Ricky Williams is no Brett Favre

by David Snyder

As soon as Chris Mortensen broke the news that Ricky Williams had failed another drug test, phone lines at South Florida sports radio stations began to light up.

Caller after caller on 790 the Ticket, South Florida's highest rated sports station, poured out their anger towards Ricky. They talked about how he has disappointed his team as well as his fans. Each caller, who probably only a few days before had wanted Williams back with the Fins, now said they were done with one of the best backs to ever wear aqua and orange.

And so the theme was apparent. Ricky owes so much to his fans, but they owe him nothing.

They do not owe him common human sympathy. They do not owe him the benefit of the doubt.

This is the mentality we have created by putting our athletes on the pedestal built for them in our culture. Ricky Williams is just a man. He suffers from social-anxiety disorder. This disorder affects approximately 5.3 million Americans. Some of these people make up daily and weekly AA meetings, as they try to dull their suffering through self-medication. This is not simply someone being scared of social situations; these individuals can become so distressed in certain situations that they are completely debilitated.

Individuals like Williams fear that everyone's attention is focused on them. They fear that they will make mistakes and everyone will notice. They have the feeling that everyone else is more capable in the same situation. They think that they are being judged by others and will embarrass or humiliate themselves in front of others.

Ricky Williams had to deal with all of this with the entire sports world focusing on him throughout his career.

Those that think this is an excuse should look back to footage of Ricky being interviewed as a rookie. He refused to take his helmet off, preferring to hide his fears behind the comforts of his facemask. He was diagnosed at 24 with social-anxiety order and depression and apologized to fans and media by saying:

"I'm sure I've offended a lot of people because I'm so shy."

The offense may have been taken not only from Williams wearing a helmet during interviews his rookie year, but also curling up in a fetal position inside his locker and keeping his distance from teammates.

However, it is easy to come down hard on Williams because he has let the fans down again. A group of people that ignored warning signs in his behavior and instead heightened the issue through personal attacks.

Let's not fool ourselves, the fans disapproval of Williams has nothing to do with his drug use. Golden boy Brett Favre abused drugs early in his career and even entered rehab for his pill addiction. Nevertheless, he has never missed games for it due to suspension, mainly because you can legally obtain Vicodin. Favre's mastery of public perception also helps him.

"I went to [a drug rehabilitation clinic in] Topeka," said Favre after entering rehab in 1996, "because the pills had gotten the best of me…. It was hard-I was someone used to doing what I wanted to do. Now I feel I have a way to handle stress without pills. The biggest thing I've learned is to turn to the people around me-friends, coaches, [longtime girlfriend] Deanna [Tynes]. Before, I was keeping a lot of things inside me."

Compare with those the sad words Williams shared with his fans before his retirement at age 27.

"I just don't want to be in this business anymore," Williams told the paper. "I was never strong enough to not play football, but I'm strong enough now. I've considered everything about this. Everyone has thrown every possible scenario at me about why I shouldn't do this, but they're in denial. I'm happy with my decision."

"I'm finally free. I can't remember ever being this happy."

Haven't we all suffered from a situation so much that simply freeing ourselves from it brings us elation? Now imagine that situation is your entire life, because when you are a pro athlete your career is who you are. If Williams had explained to us his marijuana abuse in terms like those that Brett Favre used, telling us he would turn towards help instead of turning away from the game, would we have forgiven him.

No.

Because he has still let the fans down, and Favre never has. The quarterback used his self-medication to make our Sundays better. Is there a better way to payback your fans for all they have done then destroy your liver and ability to properly process pain?

What would Favre himself say about Williams?

Last year he came out in defense of wide receiver and teammate Koren Robinson by saying:

"I don't like the way the league has, in my mind, turned their back on him," Favre said. "I'm not against banning him for the year. I'd love for him to play, but to boot him out, clean his locker out and say you can't have any contact with this team?"

"I'm no expert, but I would think you would want for people to reach out to him and be within an organization that can help him as opposed to saying, 'You're banned from the building. To make matters worse, we don't even want you over here, so go think about it and deal with it on your own,"' Favre said.

So when your listening to sports talk radio this weekend and the subject of Williams comes up, don't think about the games he hasn't played in, instead try to remember that he is just a man. A man that happens to have a gift that entertains us all, but that does not mean he owes us anything. In actuality, we owe him so much more than we could ever give.

Let's try to start with compassion

Sports writer David Snyder takes on issues floating around the world of sports at his website, bigdaveonsports.com. He accepts criticisms and questions at dave@bigdaveonsports.com.

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