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Ricky a victim?

acmeanvil49

acmeanvil49

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Here is a different take on the saga that is Ricky Williams, I found it interesting.

Another Victim of Skewed Drug Priorities

By Mike Beacom, AlterNet
Posted on February 25, 2006
Printed on April 9, 2006


Perhaps some day soon, if you listen quiet enough, you will hear the sound of Ricky Williams reeling off long pulls from a finely crafted pot pipe. 'No more charade,' he'll say to himself in between inhales. 'No more circus.'

In case you don't know, in addition to being one of the National Football League's finest athletes and most colorful characters, Williams has a propensity for pulling bong hits. He also enjoys yoga, traveling the globe in search of cultural awakenings, and filling his mind with knowledge. If his profile were posted on Match.com, he'd score well.

This week, however, the Miami Dolphin running back failed to score a passing grade on a mandatory league drug test for the fourth time. If upheld, the failed test will result in a one-year suspension. Several things can lead to a failed score -- the presence of a banned substance or too much water in the urine, and failing to show up for the test all qualify. No one is quite sure which category Williams' test belongs this time, but the rumor mill is whispering that his urine came up 'dirty.' Williams has appealed those results.

The NFL has built up a tough drug policy over the years, some would argue the strictest in all of professional sports. The league banned steroids in 1987, and in 1990 began random testing. But just because the league has not caught many "cheaters" does not necessarily mean few are violating the policy.

In an era when Congress has demanded hearings to address steroid use, which nearly ruined professional baseball, it seems that the NFL should begin to reevaluate who it makes an example of, and why. In short, the league should be a little less worried about its pot smokers, and more worried about potential cheaters and serious criminals.

Only two years ago, several members from the NFC Champion Carolina Panthers were exposed for using prescriptions to get their hands on performance-enhancing drugs. The NFL, which has long been applauded for its tough steroid policy, all of a sudden had egg all over its face.
Baltimore running back Jamal Lewis is a repeat drug offender, just like Williams.

In fact, both players are roughly the same age and have roughly the same skill level. Unlike Williams, Lewis spent time in the big house last summer for his role in a cocaine-trafficking crime. That drew a four-game suspension from league, the exact same sentence Williams got the last time he puffed and got caught. This summer Lewis is expected to make millions as a free agent. Some insiders predict that, if Williams is forced to sit out a year, no franchise will hire him when he does return. Apparently teams would rather employ a cocaine distributor than a pot smoker.

Williams is made to be an example because he is an easy target. Not so long ago, he was a sideshow in NFL circles. "Look, there's that goofy Williams kid wearing his helmet to interviews again," reporters would jab. He has always been weird, sure, and different from most other players. But hey, he is his own person, and that categorizes him with a lot of us on the outside of NFL circles. No matter where you group Williams, one place he does not belong is in the same lineup as Lewis or anyone using steroids. Still, in many ways it seems Williams has been made out to be a bigger criminal

The last time Williams failed a test, just prior to the start of the 2004 season, his name was peppered all over every sports page from Nantucket to Sacramento. Instead of squirming under the NFL's microscope, Williams left the league in his rearview mirror and embarked on a global journey on which he did what most of us had wished we could do at the age of 27 -- he took a months-long camping expedition, hung out with rock stars, smoked pot, and tried to find his place in the world. He was the butt of jokes in and away from football because he defended marijuana's medicinal and spiritual value, because he had fathered children with multiple partners, and because, despite all of the hoopla, he was still able to display a peaceful and content faade.

But, a few puffs aside, Williams is the type of player pro sports should embrace. He is human first, football player second, and there are far too few of those in the NFL, or any league these days, I'm afraid. And I am not suggesting that the pot makes him a character, nor am I condoning his usage. I'm merely asking why the league would turn its back on a spiritual being like Williams, and yet seemingly embrace cheaters and a convicted felon.

Last year, when Williams returned to the league, he sat out four games and then came back to play brilliantly toward the end of the season. He vowed to be a changed man, not the low-life pot smoker the league, the media and the fans had labeled him to be. Secretly, I wished Williams was really smoking pot that whole time rather than to believe the league hadn't beaten down another individual into conformity. And, instead of coming back to pay off the debt he owed his employer, I wished that deep down Williams came back only because he loved to run away from tacklers on a field, not for any other of the dozens of self-indulgent reasons pro athletes play ball these days.

And so when Williams failed another test this week, I let out a silent cheer. I do not say that because I condone his taking drugs, but rather because he seemed to have more to offer society when he smoked pot than when he was just another football player. No matter the outcome of his appeal, I hope Williams will one day again be just a man among us, a father, a thinker and a spokesman for individuality.
So I say, toke up and toke on, Ricky Williams. Pot may not make you faster or stronger, but it's much better for you than the drugs that do.

http://www.alternet.org/story/32756/
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That writer is an idiot...Williams` failed test was not for marijuana. It`s all gonna be a moot point after Monday anyway.
 
I guess you missed this part "goin deep"

This week, however, the Miami Dolphin running back failed to score a passing grade on a mandatory league drug test for the fourth time.
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So although the article had a published date of April 9th it appears he was refering to a time when it was not known what the failed test was a result of.

Even now we don't know what the substance is, other than it's not marijuana.

I also think you missed the entire point of the article.

