Circus act: Dolphins training camp begins today

[1niksder]

Ricky just visiting

I'm ready for him. You're ready for him. The Dolphins say they're ready for him.

So where's Ricky?

And when's he leaving already?

Because this is the latest contradiction in the saga of Ricky. Everyone's waited months for his expected return today as Dolphin camp opens. The story assumed an Elvis-lives quality. Waiting for Godot didn't have the angst (and passport stamps) of Waiting for Ricky.

But with his expected return, the only pertinent question is how he'll leave. In August for a fourth-round pick? In April for a third-round pick?

Because as sure as he's coming today, he's going tomorrow.

Why else would new coach Nick Saban deal with this circus if not to deal him? If he wasn't going to pay solid-guy Patrick Surtain the big money, you think Saban would pay a dice-roll like The Rickster?

When Saban's first draft pick is a running back?

When he covets more draft picks?

When the team is two years from contending, at best, and Ricky is two years from what, Thailand? Timbuktu? An advanced holistic medicine degree?

Ricky being traded is the only way any of this works out for everyone and even that way is up for debate from Saban's perspective.

Look at the recent payouts for running backs. Travis Henry went to Tennessee for a third-round pick. Corey Dillon went to the Patriots for a second-round pick. Meanwhile, a proven, no-baggage commodity like Shaun Alexander is still waiting for a big contract or to be traded by Seattle.

So what kind of market does a guy with three drug strikes like Ricky have?

Only one traded running back in recent years got as much as a No. 1 pick. Actually, the Saints got two No. 1s from the Dolphins for Ricky. But unless Dave Wannstedt gets back into the NFL pronto, it's hard to see how the reward for Ricky this season will be worth the circus he brings.

Not that Saban will admit to any of this right now. It wouldn't serve any purpose to suggest he'll trade Ricky, just like it didn't to say Auburn running back Ronnie Brown was their draft pick all along until the choice was made.

But, like it or not, Ricky and not Brown dominates the spotlight as the Dolphins camp opens and Phase One of Saban's plan starts to focus. And you can be sure this guy has a plan. Phase One might be called the suffer-with-kids-and-Ricky stage.

This team won't contend for a playoff spot. That's fine. The only quarterback controversy is whether it has a starting quarterback. The Dolphins have never entered a season with less talent since the expansion years.

Don Shula arrived with clay to mold. Jimmy Johnson had Dan Marino and a team off a playoff season. Wannstedt had a great defense and Ricky. Even last year, when Ricky left, the defense was expected to at least bring the season to .500.

Look what Saban has. A few defensive veterans, a lot of young maybes and Ricky to rehabilitate as a player and then attempt to peddle as a commodity.

Again, how else could this play out? Do you think Ricky is back for anything but the $8.6 million he owes the Dolphins? Do you think the Dolphins, who can pay him a minimum deal this year, want to give the multimillion deal he'd want next season?

Does anyone really think this season is anything but a test spin to hope some team desperate for a running back takes a desperate chance on Ricky?

Saban is banking on this. Maybe some contending team loses a running back in September, overlooks that Ricky is serving a drug suspension and trades for him. More likely, over the offseason, some deal is worked for a low draft pick.

Either way, all the furor over Ricky's return comes off like a Beatles takeoff. He finally says hello. We wait to say goodbye.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl- ... orts-front

[1niksder]

Wait till they put on the pads

DE Bowens: Williams appears 'eager and ready'
By Greg A. Bedard

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Sunday, July 24, 2005

MIAMI GARDENS — After a brief encounter with Ricky Williams on Friday, there's little doubt in David Bowens' mind that the running back will report to camp today and is fully committed to playing again.

"I gave him a hug and said, 'Good to have you back,' " Bowens said Saturday between autographs at the Dol-Fan Fest at Dolphins Stadium. "He smiled and said, 'It's good to be back.' "

Asked how Williams looked, Bowens said Williams' disposition struck him more than anything.

"He looks like he's eager and ready," Bowens said. "It looked like his ears were perked up and he really looked like he's into it."

Williams, along with his personal trainer, met with coach Nick Saban on Friday.

Several fans congratulated Bowens on the contract extension he signed Friday, which will keep him with the Dolphins through 2006. The deal guaranteed the defensive end's salary for this season and included a signing bonus in excess of $1 million.

For a player who was rumored to be on his way out during the off-season, Bowens now feels settled.

"This absolutely gives me a little peace of mind to understand that Nick wants me to be here and I'm in his system," Bowens said. "I'm right on board with what Nick wants to do and I'm just glad that he gave me a chance with another year."

Tillman talks about incident: Safety Travares Tillman said that he has moved past the June 24 drag-racing episode that resulted in former teammate Quintin Williams' arrest and release from the team.

