Run Ricky Run

Lately I've been watching a lot of those ESPN 30 for 30 films or whatever they're called. Some good, some not so good. But the one that really caught my attention was Run Ricky Run, the story of Ricky Williams.

For anyone who doesn't know who Ricky Williams, here's a quick run down on him. He played running back for Texas in college where he won the heisman. Then after college, played in the NFL for New Orleans and Miami where he had a very successful career, only to retire in his prime after being suspended for the first four games of the 2004 season for testing positive for marijuana for the 3rd time. Anytime a player decides to retire when they are peaking it is gonna raise eyebrows, Jim Brown and Barry Sanders come to mind.

The thought on Ricky Williams after his retirement was that he left the NFL just because he wanted to smoke pot. One of the main points, of the movie is to disprove this notion by showing us the struggles that Ricky has gone through and how he has dealt with them. They want to show us that he's not just some pot head who is always fiending weed, he's a man who has endured some profound struggles.

The thing that makes this movie so interesting is the interviews with Ricky Williams. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that Ricky Williams might be one of the most fascinating sports figures of all time. His attitude and outlook on life are just so different from anyone else's. He's one of the guys who is not afraid to speak his mind and tell how he feels no matter how out there his opinion is.

Here is a short clip of the movie that gives a brief synopsis of what the movies about.