and already have shown a complete inability to abide by the league’s substance abuse rules and a complete disregard for his teammates and coaches. Who’s going to take a chance on a guy like that?
You’ll notice that, throughout this column, I’ve referred to this gentleman as “Williamsâ€, rather than the more familiar “Rickyâ€. In fact, I’ve done that ever since he retired. Even when he returned, I viewed Williams as little more than a hired gun, who was doing his job (and doing it well) to satisfy his financial obligations. In a way, that may not separate him from a lot of NFL players. But even so, I like to hear that Jason Taylor is a happy guy.
I like to read that Ronnie Brown is a good human being. I view them as real people. Not Ricky Williams. I don’t care about Williams’ personal life and haven’t in a long time. I don’t know if he needs psychological help, or needs to check into rehab, or is just plain stupid, and I don’t care in the least.
Williams was a mercenary. That was an arrangement it seemed everyone had accepted. By staying clean, Williams would get the opportunity to play football, make some cash and work off the judgment hanging over his head. The team’s interest was intertwined with his; by staying clean, everyone was a winner. If he abused drugs again, everyone was a loser.
Well, here we are. Reports of yet another failed drug test have been verified. The scorpion stings the frog. Life, it seems, imitates art.
The Dolphins, of course, are fortunate in the sense that there’s little doubt that Ronnie Brown is ready to carry the load full time. That’s a good thing. Williams was viewed either as trade bait or a luxury item, depending on whom you ask. Those options are out the window now, of course. They’ll likely have to pick up an established backup running back, hopefully on the cheap, and scrap those wild trade scenarios that involved shipping Williams out for a second round pick or the equivalent. This robs the Dolphins of a valuable item, but it doesn’t create a major need. It doesn’t dramatically alter Nick Saban’s offseason plan.
In short, they’re still a hell of a lot better off than the frog.
And what of the scorpion? What about the guy whose very nature appears to be to self-destruct? $9 million in the hole, one foot in bankruptcy court, almost sure to be blackballed throughout the NFL?
He’s going to sink to the bottom of the river.
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