Moss vs. Williams

Matt Cardenas

Randy Moss and Ricky Williams both make headlines, but should either one be praised?

It's almost pro football pre-season, a time for the players to practice for a championship and for media to predict who's going to win the championship. With recent transactions in the NFL, many experts are looking at the New England Patriots who added the prolific Randy Moss to their receiving corps. The move almost guarantees that he will become the teams go to guy, and Tom Brady's favorite target.

While Moss is working at training camp, Ricky Williams is struggling to get back into an NFL locker room. After his guest star appearance in the Canadian Football League, Williams wants back in America's league, but for some reason he can't put down his joint long enough to pass an NFL drug test.

The two athletes are certainly on different paths.

If Moss keeps catching touchdowns, he may very well make his mark on the NFL with new records and a possible Super Bowl in the near future.

If Williams keeps this up, his legacy will be one of a crazy pot-head. One that wasted so much talent. Period.
Right now everyone who's on the Ricky-hate wagon seems to forget his greatness. A Heisman trophy and breaking the NCAA rushing record are the last things people would associate with the University of Texas' beloved Ricky. Not to mention how valuable the NFL believed he was. Mike Ditka traded all his draft picks just for Ricky. Then after a few productive seasons with the Saints, the Dolphins put down some more draft picks and a few million dollars to get him in a trade. While in Miami, the NFL rushing title was won, as well as a Pro-Bowl appearance that was worthy of the games MVP.

If you look at his stats and records you would think college running backs would be eligible to receive a Ricky Williams award. We do have the Randy Moss Award, given to the best return man in college football. That's right, Moss has his own award now. He gets it because of his great kick returning abilities in college. A college career that started off with Notre Dame revoking his scholarship only to be followed by Florida State kicking him out. Two prestigious schools flushed him down the toilet for the mid-major powerhouse, Marshall.

Moss' reason for suspension from FSU brings us to the common ground of the two players.

Marijuana.

That's right, both players at one point have puffed the magic dragon. Moss even has been put on the record for admitting to smoking while in the league.

While Moss is advertising it, Williams is scared of it. After his unexpected retirement, Williams said he did it to prevent his failed drug test from becoming public. He didn't want to let his fans down, by showing that their role model was human after all. Arguably, his reason could be because of his health issues. In fact, it's been stated that Williams' use for marijuana was only to help him with his Social-Anxiety disorder.

If you take out the drugs, Williams is just as amazing a running back as Moss is a receiver. But for some crazy reason, the drugs have kept Williams from being the legend he should be, and Randy Moss will continue to make headlines for crazy things like hitting cops with his car or mooning the fans.

Instead Ricky Williams may very well become the man in the world with the most monetary debt, as he struggles to find a way to pay back the Dolphins the $8.6 million he owes them for breach of contract.

Maybe that's the award he should be named after. For every hard working man in debt, you get a Ricky Williams award.

Moss won't ever win that. New England restructured his contract for a sum rumored to be worth $20 million.

He should certainly consider buying his joints off Ricky, to help a fellow pot-head out.

Matt Cardenas writes for bigdaveonsports.com, sports news that irreverent, but never irrelevant

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