LeBatard tries another angle to justify Ricky leaving? | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

LeBatard tries another angle to justify Ricky leaving?

DolfanDaveInMI

DolfanDaveInMI

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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/football/9258935.htm

On Friday, before Ricky Williams dropped his bomb on the Dolphins, this is the story I had been working on:

• That new quarterback A.J. Feeley has been complaining openly about how the Dolphins offensive staff seemed lost and that the offense looked sloppier than anything he had ever seen in Philadelphia.

• That many offensive players were wondering why the heck coach Dave Wannstedt, a defensive mind, was for the first time ever sitting in on their meetings.

• That many offensive players also were concerned that new offensive coordinator Chris Foerster still hadn't grasped some of Norv Turner's old terminology, and that they weren't feeling confident about going up against the likes of Bill Belichick led by someone who had never before been an offensive coordinator.

Wannstedt and Foerster had good, reasonable explanations for these things. They said they understood the frustration of the players, and said they were unsurprised by what I was telling them. And they gave valid reasons for why offensive players would see confusion where they only saw transition.

But it nonetheless remains clear on the brink of training camp that, even before the centerpiece of the offense fled to Asia, Dolphins players and coaches were looking at this impotent offense and seeing vastly different things. What does this mean? Hard to say until games are played.

But if there was a lack of clarity before the departure of Williams -- who was the most consistent thing on offense and the focus around which everything was built -- what do you think there is now?
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Any of you who are close to the team or have gone to the minicamps, is that what you've heard and seen?
 
That is absolutely appalling if true. Im disgusted that we can be so unorganized.
 
Surferosa said:
That is absolutely appalling if true. Im disgusted that we can be so unorganized.
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Not only that, but if it is true it scares the hell out of me because what might happen this season...................who's the top rated prospect in next year's draft? :goof:
 
I agree with the original premise of this thread. That Le Batard is now looking for a new angle to take the heat off of Ricky. Now he is trying to get attention off of Ricky's wackiness, and on what he perceives as the extreme disorganization of the offense. We all know the offense is going through a major overhaul. But there is time to take care of that.

All Le Batard cares about is protecting the backside of his boy, so that his reputation isn't so damaged, and thereby he can sell more of the books he will write with Ricky.
 
DolfanDaveInATX said:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/football/9258935.htm



Any of you who are close to the team or have gone to the minicamps, is that what you've heard and seen?
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Well.....I can tell you this.....I am not close to the team...but I do have a pretty reliable source that tells me that Randy McMichael, Rob Konrad and Chris Chambers were not happy at all last year and thought that Norv Turner sucked.

As I was told.....sometimes Randy would joke to Chambers: "Hey, are you playing yet? You think they'll ever throw our way?"
 
I think LeBastard is correct... I have so little faith in Dave, Rick and the Dolphin organization right now that this news story is not at all surprising..

Its sad to say... but I do not see good things for the team until long after Wanny departs..
 
phinman1 said:
All Le Batard cares about is protecting the backside of his boy, so that his reputation isn't so damaged, and thereby he can sell more of the books he will write with Ricky.
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I agree. Le Batard absolutely loves whats going on with this. He jumped on the Ricky story early and plans on riding it for all its worth. I highly doubt this will be the last "reason" we hear. This certainly hasn't changed my opinion of Le Batard as a journalist. His nickname is well deserved.
 
OK I can understand why everyone is mad at Ricky and I too would be upset if say Brady retires, why can't some people look at it from Ricky's POV.

I can understand where he is coming from. He has gotten pounded for the past two years and did not seen that changing anytime soon. He was playing football to make other people happy, not himself.

I think that Campbell was a huge factor on Ricky discussion. Would any of you want to be in that kind of shape when you are 50. I wouldn't, not for all the money in the world.
 
The part you don't understand, Driven, and I'm being honest and forthright here...is that if Ricky had made this announcement, say, a few weeks after the 2003 season got done with...everyone would be very very disappointed...

...but what they would NOT be, is all mad. Nobody would be upset with Ricky for deciding to retire. We're all well-acquainted with his past and his M.O. and how he never really enjoyed football that much.

