I always liked Ricky Williams. I cheered as he smashed the collegiate record for most rushing yards. He had an otherworldly air to him that set him apart from most beastly football players. He had cool dreds and tough bull-headed attitude when it came to running with the football. When the Indianapolis Colts selected Edgerrin James over Williams in the draft five years ago, I thought it was a mistake. Ricky Williams was like no other guy I've ever seen play football. Now relatively injury free and to the shock of his former Miami Dolphin teammates, Ricky Williams has retired from football.

The life of a running back is particularly perilous. Whether playing Pop Warner, high school, college or pro football, no player gets smacked more viciously and consistently than the running back. There is glory in getting plenty of touchdowns but despair on Monday mornings when the pain arrives. Still, by the next game most guys are ready to suit up and go through it all again. Tough gig.

No one can say Ricky Williams was under-used. He averaged around 270 carries for the New Orleans Saints during his first three seasons in the NFL. Incidentally, the Saints (Mike Ditka in particular) gave up every draft pick to get Williams. Unlike most players, Williams agent was the rapper Master P, who negotiated an initial performance-laden contract that paid Williams much less than most running backs. Ditka didn't last two seasons as the coach of the Saints, and in Williams third season, they went to the playoffs. He was emerging into the star people thought he would be coming out of Texas.

The Miami Dolphins thought so as well. They traded to get Williams and used him to the fullest. He averaged 370 carries in two years with the Dolphins, including leading the league in rushing one of those years. He continued to crash into linebackers and linemen, even though the Dolphins could never put together a team good enough to go far into the playoffs.

What people forget about their gladiator heroes is that they actually have feelings, and Ricky Williams has a whole bunch in many directions. After being especially distant with the media in New Orleans, he was diagnosed to have social-anxiety disorder. Trying to conform with the NFL expectations, he shaved off his dreds and concentrated on running the football.

While the NFL loves to glorify its athletes, off the field, Ricky Williams was getting fined for failing drug tests. Ricky Williams smoked marijuana. Probably a lot more than most folks. Even more than me. Of course if I had people crashing into me on a regular basis, I might be sparking up a few joints the name of pain relief and calming medication. He failed his second drug test last year after the Dolphins lost to the eventual Super Bowl Champions The New England Patriots in early December. While Williams gained more than 70 yards on 25 carries, the Dolphins failed to score and were knocked out of the playoff chase. The team was going nowhere. Instead of popping Paxil, Williams got high. What's the difference? Once you strip away the politics, not much.

Williams's idol is the great Earl Campbell. The great Houston running back was known for punishing defenses with his straight ahead style, but now the man can't walk right. I think Ricky saw where he was headed. In the off season, he failed a third drug test. The rule says he would have to sit out four games with no pay plus a $650,000 fine (basically the equivalent of almost half a season's pay). If he retired, it wouldn't matter.

I could go off and praise Ricky's actions to bolster support for legalizing marijuana (something we both believe in). I could go off on how a running back alone can't win the Super Bowl (anyone remember Barry Sanders?). I could even go off how football is just a game and doesn't matter that much in the scope of life (who am I kidding, this is America!). The bottom line is this: Ricky Williams is a one of kind individual, and being part of a big machine like the NFL just never gelled. Some people are just different and are tired of playing the same old games.

In the end, it as it was at the beginning. I always liked Ricky Williams.

Chris Jungle is an independent contractor and refuses to drug test himself.