It was for example, Jamal Lewis 4 game suspension for being caught in a federal cocaine sting.

Ricky Williams 4 game suspension for smoking pot.

Not the same offense, not the same severity of crime but they each received the same punishment from the NFL.

I don't think the writer was trying to make Ricky out to be a hero by any means but he obviously feels differently about how the league punishes Williams versus how Lewis was punished.

In otherwords I got from the article he was trying to say you shouldn't lump a thoughtful and insightful guy like Ricky Williams in with an opportunist like Jamal Lewis who was involved in a drug deal.
 
I think that is funny how you can fail a drug test by drinking too much water....he also said rumors are that his drug test showed his urine was dirty...I thought these tests were confidential? I wonder how the Broncos
found out about Ricky's drug test before anyone else? Something is fishy!!!
 
No, I got the gist of the article.
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Then why say the writer is an idiot?

The failed test was not the gist of the article, it was how Ricky is perceived and punished for past marijuana use by the NFL versus how other players are perceived and punished for more serious offenses.

Hence the title ot the article...............

Another Victim of Skewed Drug Priorities
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NFL drug test priorities, being the gist of the article
 
Roman529 said:
I think that is funny how you can fail a drug test by drinking too much water....he also said rumors are that his drug test showed his urine was dirty...I thought these tests were confidential? I wonder how the Broncos
found out about Ricky's drug test before anyone else? Something is fishy!!!
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I work close with our Human Resources manager, and what it comes back as if you drink too much water is a diluted sample. That usually sends up re-flags to a company thinking about hiring you. Some companies don't even re-test as it sends the message you hiding something.
 
Masking agents cause the "too much water" effect in a drug test so the testers think you took a substance to pass because you were dirty.
 
acmeanvil49 said:
Then why say the writer is an idiot?

The failed test was not the gist of the article, it was how Ricky is perceived and punished for past marijuana use by the NFL versus how other players are perceived and punished for more serious offenses.
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I just don`t like his spin on Rickys potentially career threatening situation. Yeah, you shouldn`t group RW with J. Lewis, but they both have run afoul of the leagues drug policy. Sure, one case is more severe than the other, but both are wrong. Hopefully, Ricky doesn`t lose tomorrow.
 
Hopefully, Ricky doesn`t lose tomorrow.
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I'm hoping too.

It could bring a dissapointing end to a career that still has a lot of potential.

Maybe it will end up being a blessing in disguise if he is vindicated and reinstated by the league.

I believe if not for this "substance" that showed up, Ricky would be a Denver Bronco right now.

I still want to see Ricky produce highlight runs and TD's in a Dolphin uniform.
 
This isnt so much about Ricky is about the guys opinion on marijuana. I agree with him completely, but this is more along the lines of a bad letter to High Times then it is about Ricky Williams standings with his employers.
 
Well, I'm against the war on drugs myself, and I've toked a few now and then, but then again, just like I quit doing it when I needed to bog down and get a serious job (in case of testing), Ricky knew what the league's policy was going in. Laws aside, you have to obey the rules of the institution you willfully joined, in this case the NFL.

That said, this last test wasn't for marijuana, so blah blah!
 
acmeanvil49 said:
Masking agents cause the "too much water" effect in a drug test so the testers think you took a substance to pass because you were dirty.
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In case we haven't forgotten, Ricky is a pro athlete. The "too much water" thing may apply to fat Bob trying to get a job at Home Depot but not a well conditioned football player. If anyone here has ever made it to the collegiate level of sports then you know how much H20 you can consume in a day, possilbly up to a gallon. I know it's the offseason, but a guy like Ricky who is into yoga and supposedly a "health freak" according to his mom, could possibly drink that much making it look like he is trying to pass a test.
 
So is there a difference between Fat Bob and Ricky WIlliams in the ammount of water in a drug test urine sample?

The "too much water" thing may apply to fat Bob trying to get a job at Home Depot but not a well conditioned football player.
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By Matt Russ and Ilana Katz
There is no other factor that impacts athletic performance as much as hydration. A dehydration state is considered to be water loss equaling 1% of your body weight. By the time you loose 2% plan on loosing 10-15% of your strength and endurance. You may not become thirsty until you loose 3% body weight. Hydration is a habit and habits are learned.
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/nutrition/hydration-strategy-000870.php
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I would take from that...a highly conditioned athlete who's business it is to exert himself and sweat should be drinking more water than Fat Bob does.

I don't think water in his sample was ever the issue anyway.

Barry Jackson, of the Miami Herald, reports Miami Dolphins RB Ricky Williams and his representatives, working on their appeal of a drug test that could result in a one-year suspension, have begun zeroing in on the herbal supplements he has taken after learning some can mimic a banned substance.
(The drug found in his system was a stimulant in nature.) Williams plans to travel in Asia after his yoga retreat in India. He can participate in the Dolphins' offseason conditioning program that starts March 20, but isn't expected back until early April.
-Source: KFFL.com
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The NFL has a list of nearly a dozen so-called supplements that are banned. Even too much water in a urine sample can trigger a positive test result because it can be deemed a masking agent for drugs.
''This whole thing is a little confusing,'' said one source when asked what substance was found in Williams. "I'll just leave it at that. The best way to say it is he violated the program.''
-Miami Herald
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