this taken from the oakland tribune
YOU KNOW how this is going to end up.
Fast forward a year as the Oakland Raiders begin their 2005 training camp.
The newest renegade slips quietly into the low key environment of the Napa Marriott, stopping only briefly for a word with a handful of reporters.
"Al Davis has never been a conventional thinker," Ricky Williams will say. "He believes in letting players be themselves as long as they perform on the field, and I've never had a problem with that. Everyone wants to be a Raider. This is the only team I would have considered coming back for. I can play the sport I love and retain my individuality."
In the year to come, much will happen before Williams reaches his bliss in silver and black. He will discover that without his football income, and the threat of the Miami Dolphins wanting some of their money back, living the life of an iconoclast will be difficult.
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Those weekend sojourns to Asia, Australia and Jamaica to "find himself" will be difficult when the bank account dwindles and there is no steady income.
He'll have to eventually realize that smoking pot simply isn't that important -- not when it means he is stripped of the ability to fully explore the outer reaches of the world and himself because the money isn't coming in.
So Williams will have to get himself right with the NFL drug czars, pay his fines and serve a suspension.
Miami will be only too happy to get something -- anything -- for his rights.
What kind of organization would even consider taking on this kind of baggage?
A guy facing a four-game suspension who will bring on all sorts of adverse publicity.
A player who has left many teammates shaking their heads in wonderment and disgust.
That team, of course, exists.
Davis will look at Williams' ability and sell him on the notion of rejuvenating his career with an organization synonymous with jump-starting sagging careers.
The kind of team that would welcome back a center who walked out on them on the eve of the Super Bowl.
A team that gave Darrell Russell countless chances and allowed a safety named Patrick Bates another shot even though he was a first-round flop who left the team before the 1995 season opener.
Chemistry? Davis believes chemistry is best achieved through superior talent, and Ricky Williams would be the most talented Raiders running back since Bo Jackson.
That's Bo Jackson, the two-sport star who took up football as a "hobby" and whom Davis still regards as one of his major coups.
Davis took Jackson in the seventh round of the 1997 draft even though the running back was playing right field full time with the Kansas City Royals, having spurned Tampa Bay the previous year after being the top selection.
Jackson too was a quirky free thinker who could run over people with frightening power and speed, although drug use was not one of his problems.
There will be risks, concerning Williams' stated love of marijuana. But it's not a deal-breaker, so long as Williams agrees to special language in his contract absolving the Raiders of financial responsibility should he inhale or forget to drink his masking agent of
choice.
He'll be a rebel with a clause.
And rebels invariably wind up in Oakland.
Jumping to more conclusions on the first full weekend of NFL training camps:
- So now Williams concedes marijuana use actually played a larger role in his premature retirement than he originally stated.
Guess he decided to come clean since he'd already said he spent the off-season backstage with rock star Lenny Kravitz, admitted to worshipping Bob Marley and then fessed up to a third offense of the NFL substance abuse policy.
Talk about your smoking guns.
- Meanwhile, the New Orleans Saints happily prepare for their season with Deuce McAlister as running back, having survived giving up an entire draft for Williams.
- The NFL's claim that players who drink excess water are subject to positive test results rings hollow.
Masking agents on the market -- including one called "Urine Luck" recommend chasing 32 ounces of the product with huge amounts of water to rid the body of illegal toxins.
An angry Charles Woodson once posted an official warning about drinking too much water before a drug test in front of his locker for all to see, saying he didn't put drugs in his body and defying the NFL to take action.
Which it never did.
- When Dennis Erickson dreamed of one day coaching the 49ers, he never envisioned beginning his second season without the star quarterback, running back and wide receiver he had in his first year.
The last time there was this little buzz in the Bay Area about the 49ers in late July was entering the Ken Meyer-Pete McCulley-Fred O'Connor run in 1977-78 that preceded Bill Walsh.
- NFL agents and front offices are similar to college students who don't study until two days before final exams -- put off the negotiating process then somehow impossibly cram all the work in at the end.
- Welcome to the Bears, Lovie Smith. Star linebacker Brian Urlacher fell in a heap with a hamstring pull and was taken from the field on a cart during Chicago's first day of workouts.
Someone named Hunter Hillenmeyer will fill in until further notice.
- First nominee for the most overblown story of training camp -- Gunther Cunningham returns as defensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Unless Gunther can rush the passer or cover a receiver, it's not that big a deal.
- The two quarterbacks who must make the biggest strides this training camp are Atlanta's Michael Vick and Detroit's Joey Harrington.
Vick must be weaned of his inclination to put his body at risk running the ball and play with a Steve Young-like efficiency. Harrington has to take advantage of Steve Mariucci's ability to breed mistake-free quarterbacks.
If they fail, the Lions and Falcons aspire to 6-10.
- Another quarterback to watch is Cincinnati's Carson Palmer, who was handed the starting job by Marvin Lewis even after Jon Kitna had his best season. If Palmer struggles, all those expecting Cincinnati to step from respectability to the postseason will be sorely disappointed.
- The minority viewpoint: Oakland was better off for not pursuing either Corey Dillon or Eddie George. Beware of the tire tread on guys who carry 300 times a year for five or more years.
- Joe Gibbs was known for physical training camps in his previous life as Redskins head coach, an idea that sounds great unless Clinton Portis goes down in a contract drill. Then it's a disaster.
- If Williams decides he wants to continue his smoke out, how about a tryout for Bam Morris? He was released from prison in Huntsville, Texas, after serving five years of a 10-year sentence for drug trafficking.
- Watch the early depth charts of the New York Giants closely. It may indicate which players coach Tom Coughlin deems responsible for turning the club in to the NFLPA for excessive off-season work, resulting in a deduction of training time.
NFL Editor Jerry McDonald can be reached by e-mail at
jmcdonald@angnewspapers.com .
so you see ricky is now a bitc* for the fins