What everyone is absolutely livid about, is how he did this a week before training camp at a time when the team has no choice but to have a guy like Travis Minor tow the line. There were RBs available in free agency, and there were RBs available in the draft. Ricky has been thinking about retirement for a long time, had resolved that this would be his last year months ago, and never told anyone. Instead, he decided to let the marijuana thing culminate in his retirement, a week before training camp and 48 hours after the last decent RB become unavailable.

Thats the source of our anger. I for one have thought about his POV...and I think many others have.
 
Le Batard is reporting what we all talked about before Ricky left.
Bad offence bad OL bad QB one good receiver period.
That's why we didn't make the playoffs, we lost games we should have won,I don't think Ricky wanted another 420 carries think about it.
 
The coaches have admitted that we gave him too many carries and they vowed not to do that again. But yeah, Ricky is a pro bowl caliber runningback in a play-action based offense so yeah he should expect about 350 carries if he stays healthy through the whole year.

Anyway I'm not going to say that Le Bastard doesn't have valid points. I question his motivation, I question his objectivity. He has sold out his objectivity to get into Ricky Williams' "inner circle" and that is what I question. It has gotten to the point that, as Section126's "inside source" revealed, at one point Ricky has had Le Bastard speak on his behalf to the Dolphins front office. I mean WTF. At that point you're not writing the story, you're becoming part of the story. The kicker is that the result of all this nose planting firmly in Ricky's anal cleft is that Le Bastard is being bestowed the "honor" of helping Ricky write his book.

This latest editorial merely proves that Le Bastard has lost all sense of objectivity. He's no longer reporting his opinion of the Ricky Williams thing, he is actively campaigning in Ricky Williams' defense as a friend and using his editorials to do so.

This article didn't come out because Le Bastard was concerned about the Dolphins' offensive situation even before Ricky left. This article came out to show that the Dolphins were screwed before Ricky left, so even if they lose now that Ricky is gone, they were destined to lose anyway. Notice in the article he talks about how the players are all frustrated, and then he talks about how he's talked to the coaches about this and they had good reasons for the frustration and hopeful, even convincing statements...

But Le Bastard doesn't bother sharing all that with the reader. Sure he shares a few snippets of DW saying he's in the meetings just to stay on top of things cuz thats his job, that things will get better and more cohesive in training camp, etc...but the way he presents it, is still more of an accusation than presenting both sides.

If I were the Herald I would ask for his resignation. He's lost all objectivity and he's just using his pen to further his own personal agenda in terms of his friendship with Ricky Williams and in terms of his wallet with helping to write Ricky's book. Its simple he wants to make Ricky into a sympathetic, interesting figure that everyone wants to read about so that they'll all buy his book. He sees that if South Florida, and indeed the nation, continue seeing Ricky as a villainous quitter and a guy that cares about nobody but himself, they won't want to buy his book...they won't care what he has to say.

Notice that he's out there desperately defending Ricky's public image far more than Ricky himself. Ricky couldn't care less right now. He's having fun smoking dope and touring with Lenny Kravitz.
 
so the bottom line is: we suck?

:( man....man
 
ckparrothead said:
The part you don't understand, Driven, and I'm being honest and forthright here...is that if Ricky had made this announcement, say, a few weeks after the 2003 season got done with...everyone would be very very disappointed...

...but what they would NOT be, is all mad. Nobody would be upset with Ricky for deciding to retire. We're all well-acquainted with his past and his M.O. and how he never really enjoyed football that much.

What everyone is absolutely livid about, is how he did this a week before training camp at a time when the team has no choice but to have a guy like Travis Minor tow the line. There were RBs available in free agency, and there were RBs available in the draft. Ricky has been thinking about retirement for a long time, had resolved that this would be his last year months ago, and never told anyone. Instead, he decided to let the marijuana thing culminate in his retirement, a week before training camp and 48 hours after the last decent RB become unavailable.

Thats the source of our anger. I for one have thought about his POV...and I think many others have.
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Agreed, he left you guys in a bad position. The timing was very bad on his part.

It will all work out. Two years ago I thought the Pats whole season was over when they lost their franchise QB. But things just seem to workout.

Things will workout for the dolphins and will still be fighting for the division at the end of the season.
 
What a bunch of $hit. Now he's tryin to put Ricky's retirement on the team. I think that fukker is off his meds right alongside Wicky.
 
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