Ricky Williams Suspended for a Year

[AzPatsFan]

What's next?

After this year's suspension, is reinstatement automatic?

And if you screw up a fifth time what is the penalty?

Another suspension of:

4 weeks?, 4 months?, a year? Indefinite? or Out forever?

Does anyone know?

 

[jct]

Reinstatement is not automatic, he is subject to more drug testing.
He owes Miami a lot of money.

 

[AzPatsFan]

The Law ...Is what it is...

Irrespective of what out you think of the Drug laws; they are the law.

And drugs are not victimless; there are way too many bodies accumulating in the crossfire between the smugglers in search of illicit profits. The corruption it engenders can make governments fall, and it does.

So until certain substances are legal, the NFL, to maintain fan interest, has a right to ask its employees to obey the law, and to discipline them in some fashion if they don't. Thier players contract to accept those penalties in their individual contracts, and CBA, and accept the limitations of thier actions in addition to obeying the law.

RW had the right NOT to sign that contract and walk away; he chose to accept it and the money, and now has no legitimate beef,when he violates his contract.

At all times he was free to donate his time and money to seeking a change in the Law, by supporting organizations such as NORML that seek to do so; so I shed no crocodile tears for him.

 

[pats1]

This BradyBirdYazzOrr character is really starting to get on my nerves. First it was his childish behavior, irritating grammar and incohesive statements, but now it's gone to personal insults. Everything's not a joke in your little grade school world. This isn't some AIM chatroom or ESPN message board. I feel this part of the forum is for intelligent football discussion, not "Confucius say: Man Go to bed itchy butt,Wake up smelly finger!"

 

[stcjones]

Seymour

No he shouldn't. This suspension says more about the NFL than it does about Ricky Williams. The NFL is still trapped in a pre- 21st century mindset about marijuana and civil rights. What a NFL player decides to do off the field that doesn't interfere with his or any other player's performance isn't any of the league's damn business. Either they're misinformed about the consequences of marijuana use or else they just enjoy being health nazi's. Yes, I know his latest drug policy violation has nothing to do with marijuana, but Williams wouldn't be in the position he's in today if it weren't for his previous three failed piss tests.

Appreciate your opinion.......but the NFL DOES have a drug policy, and there are drugs on it that CAN NOT be taken by any NFL player. Williams of all people KNEW that....and is a moron to smoke pot (although I heard it was something other than pot this time) or take any "drugs" that were deemed illegal by the NFL. The guy had to have known he was under a microscope at this point.....those are the rules that all NFL players have to follow.....Ricky just couldn't adhere to it for some reason.......what a waste....

 

[patpatriot]

Nitwits

Ricky has more Heart Brains and balls than all you jamokes put togther (Seymor93 excepted). Oh yeah, BTW YazOrrWhatever, Jesus Sucks.

 

[T-ShirtDynasty]

Appreciate your opinion.......but the NFL DOES have a drug policy, and there are drugs on it that CAN NOT be taken by any NFL player. Williams of all people KNEW that....and is a moron to smoke pot (although I heard it was something other than pot this time) or take any "drugs" that were deemed illegal by the NFL.

Agree. While I'm a pro-glaucoma herbal-remedy-guy, and while I think it's ridiculous that the NFL tests for a substance well known to make you fat, dumb, and slow (which I can attest to all three), I have no sympathy for players that get caught. As an NFL player, you KNOW the rules of the game, they're pretty simple and pretty easy to get around, if you choose to try to skirt those rules and get caught, you're flat out dumb, or just too damned stoned too often.

All that being said, I've got a bit of sympathy for Ricky on THIS test. There are far too many chemicals that will trip amphetamine urine tests, that are NOT required by the FDA/DEA to be disclosed on the label of over the counter supplements in the US. Doubt it? Many "Men's Supplements" both geared towards fitness and sexual health contain an alkaloid extract from the bark of the Yohimbe tree, some forms of this herb are NOT required to be disclosed on the label, which is total bullsquat. Run down to your local Walgreens or whatever and pick up a bottle of straight Yohimbe, and take a single 112 mg tablet on an empty stomach (the 110-120mg tabs usually only contain 9mg of actual Yohimbine)... then tell me after you've spent an hour with the shakes, sweats, chills, racing heart-rate and blood pressure through the ceiling that it's not an amphetamine. It makes Ephedra look seem like a safe medication for your toddler. But it's an "herb" not a "drug" and hasn't had the negative press that Ma-Huang (Ephedra/Ephedrine) has recieved so it's not under the DEA scrutiny yet.

I do NOT know that in Ricky's case Yohimbe was what caused the positive test, but I do know that Yohimbe can cause a positive amphetamine response in some drug tests, and again... suplement manufacturers are not required by law to disclose the presence of it in all forms on the label, so some don't. And Yohimbe isn't the only one, it's just the only one that I have personal experience with and bothered to check if it trips some urine tests.

Don't get me wrong, it couldn't happen to a better team (other than the Dolts). But part of me does have a shred of sympathy for Ricky this time around. Without a doubt, supplement manufacturers (including these new energy-drink makers) SHOULD be required to disclose every single chemical substance that is in the mix on the label.

 

[Alk]

Somehow...I don't feel sorry for him at all.

I feel sorry for anyone who has a drug problem.

 

[jczxohn1]

I feel sorry for anyone who has a drug problem.

Admirable, but I have to admit I don't in this case. Like many others, I have struggled with addiction problems and the only way to get over it is to quit using. Obviously, this simple truth has escaped Mr. Williams. If he tried the wrong substitute, tough. I feel no more sympathy for him than a drunk with 4 OUI's who finally gets rung up, which, psychologically, he is on the same plane with, IMO.

 

[Tunescribe]

No he shouldn't. This suspension says more about the NFL than it does about Ricky Williams. The NFL is still trapped in a pre- 21st century mindset about marijuana and civil rights. What a NFL player decides to do off the field that doesn't interfere with his or any other player's performance isn't any of the league's damn business. Either they're misinformed about the consequences of marijuana use or else they just enjoy being health nazi's. Yes, I know his latest drug policy violation has nothing to do with marijuana, but Williams wouldn't be in the position he's in today if it weren't for his previous three failed piss tests.

I agree with you. But on the other hand, I can see why the NFL paints drug use with a very broad brush: It all has to do with protecting its image. By coming down hard on even minor drug offenses, I think they hope to avoid bigger scandals (dealing, etc.) that could embarrass the league. The players make huge sums of money, and leniency/tolerance in the area of drugs is asking for trouble from the league's perspective. I'm not defending them, I just think that's where they're coming from, as unfair as it may be in individual cases.