"It was a stupid mistake and I guess everybody makes mistakes," Tillman said in his first public comments since the incident. "It's something you wished didn't happen, but it happened and you just have to learn from it."

Tillman was in the passenger seat when Williams was clocked at 111 mph on Interstate 595. Williams was charged with racing and driving under the influence. Tillman, also intoxicated, was allowed to leave the scene. The Dolphins waived Williams the next day.

"As far as his consequences and what happened to him, I feel bad about that," Tillman said. "He's a good guy."

Tillman, who was told by Saban to stay out of trouble, isn't fully recovered from the arthroscopic knee surgery he had during mini-camp, and will be limited when practice begins Monday.

Crowder gets four-year deal: The Dolphins signed linebacker Channing Crowder, a third-round draft pick, to a four-year contract, leaving three selections unsigned on the eve of training camp, including first-round pick Ronnie Brown.

Brown's holdout likely will last into the week, but, according to a league source, the Dolphins talked throughout the day with the representatives for second-round pick Matt Roth, a defensive end, and are getting close to a deal. Also, talks finally began to progress between the team and defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson, a seventh-round pick.

According to a league source, the four-year deals signed Friday by fifth-round offensive tackle Anthony Alabi and supplemental pick Manuel Wright, a defensive tackle, were worth $800,000 and $1.13 million, respectively.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/con ... _0724.html

[Jake]

Ricky arrives quietly at Dolphins camp
RB returns nearly year after stunning retirement

Updated: 10:17 a.m. ET July 24, 2005
DAVIE, Fla. - Running back Ricky Williams reported to Miami Dolphins training camp on Sunday morning, nearly one year to the day after he told the team he was retiring from football.

Williams, driving a blue sport utility vehicle, arrived at the team’s training facility around 8:45 a.m. He did not comment to reporters waiting outside the complex. The team’s first formal training-camp media availability is scheduled for Monday.

The 2002 NFL rushing champion decided to seek reinstatement after sitting out last season, saying at the time he’d lost the urge to continue playing. Williams faces a four-game suspension at the start of the season for violating the league’s substance abuse program, yet likely will be able to play in preseason games.

Williams acknowledged shortly after retiring that he failed drug tests and faced a suspension for testing positive three times for marijuana.

Williams rushed for 3,225 yards and 25 touchdowns in two seasons with the Dolphins. He informed former coach Dave Wannstedt of his retirement plans last July 23, one week before the start of training camp — a move that stunned teammates, and played a role in Miami’s downward spiral. The Dolphins were 4-12 last season.

A court later found the 1998 Heisman Trophy winner in breach of contract by retiring, and ordered him to repay the team $8.6 million. The team has not yet sought to collect the settlement, and new coach Nick Saban offered Williams another chance to play for the Dolphins.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8688551/

[1niksder]

Circus act: Dolphins training camp begins today
By Greg A. Bedard

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Step right up and get ready for the greatest, or more accurately the strangest, show of the NFL pre-season. It's Nick Saban's first training camp with the Dolphins, and it's drawing curious sideshow fanatics from all over the country.

"I would term this as the NFL's Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus," ESPN analyst Joe Theismann said. "Some places have one ring. But to me, the Dolphins enter training camp as the only official three-ring circus in the National Football League."
The media circus, with its satellite trucks and tents, already has rolled into town.

They're clamoring to chronicle the return of Ricky Williams, who is expected to report to camp today and be on the field when practice begins Monday.

Williams abruptly quit football a week before training camp last season, admitted his passion for smoking marijuana and spent much of the past year traveling to Australia and Asia, attending a school for holistic healing in Northern California and becoming a certified yoga instructor.

The 28-year-old running back says, at least through agent Leigh Steinberg, that he never lost his love for the game and he's ready to play. Teammates report that Williams, who dropped nearly 30 pounds to 195 during his hiatus, is back to his old muscle-rippling build.

But Theismann, who was an NFL quarterback for 12 seasons, isn't sold on the Williams comeback.

"Other guys have left and come back, like John Riggins," Theismann said, referring to his former Washington Redskins teammate. "But Ricky left the game because of the fact that he's a substance-abuser and has admitted to masking drug tests. That bothers me. I have no use for Ricky Williams. The guy has no respect for the game of football and I don't see him as a credit to the NFL. I wish that Ricky just would have stayed with Lenny Kravitz and the Dalai Lama."

Among the many questions surrounding Williams' return is how his teammates will accept him. Several veterans, including linebacker Zach Thomas, defensive end Jason Taylor and offensive lineman Seth McKinney, were especially critical of Williams' stunning departure last summer.

Saban is convinced that Williams is sincere about his return and many players have said they're ready to move on, especially if Williams can return to form and help erase the memory of last season's 4-12 debacle.

