00:08You know, Ricky Williams had one of the greatest seasons in Dolphin history.
00:13And then, he had to go on a journey.
00:18A journey that might have disrupted, could have been a Hall of Fame career.
00:22But he's become a better person and a trailblazer.
00:26And of course, this walk's brought to you by Body Armor.
00:28You know, there's nothing artificial about Body Armor.
00:32So, let's go for a walk.
00:34Frank talks while Frank walks.
00:37It's time for Frank Walk.
00:41Well, thanks for joining me, Ricky.
00:42Thanks for having me.
00:43Let me tell you something.
00:44That 2002 season you had, what was it, 1850?
00:491850.
00:49Underground?
00:50Yeah.
00:502,200 all-purpose yards?
00:54Yeah.
00:54I mean, to me, I think it's one of the greatest offensive seasons I have ever seen from any of my favorite players or any of my favorite teams.
01:03Yeah.
01:05It was a big year.
01:06It was the year I got traded from New Orleans after a lot of injuries in New Orleans.
01:12And I felt like when Wanstead decided to bring me over to make the trade, that it was an opportunity for me to restart my career.
01:20And I knew at the time, it's funny, at the time, the Dolphins were a perennial playoff team and had a great defense.
01:28And Norv Turner was the offensive coordinator, so I knew.
01:30Taylor and Thomas?
01:32Exactly.
01:33I knew I had a shot.
01:34And we got off to a good start, and I just went wild.
01:38It was probably the most fun I had playing football.
01:40Those last two games still haunt me.
01:42The last game haunts me.
01:44Oh, to blow on a 10-point lead and four minutes left?
01:46We had it.
01:47I mean, why?
01:50Wow.
01:51Why was he throwing the ball when he's got you?
01:58Yeah.
01:59Why was he throwing the ball when he's got you?
02:05All you needed to do is get a little 10-yard run, get that first down.
02:08Get a first down.
02:09We just needed a first down.
02:09And the game is over.
02:10We needed a first down.
02:11And you're in the playoffs.
02:11Not only are you in the playoffs, you win the division.
02:14Yeah.
02:14That game haunts me because we win the division, but I think we had a good enough team to make a run for the Super Bowl.
02:20Hey, you know, defense and rushing attacks, that's what wins Super Bowls.
02:26Yeah.
02:26And we got Jay Fiedler back.
02:28One of the reasons we took a dip in the middle of the season is Jay hurt his finger.
02:33And Ray came in, and it took Ray Lucas a couple games to get into the groove, and we just couldn't bounce back.
02:40But that last game, we had a shot.
02:42That last game, we should never have lost.
02:44Had no business losing.
02:45Now, I know Brady became Brady and everything, but you can't blow that game.
02:50Yeah.
02:51I think I had 180 yards rushing that game.
02:54Oh, God.
02:55I still don't understand.
02:58Hand the ball to Ricky.
03:00I remember screaming at the TV.
03:03Hand the ball to Ricky.
03:04It's funny, right?
03:06That was over 20 years ago, and those memories still stick.
03:11They still stick like they're yesterday.
03:13It's crazy.
03:14Now, in your career, I think you were probably one of the more misunderstood players.
03:18You dealt with the anxiety disorders.
03:22Yep.
03:24And you kind of got, like, the press wasn't too kind to you.
03:28Yeah.
03:29You know, I think I was different.
03:31And I've learned over time that when you're different, it takes people a little bit longer to understand you.
03:36Well, you don't fit the box.
03:38Exactly.
03:38Exactly.
03:39And it's not always easy, but I look back on my career, and people come up to me on the street,
03:44and, you know, they say, you're a beast, you're a good football player, but they also say,
03:48I love that you did it your way, and you stuck to your guns.
03:51I think that you were simply ahead of your time.
03:57That happens.
03:58I think you're ahead of your time.
04:00Then you had the weed, where you basically said that,
04:05I'm going to step away from the game to go on a different spiritual journey.
04:08Yeah.
04:09And today, it's more acceptable.
04:12It is.
04:12I think it's all connected.
04:17You know, I think being different is, when we think of a football player,
04:20we think of someone who's macho, who doesn't have feelings, you know?
04:23But the reality was, I was macho, and I was strong and fast, but I got feelings, you know?
04:29And I found that in the football world, it kind of alienated me from how I actually felt about what I was doing.
04:35And one of the things when I started smoking, I realized I got more in touch with the way that I feel.
04:40And the thing that helped me with my anxiety and all the things I was struggling with was the weed.
04:45And meanwhile, there's more and more studies coming out all the time that cannabis and weed, it helps alleviate the symptoms of concussions,
04:59which to me is just, you mean, this is, I mean, you get hit around and all this pain, and this helps the pain.
05:08And I don't know about you, but I think using cannabis is better than using opioids.
05:15Well, I mean, I'm glad that we can have this conversation, but the reality of 2004 when I got in trouble for cannabis is we were being given opioids any time we asked.
05:23But if we felt a drug test, we got in a lot, we got fined and we got suspended.
05:28And I'd like to think that at least, you know, me standing my ground helped open the door.
05:33I actually think, I actually think it did.
05:36Yeah.
05:36I think that you basically, like, were the first one to, like, go down that path.
05:46And it might have taken almost 20 years to be too fully, to come full circle, but that's how you got there.
05:56Yeah, it is.
05:57My big thing for the NFL, and you said it, if you watch football, you see, we put our necks on the line, we put our bodies on the line.
06:04And I think the NFL should support any reasonable means for us to feel better, you know, to take care of ourselves.
06:11I mean, just the way, you see, I grew up, I'm a little older than you, not that much older than you, actually.
