“Drugs don’t ruin Athletes…drug TESTING ruins athletes.”
It’s been revealed that former Miami Dolphins running back Rickey Williams tested positive for marijuana… again. And all I could think to myself is….
“Good for You Ricky”
If you don’t know the tale of Ricky Williams, then here’s a cliff notes summary… Ricky Williams was suspended by the NFL on FOUR different occasions for smoking weed. After the 4th offense Williams opted to retire from the NFL rather than face a year long suspension. This pissed off the Miami Dolphins then threatened to sue Ricky for his $8 million signing bonus if he didn’t return to the team. Having spent the $8 million on Lord knows what, Ricky decided to come back and play football. But before he could return to the team, he had to serve his year suspension.
Well here we are a year later and ol’ Ricky was preparing to apply for re-instatement into the NFL but there’s a slight kink in the plans…
HE JUST TESTED POSITIVE FOR A FIFTH TIME!!!
Everyone started calling him crazy and irresponsible for not following he rules of the NFL to make some millions. But CLEARLY smoking weed is Ricky’s form of happiness. And if you like doing something so much that you don’t care what your employer says… in a way it’s kind of empowering on levels that most of us will never understand.
Irresponsible? Maybe. But empowering none the less.
We call him crazy because he didn’t make the choice that WE would’ve made in that situation. We’re calling him crazy because he didn’t choose the option that would’ve made US. The only thing that makes Ricky crazy is if he chooses anything other than what makes HIM happy. Living your life based on what make others happy is the quickest way to misery.
Ricky choosing to smoke weed is no different than the dude with dreadlocks calling YOU crazy for cutting your hair just to keep your job.
“DEM WHITE FOLKS AINT GONE TELL ME WHAT TO DO WITH MY HAIR DAWG! I BEEN GROWING THIS HAIR FOR 6 YEARS. I’LL QUIT BEFORE I CUT MY HAIR”
Hair is more important to him than money, but it’s not to you. Does that make either of you crazy for simply deciding on what matters to you most?
Everyone has rules on their job. Some jobs don’t allow you to wear shorts or have facial hair. I’ve worked places that made people wear long sleeve shirts to cover up their forearm tattoos. Some players in the WNBA have clauses in their contract that keep any part of their pregnancy from overlapping with the season.
It’s up to all of us to decide if those employer related restrictions in turn restrict our happiness.
Choosing to do what makes you happy isn’t crazy.
And after listening to Ricky on ESPN Radio’s ‘The Dan Patrick Show’ I’m not so sure he’s crazy. Dude seemed pretty calm to me. Here’s the link to the transcript if you have 10 minutes of your life to give away.
Here’s a few quotes from Ol’ Rickey:
“The thing that I value most the the abilty to relax. Pro sports is extremely stressful.”
“I wasn’t trying to get high, I was trying to relax a little.”
“I’m not motivated by money either way.”
“I’m here today and I’m happy and there’s nothing that can really hurt me.”
Now do any of those quotes read like they’re from a man distraught about not being able to play football? The one quote from the interview that stuck with me was this:
“…The whole thing with being at peace is that your peace doesn’t come from the external circumstances. Meaning it could be rosy and wonderful or it could be difficult but you still have to keep your peace because the peace isn’t outside it’s an inner peace.”
At the end of the day you still need to be able to look yourself in the mirror and have no regrets about the path you’ve chosen. He’s another great example of happiness.
That’s Antonio Navarro of Spain. He’s a quadrapalegic. More than 95% of his body is paralyzed. He has a motorized bed that he operates with his mouth. Antonio got drunk, and then took to the streets in his motorized bed and headed to a whore house.
Unfortunately Antonio missed his exit on the freeway and ended up lost and unable to find the whore house. He was eventually pulled over by police and taken back home.
Now I could spend the rest of this blog asking important questions like…
“Who gave him the liquor?”
“Why doesn’t his bed have headlights or turn signals?”
“Does his penis work?”
“Do the hookers give him a discount for bringing his own bed?”
“If you’re drunk driving in a motorized bed is that drunk driving?”
But I won’t bore you with that today. I ask you to simply look at what happened. A paralyzed man woke up one day and decided that he wanted to get drunk and pay for sex. Rather than be restricted to another dismal day of physical therapy and some old lady changing his bed pan he decided to leave the house and get some ass.
Good for you Antonio. Do what feels right.