Merrill Hoge, an ESPN analyst and former NFL running back, expects the ice to melt quickly if Williams says the right things and proves himself again on the field.

Hoge criticized teammate Barry Foster when the running back held out on the Steelers in 1993. But when the players crossed paths for the first time after Foster signed, they literally washed their hands of the situation.

"We were standing in the bathroom and I told him how I felt, and how I still felt that way," Hoge said. "He said, 'I was waiting for your call. I can't believe you did that.' I said, 'I stand by what I said but you're my teammate and I'm glad that you're here.' We were fine after that. I think something very similar will happen between Ricky and some of the Dolphins."

Saban faces a number of potential problems

Saban no doubt will influence the redevelopment and reception of Williams. If this is a circus, Saban is the stern and steady ringmaster.

He took over in January and quickly put his imprint on the organization. Saban got Williams' return rolling with a phone call shortly after taking the job, brought in a highly paid assistant-coaching staff, including offensive coordinator Scott Linehan from the Vikings, and installed a complicated defensive scheme.

"He's unlike any professional coach that I've seen in his approach — it's almost like a Fortune 500 executive, and his language is, too," said radio analyst and former Dolphins tight end Jim Mandich. "I haven't heard stuff like that before."

But for all the talk of Saban's no-nonsense, my-way-or-the-highway MO, he has on his roster several players with trouble in their past. Start with Williams, add four draft picks who were arrested in college and veterans David Boston, the receiver who was brought back after being suspended for steroids and charged with assault on an airline attendant, and tight end Randy McMichael, who recently was arrested for the second time in 13 months for allegedly striking his wife.

Theismann smells trouble.

"I think when you have a series of guys that seem to be having problems, that creates a polarization for a football team because they don't know whether those guys are going to be around," Theismann said. "What it does, if you're a Zach Thomas or Jason Taylor, is it forces them to say, 'I'm going to take care of my own house.' Which undermines the team concept."

Character issues aside, Saban's veterans will be watching to see how another college coaching hotshot carries himself in the pros. This is Saban's first NFL training camp since 1994, when he was the Cleveland Browns' defensive coordinator.

"I was there when Bill Cowher took over for Chuck Knoll,'' Hoge said. "There was a lot he had to prove to the locker room."

Hoge said Cowher didn't earn the respect of his players until a fake punt that had been practiced ad nauseam was successful in a crucial game.

"At that moment, we said, 'OK, this guy knows what he's talking about,' " Hoge said. "I'm sure Nick will have that same turning point."

Said one AFC scout of Saban and his staff: "I'm really interested in seeing how well they adjust to the struggles of rebuilding and bringing a new attitude and coaching style to a team that has a mix-and-match of veterans and new players.''

Expectations, Frerotte will pressure Feeley

Besides Williams and Saban, the third circus ring features the quarterback competition. A.J. Feeley, who had a disastrous Dolphins debut last season, will be challenged by veteran Gus Frerotte.

"Let's see, I last saw Gus banging his head against a wall in Washington and knocking himself out for six games, so that's where I start with him," Mandich said. "And A.J. just needs to mature and man up. There's something delicate or fragile about him that I need to see him overcome."

Fans have seen Feeley, but what about Frerotte?

"Frerotte, at almost 34 years old, just can't do it for a whole season anymore," said an NFC scout. "A.J. certainly has the physical tools, but he's learning another system that Frerotte knows cold from being with Linehan in Minnesota."

In many ways, there isn't a player on the roster with more to prove than the 28-year-old Feeley.

"The opportunity to be a front-liner in this league for him is at hand this season or else he gets labeled," Mandich said.

So step right up. There's no shortage of sideshows. Running back Ronnie Brown, the first-round pick, is holding out. The offensive line, so ineffective last season, returns but under the guidance of Hudson Houck, who worked wonders for the Chargers in 2004. Thomas and Taylor are back, but are they in Saban's plans?

"There's a new philosophy, a new coach, a new energy, a new excitement," Theismann said. "There's a curiosity factor both for the team as well as the fans. I think it's very exciting what's happening in Miami. It will certainly be interesting, that's for sure."

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/con ... _0724.html

[1niksder]

Williams needs to face the heat
Published July 25, 2005


Sheets pressed. Pillows fluffed. Dressers dusted. Closets cleared. The guest room has been prepared for the guy who burned the last house down.

Why?

Good question.

There are many others today.

How long does this guest, Ricky Williams, plan to stay? Why, other than the cash on the nightstand, would he accept the invitation? Does he really know, any better than he knew why he left? Does the mediaphobic Nick Saban truly grasp what he's getting into? Why, after meticulously replanting the Dolphins' garden, would he welcome back the most troublesome weed?

Is this the best thing for a franchise working to put 2004's silliness behind it, or for the un-signed No. 2 overall pick who plays the same position?

