A Different Perspective...

[BigFinFan]

This just might get me banned, but I feel as though it is time to climb aboard my soapbox!

First of all, I am not here to defend Ricky Williams, nor am I here to defend his actions. The actions that he has taken cannot be explained by anyone except for Ricky Williams himself. However, I am here to try a make a point. This will offend some of you and it might just piss you off, but I have refrained from posting about the Ricky Williams Fiasco for long enough.

I admit that his retirement was unexpected and selfish; it was a huge shock to me. It hurt even more for me since I found out from a close friend who loves the Jets - nothing like rubbing a little salt in the wound. However, in my opinion, 99% of the posters here are hypocrites. Webster’s defines hypocrite as one who affects virtues, qualities, or attitudes he does not have. How can you call yourself a Dol-Fan when you bash Ricky Williams for retiring? Last week EVERYONE was singing his praises, but now he has become Dol-Fan Public Enemy Number 1. Did you criticize Dan Marino for retiring after that horrible playoff loss to Jacksonville? Did you make a mockery of all of his pictures and call him a quitter or backstabber? Did you break all of your Dolphins gear after Jimmy Johnson abruptly retired - with no notice? Why is Ricky Williams being treated any different?

Dan Marino, Jimmy Johnson, and Ricky Williams were employee of the Miami Dolphins and the NFL. The NFL is a business – they all made business decisions. Not all business decisions are made with the best interest of the business in mind.

The fact that keeps eluding everyone is that we banked on Ricky Williams to carry us into the playoffs and to the Superbowl. What if Ricky Williams had suffered a season/career ending injury on the first day of camp? What would we do then? Has the Miami Dolphins Organization planned properly for this? Did Coach Wannstedt and General Manager Rick Speilman ever say – What if something happens to our work horse?

Hold your head up high Dol-Fans! We were the Miami Dolphins before Ricky came to town, and we will continue to be the Miami Dolphins now that he is gone.

 

[enigmatics]

Did you criticize Dan Marino for retiring after that horrible playoff loss to Jacksonville? Did you make a mockery of all of his pictures and call him a quitter or backstabber? Did you break all of your Dolphins gear after Jimmy Johnson abruptly retired - with no notice? Why is Ricky Williams being treated any different?

Sorry, but you're not even standing on a soap box.........just a pedastle of ignorance. Those guys retired in respectable forms...........not the 11th hour before training camp leaving the team frantically trying to piece together a new offensive philosophy and possibly a RB to ease the transition.

Your comparisons are not even close to what has transpired. Please never jump on that box again.

 

[touborg]

Your comparisons are not even close to what has transpired. Please never jump on that box again.

Amen.

 

[DrAstroZoom]

Sorry, BigFinFan, but the comparisons just don't hold up. Neither Marino nor JJ left his team in the lurch by sitting on his retirement announcement for a month -- a precious month when much better adjustments could have been made.

 

[BigFinFan]

I forgot that JJ left respectably after a 62-7 loss!

 

[dolfan87]

Yea, the difference would be exactly what those guys said. They retired with PLENTY of time to find replacements.

We could of had one of sevral R.B's in the draft, or even Antowain Smith/Eddie George.

R.W. screwed his teammates who work so hard during the off-season for a singular goal. He strung them along making them think that all that work might pay off because of the talent level of the players.

Now they have to work even HARDER because he doesn't want too.

87

 

[BigFinFan]

You are missing the main point of my post. Yes RW retired, but the organization has failed to plan for the loss of the work horse.

 

[Dol-Fan Dupree]

i You are missing the main point of my post. Yes RW retired, but the organization has failed to plan for the loss of the work horse.

doesn't mean we can't be mad at both

 

[enigmatics]

I forgot that JJ left respectably after a 62-7 loss!

Bro...............we got killed, but JJ didn't leave during the game or the night before it..........stop being stupid.

 

[enigmatics]

i You are missing the main point of my post. Yes RW retired, but the organization has failed to plan for the loss of the work horse.

doesn't mean we can't be mad at both

There could be some truth to that..........It's obvious they've been sort of playing the "Oh that's just Ricky being Ricky" card during his stint here. To me though, it's obvious they were building to win now and bet on a wildcard Ricky which in the end burned'em. We don't know alot of sh*t about Ricky Williams just occasionally blurbs and random stories about his behavior....... so that's why I'm not going to come up with the angle you're trying to hit on.

 

[BigFinFan]

Bro...............we got killed, but JJ didn't leave during the game or the night before it..........stop being stupid.

You know, that is twice that you ahve attacked me. You seriously need to watch your comments!

You still miss the point of the post.

 

[BigFinFan]

Your comparisons are not even close to what has transpired

I do agree that my comparison was not the best, but you get the point of what I am saying.

 

[enigmatics]

You know, that is twice that you ahve attacked me. You seriously need to watch your comments!

You still miss the point of the post.

Bro, you already admitted you were probably going to get bashed for your irrelevant post - don't act so surprised.

The only points you made were that Ricky's retirement timing is no worse than Marino's and JJ's .........which are completely not related. Both of them retired at the end of the season after that disasterous playoff loss..........not 5 days before the training camp for the following season. We had time to go out and get new a new coach and new QB (whether or not they were the right ones you can read thousands of posts on here about).

You also made a point that we never planned for the departure of Ricky. That's the only thing with substance. We gambled on a wildcard because we were trying to win NOW. But you keep trying to argue the point that Ricky's retirement is related to the other two aforementioned legends and it's just plan ridiculous.

I do agree that my comparison was not the best, but you get the point of what I am saying.

No I don't get it. Those two guys did nothing wrong when they retired. Sure the team got destroyed, but they did absolutely nothing wrong from the standpoint of being a quality teammate and quality coach. If anything my main man, JJ didn't even want to be there that last season. He did it for Wayne and the team............Wayne convinced him to stay on one more year and JJ agreed as long as Wanny would become the coach the next season.

 

[touborg]

You are missing the main point of my post. Yes RW retired, but the organization has failed to plan for the loss of the work horse

Oh jesus.

Don't you think they would if they thought he'd retire?
Just about the whole world with the single exception of RW himself is shellshocked over this.

 

[PhinBeck]

Are you clueless? what did that response have to do w/ the rebuttal? Address questions that are asked and maybe you will be taken seriously. How does Jimmy leaving or Dan leaving at the end of a season providing the dolphins ample time to put together a course of action compare to Ricky leaving on teh eve of camp after all viable options are exhausted?

Injuries? that is your response? Difference, if a player gets injured, his salary still counts, so can a team afford 2 ricky williams calibur RBS? secondly if you are a top flite back, would accept a backup role? Yes there are a few teams with quality depth, ie GB, Chicago, Minn, Clev potentially, those are teams that had questions and or injury concerns and with ample time made plans. Najeh Davenport developed nicely but was that expected when they drafted him? Suggs fell because of injury. Also look at those teams, they are also built differently. Car is the only team that compares philosophically and they got Davis after a season where Foster got hurt and they became aware of Davis early in the offseason, not on the eve of camp. Besides adding a player to teh mix is quite different than losing a player right before camp.

Now Minor may be a suitable replacement with some tweaking of the offense, Henry may prove the promise he has shown in little experience to be good, the point is if Ricky did this early enough, they could evaluate, look at what is available and plan. Maybe then they still go with what they have, but the decision wouldnt have to be made on the fly when no other options were available.

In short every team builds their plans around the best talent on their team, noone PLANS on getting a season ending injury. Ricky doesnt think to himself and say "Gee IO think I will get injured and ruin the season, but I wont tell anybody until I get hurt"