Back in 2004, Ricky Williams, the American football player, left the Miami Dolphins after a third strike for smoking weed and disappeared. He’d had a notable career besides, but this was the capper: He said goodbye to his coach from Hawaii and vanished off the face of the Earth.

I was like, I want to be the guy who finds him. My memory is a little foggy here, but I think I got Ricky’s email address from the godfather of one of Esquire’s editors. It was an AOL account, I remember. I wrote Ricky and asked him if he’d talk to me if I found him.
He replied! And he said if I found him, he would tell me everything. AMAZING. But first—finding him. There were reports that he’d been in Italy, Fiji, Japan, and, most recently, Australia. A guy who’d felt trapped was now making the most of his freedom. Ricky was on THE MOVE.
I asked Peter, my editor, if I could go searching for Ricky. I didn’t really think I would find him. But I figured I’d get some crazy travel out of it, giving chase. That’s what I was calling the story in my head: “Chasing Ricky.” I imagined I’d always be one step behind.
Peter asked me what I thought my chances were. My brain calculated, “Less than one tenth of one percent.” My mouth said, “50-50.” I don’t like to think I was lying so much as my brain and mouth had been in disagreement. Anyway, a coin toss was good enough for Peter: Go.
I had lived in Australia when I was a teenager. I dropped out of high school and surfed and dived—quite pleasant, really, even if I’d given my parents absolute fits. I knew that Byron Bay was a pretty spectacular place to hide out and smoke weed. Might as well start there.
I flew to Brisbane and drove to Byron Bay. You have to understand the strain of jet lag that follows a flight to Australia. I pulled into town and felt like I had cataracts. Also: What now? I hadn’t thought beyond getting to Byron Bay. I was like, I guess I’ll go to the beach.
I walked along the beach for about ten minutes… hoping I’d run into Ricky Williams? But honestly also hoping I wouldn’t, because I wanted to travel some more. I looked at the ocean and breathed in the salt and tried to feel more like a human. I was in a total dream state.
Eventually I ran into a leathery Australian man with long hair and a beard. He was wearing a tiny pair of shorts, and that was it. He seemed like someone who would know where someone like Ricky Williams might be. I asked him if he’d seen an extremely fast American man lately.
“Yeah,” he said. Okay, sorry to bother—Wait, what? The man said that a man matching my description was staying at a campground-turned-commune in the trees outside of town. I was like, No way. But what else was I going to do? I staggered to the campground like a drunk.
I found this hippie jungle paradise and went into the welcome hut and asked if someone named Ricky was staying there. A friendly woman said, “Yeah, he’s in the tents.” Now I thought… Is it actually possible that I’ve found Ricky Williams? In 20 minutes? No fucking way.
I walked over to “the tents.” There were maybe a hundred tents pitched all over the place. I thought, Do I just stand here and monitor the tents like a weirdo? That’s when I heard a soft American voice coming out of a little kitchen hut. “Oh no, thank you,” the voice said.
I put my head through the door and there he was: Ricky Williams in the flesh. He was turning celery into juice. I said, “Ricky?” And he turned around: “Yes?” And I said, “It’s me, Chris. From Esquire.” And Ricky said: “Wow, you found me.” And I said, “Yeah! I FOUND YOU.”
I called Peter from the bank of pay phones outside the campground. He couldn’t believe it. “What? Found who?” Ricky and I spent eight wonderful days together. Whale watching. Playing poker. Getting super high with a Gandalf-looking guy named Mystic Steve.
But that first night, we just went to a movie together, “The Village.” I was wiped out and fell asleep. I woke up when the lights came on, with my head on Ricky’s shoulder. I had no idea where I was. I just knew I was there with Ricky Williams, like I was always going to be.

More from Sport

Over 70 former professional rugby players are preparing for legal action against the sport’s governing bodies according to this report.

The group litigation seems to be in its early stages, but World Rugby & Unions will be starting to get twitchy.

THREAD on the key issues 👇🏼


1) Duty of care

Do the governing bodies (World Rugby, RFU, WRU etc) owe players a duty of care in respect of their health and safety? The answer is almost certainly yes (see for example Watson v BBBoC).

2) Breach of duty

Have the governing bodies breached this duty? This is the first of the major hurdles for any litigation.

The question is essentially whether they acted reasonably in the circumstances.

Did they know about the dangers of concussion and fail to act?

Or should they have done more to discover the dangers of concussion but failed to do so?

The NFL case was based on the fact that the NFL knew of the dangers and covered them up. I’d suggest that’s unlikely here. However, it may be that WR/Unions should have done more sooner.

Much will depend upon the state of medical/scientific understanding of concussion at the relevant times.

For example, in the early 80s it may be that there was no indication that concussion might cause long-term complications but, by the early 2000s, there was.
What a year it's been. It hasn't been easy for anyone in 2020, but we've seen @spfl clubs and community trusts across Scotland step up to support those in need.

Let's have a little thread to celebrate 12 months of extraordinary commitment.

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍

/1


We kicked off the year with Football Fans in Training.

#BeYourOwnHero


Alison wasn't actually a @PartickThistle fan (albeit she kinda fell for the Jags with help from her partner). This was her story... 💪🏽

#BeYourOwnHero


Also in January we revealed that @JamTarts would join our @JoyofMovingUK programme, becoming the third club in Scotland to deliver the project to primary schools, across Edinburgh.

In Feb, we revealed @CashBackScot is to fund a new SPFL Trust project with five @spfl clubs / communities trusts to tackle anti-social behaviour.

Off the Bench will feature:

⚪️ @DundeeFCCT
⚪️ @falkirkfcf
⚪️ @bighearts
⚪️@community_mfcct
⚪️

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