Is this the best thing for Ricky Williams, the human being, to return to the situation from which he ran? A situation certain to be more suffocating now?

"I have no doubt that Ricky is doing what he thinks is best for him," Dr. Marc Halpern, Williams' teacher at Ayurveda College replied by e-mail Friday. "What is really best for him is a matter of perspective and everyone has their own perspective. The only perspective, however, that really matters is Ricky's. Hindsight will be 20/20."

Williams will be in our line of sight today.

So here's the pressing question: Will we hear that perspective today, the one Halpern says "matters"?

The odds are against it.

Does that matter?

What Williams does matters most, naturally.

But yes, what he says matters too. Speaking today would be a positive statement in itself.

Not because he owes the media complete cooperation and candor.

Not because he owes the fans, those who paid his salary, chanted his name, and want to feel good about forgiving him.

Not because it's the best thing for front-page stories and water-cooler conversation.

Rather, because it's ultimately the best thing for Williams.

And it's the best thing for his team.

More than anything, he must prove that word, "team," means something to him again. He must show that he's ready to start handling his responsibilities -- which, for someone of his celebrity, go beyond lugging the ball. Accountability is a good start.

The more answered today, the less asked later. The less asked of Williams. The less asked of teammates, who will otherwise come to resent the constant questioning as much as many resented the untimely departure. The curious will still come from far and wide, but this story will lose some steam with every answered inquiry. If Williams cuts some of this off today, he could cut teammates a break.

It's not necessary to take the world through his yearlong, soul-searching journey.

He merely must take some questions, even if it means a little heat.

It never pays to dodge the issue, to let questions linger. Think of Kellen Winslow Jr., Barry Bonds and Kenny Rogers, for whom drips became floods. Michael Irvin, former NFL receiver and veteran of controversy, suggested this a month ago: "There's so much speculation, but nobody's heard from Ricky. Ricky needs to hold a press conference. This is America. We love to give a second chance. We're all pulling for him, but he has to talk to people."

So that's what today is about: talking to people, even those he deems unworthy of his attention.

You're taught as a journalist not to make too much of your role in a story, but this story tests such teaching. We are part of the reason he left, after all, among the peripheral pressures that overwhelmed his passion for the game itself.

We're still here, and in fuller force. Even Williams' friends acknowledge that every attempt to escape the media spotlight only makes it worse the next time. Today will be worse than it ever was.

This won't be the media in our finest form. Sunday, dozens camped out across from the Davie facility to catch a glimpse of a person they knew had no intention of verbally acknowledging them ... a person famous only for playing a popular game, but who won't even play one that counts for another three months, if at all.

We feel a duty to feed the perceived fascination with someone we have cast as a creative, complicated and confusing individual, one seemingly born into the wrong body.

We will have no shame. Just questions. We will knock on the guestroom door, tap on the guestroom window. The man inside may choose to bolt the lock and draw the blinds, but that's not the best way to make the sounds stop.

The more answered today, the less asked later. The less asked of Williams. The less asked of teammates, who will otherwise come to resent the constant questioning as much as many resented the untimely departure. The curious will still come from far and wide, but this story will lose some steam with every answered inquiry. If Williams cuts some of this off today, he could cut teammates a break.

It's not necessary to take the world through his yearlong, soul-searching journey.

He merely must take some questions, even if it means a little heat.

It never pays to dodge the issue, to let questions linger. Think of Kellen Winslow Jr., Barry Bonds and Kenny Rogers, for whom drips became floods. Michael Irvin, former NFL receiver and veteran of controversy, suggested this a month ago: "There's so much speculation, but nobody's heard from Ricky. Ricky needs to hold a press conference. This is America. We love to give a second chance. We're all pulling for him, but he has to talk to people."

So that's what today is about: talking to people, even those he deems unworthy of his attention.

You're taught as a journalist not to make too much of your role in a story, but this story tests such teaching. We are part of the reason he left, after all, among the peripheral pressures that overwhelmed his passion for the game itself.

We're still here, and in fuller force. Even Williams' friends acknowledge that every attempt to escape the media spotlight only makes it worse the next time. Today will be worse than it ever was.

This won't be the media in our finest form. Sunday, dozens camped out across from the Davie facility to catch a glimpse of a person they knew had no intention of verbally acknowledging them ... a person famous only for playing a popular game, but who won't even play one that counts for another three months, if at all.

We feel a duty to feed the perceived fascination with someone we have cast as a creative, complicated and confusing individual, one seemingly born into the wrong body.

We will have no shame. Just questions. We will knock on the guestroom door, tap on the guestroom window. The man inside may choose to bolt the lock and draw the blinds, but that's not the best way to make the sounds stop.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl- ... orts-front