Ricky Williams Needs to Go … For Good

This past weekend was a great one for sports. Fall is here, the weather is cooler, the leaves are changing colors, and you just get the feeling that it's football time. You had high school football on Friday, a great slate of big-time college football games on Saturday, and then the usual NFL rundown on Sunday. It was just a great weekend for sports.

You had the Patriots winning their 19th-straight game, an absolutely astounding feat in this day and age. If that wasn't enough, you had another important 19-game streak, although this one was the nation's longest losing streak being shattered as Army beat Cincinnati. You couldn't help but feel good about that win for Army, seeing the excitement in the faces of the fans and players as they tore down goal posts and carried Coach Bobby Ross off the field. This Army win was sweeter than the stick of a Fun-Dip.

Despite all of this, no matter how badly I want to, I can't get away from Ricky Williams.

I had made my peace with the whole Ricky Williams saga. I wrote a whole column about it on July 27th. I was pissed about the whole thing, but it was over. Done with. I really had moved on.

Now he's back in the news. Ricky wants to come back to the NFL. This doesn't surprise me at all, only because Ricky had told the country he was done with football forever and we all know that Ricky's word and $1 can get you a 20-minute phone call.

"I don't want to do it anymore," Williams said. "That's it. I don't want to do this anymore."

Okay, Ricky, fine, you're gone. It sucked, but oh well, we all moved on. Now Williams wants to come back, supposedly because he found his passion for the sport again.

"I lost everything, and that's when I realized how much I love to play the game," Williams said.

I never knew how much everything was, but apparently, to Ricky Williams, it's the $8.6 million he stands to lose from skipping out on the Dolphins. But, of course, it's not about the money.

"I've been living in a tent for weeks now, paying $7 a day ... Do you really think money means anything to me?" Williams asked.

Yes, of course it does. If it didn't, you wouldn't be back now. Face it, Ricky, you are kidding no one. You don't like the game, you like money. Ricky said it himself, he lost everything. He even considered bankruptcy. There is no question that the reason he is coming back is for money.

This whole saga gets worse every day. Ricky Williams quits. Ricky Williams owes the Dolphins a ton of money. Ricky wants to come back so he doesn't lose his money. Ricky can't come back this season because of an overwhelming amount of substance abuse. Ricky's teammates, naturally, hate him. Now it's being reported that Ricky Williams has been slapped with a paternity suit. Williams did his best Bill Clinton impression and claimed that he didn't have sex with this woman, only to later admit to being the father of her 14-month old child.

I miss the stories of him sleeping in tents in Australia where he would get bitten by bugs in his rear and then have to stay off his feet for a week. I miss the stories of Williams wanting to live in tin shacks. Now we have paternity suits. At least Ricky is starting to show a little regret at how he handled the situation this offseason.

"I should have been man enough to have a conversation with (head coach Dave Wannstedt) Dave before all this happened," Williams said. "But I didn't. I got scared, and I just told him I was retiring."

Ricky is right; he should've been a man and told his coach and team earlier. But you know what; I would settle for him just being man enough to pay to support his illegitimate children, instead of lying about them and having the legal system force him to pay.

Williams just needs to go away. He left, he retired, and he said himself he was done with this game forever. The Dolphins need to do what's best for the sports world, let Ricky have his $8.6 million so he will go away. As it stands now, he is infecting the sports world.

Ricky inspired Sammy Sosa to quit on his team, leaving the Cubs last game 15 minutes after it started, infuriating his team. Sosa was slapped with a fine, and naturally, he whined like a little girl who had just been told she couldn't watch "American Idol."

This cannot go on. Since when did it become okay to quit on your team? If you don't like the way things are going, man up, and play until the end of your contract. Sosa's selfish acts are nothing to sneeze at, literally, or like Sosa, you could find yourself on the wrong end of the 30-day disabled list.

Ricky's antics are influencing too many in the sports world; Jose Guillen getting himself suspended over a pinch runner, Onterrio Smith hurting the Vikings with his four-game suspension for substance abuse, and Kyle Farnsworth injuring himself by kicking a fan are just some of the examples of Ricky's bad influence.

It won't be long before high school players quit midseason to avoid taking responsibility for their actions. It won't be long before soccer coaches just leave at halftime, taking the orange slices with him. It won't be long before little leaguers stop dressing for games, because they are out of playoff contention.

It's fall. It's time for real teams and real athletes to showcase their God-given talent. It's time for communities of sports fans to tailgate and rally behind their teams. It's time for sports to be at its best, so I am going back to celebrating Army's win and enjoying my Fun-Dip.

Mark Chalifoux is also a weekly columnist for SportsFan Magazine. His columns appear every Tuesday on Sports Central. You can e-mail Mark at [email protected].