06:19But we grew up in a time when it was that marijuana was just like, basically, it's like the gateway drug, they always used to call it.
06:31Yeah.
06:32Yeah.
06:33I've heard that a bunch.
06:36Which, you're a kid and you're growing up and you go, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense.
06:42Yeah.
06:43But then, you see people who actually use and you realize, that was all, that was all malarkey.
06:52It was.
06:53And we're learning, though, but it takes people sticking to their guns and not, you know, not being afraid of the stigma and just being honest in order for us to see the truth.
07:02You know, the thing that really, like, dawned on me, and this was maybe about 10 years ago when it's really starting to, the worm had churn, officially began to churn.
07:13Yeah.
07:14And the number one lobbyist for keeping marijuana a Schedule I drug is the Amheuser-Busch Corporation.
07:24It's like, they're, like, lobbying these beer companies.
07:28You're doing some research, huh?
07:29Oh, yeah, I heard that about 20, I heard that about 10 years ago.
07:33I said, a beer company is lobbying to keep marijuana illegal?
07:38Yeah.
07:38That doesn't, at that moment I said, oh, okay, it is BS.
07:44Now, I was in the dispensary the other day, right down the street, and the guy next to me said, I heard him talking to the bud tender, and he said, you know, I've been smoking a little bit more because I'm trying to cut back on alcohol, and it's really working.
07:55It was cool to be able to hear someone say that in a dispensary.
08:00I've been around people who drink, and I've been around people who use weed, and to me, I think that drinking dulls your senses more.
08:10Drinking causes more problems.
08:12Yeah, I was joking with my wife, you know, and I said, you know, people can die from drinking too much.
08:19You know, if you smoke too much, you just go to sleep.
08:21You just get hungry and go to sleep.
08:23It's not the worst thing in the world.
08:25I got a question for you.
08:26How did you become a Dolphins fan?
08:27You know, when I was really small, I loved to show Flipper, and then the Dolphins go to Super Bowl XVII with A.J. Dewey in the mud.
08:38I loved A.J. Dewey in the mud, the mud bowl against the Jets, and of course, they lost that Super Bowl, and then Dan Marino came along.
08:48So as I got older, Dan Marino was there, and Dan Marino was there, and that's how I was a Dan Marino fan, Dolphins fan, and I stood for them thick and thin, and it's been a lot of thin lately.
09:03I mean, when you were on the Dolphins in 2003, they had only had two losing seasons between 1970 and 2003, and that was in 76 and 88.
09:21Only two?
09:22Yes.
09:22Wow.
09:23We're talking a 30-year stretch where they only had two sub-500 seasons.
09:31Wow.
09:31And then I retired in 2004, and they had a horrible, horrible season.
09:38Yes.
09:38Yeah.
09:39I remember that.
09:41Now, these days, I hear that you're doing this holistic healing and yoga.
09:46Yeah.
09:47What benefits does that give you?
09:50I mean, so there's mental benefits.
09:53You know, you talked about research.
09:55All the research for living a healthier life, you know, they talk about meditation, they talk about deep breathing.
10:01You know, they talk about eating well.
10:04And that's really what yoga is all about.
10:06Yoga was a science of maintaining quality of life for as long as possible.
10:11And they found that if you take deep breaths, and you stretch your body, and you move your body, and you still your mind, and don't allow yourself to stress out too much, that it actually improves the quality of your life.
10:22Yeah, well.
10:23They figured that out a long time ago.
10:25I let my sports team stress me to no end.
10:30The Mets, the Devils, the Dolphins.
10:32I mean, one thing I'd like to see the Dolphins do is, we've got to get back the old logo.
10:39Yeah.
10:39We've got to get the Dolphin back his helmet.
10:41I know.
10:41We've got to get his helmet back, right?
10:42I mean, this new logo that they've had, like, since 2013, it looks like Aquafresh.
10:48And I think that's why Tua keeps getting the concussions, because the Dolphin lost his helmet.
10:52Yeah, the Dolphin lost his helmet.
10:54So, what do you think about the current Dolphins team?
11:00Well, I didn't have much hope going into the season.
11:05I just don't know about Tua.
11:07I don't know if he's, I think the concussions have really taken a toll.
11:12Yeah.
11:13The physical, the hip injuries and everything.
11:16Yeah.
11:17Well, I'll say one thing, Devon Aishan.
11:19Oh, man.
11:20He's fun to watch.
11:20He's becoming a star.
11:23Yeah.
11:23He is fun to watch.
11:24I mean, I was at the game last week, and he had 92 yards, and he missed, like, the second half with a rib injury.
11:34Yeah.
11:35And then Jalen Wright came in and had 100-plus yards.
11:40I look at that team, and sometimes, I don't do it all the time, but I look at Dolphins teams, and sometimes I imagine I could come back for just one more year.
11:48But every year I get a little bit older, it's less and less of a reality.
11:52But that's the one, that's the only regret I think I have in my NFL career is that I didn't play my last year.
11:58I didn't retire at Dolphins.
12:00I mean, I had a good time when I went to Baltimore for my last year, and we were one game away from the, we were one catch, one field goal away from the Super Bowl, but still.
12:09And the next year they won it.
12:10And the next year they won it.
12:11With Ray Lewis going out.
12:13Yep, yep.
12:14What a game.
12:15What a game.
12:15But, you know, I wish I would have broke the all-time Dolphins Russian record and retired a Dolphin.
12:20That would have been the perfect Indian to my career.
12:23Well, you had a great season, of course, and always going to be a Dolphin legend.
12:29You know, I'm hoping one day we get to see the retro uniform return and bring back, bring back, give the Dolphin back his helmet.
Be the first to comment