When I heard that running back Ricky Williams had signed with the Ravens, I had to smile as there is a connection with Ricky and my daughter Ryan in Honolulu. Several years ago Ryan was friends with a lady who was then Ricky’s girlfriend. When Ricky and the girlfriend decided to take off on a sailing trip, she asked Ryan to house sit for her and watch her cat. The girlfriend lived in a condo up on the 17th floor and while Ryan was sitting out on the balcony reading one morning, the cat came out, looked at Ryan and jumped over the balcony to its death below. Ryan said that the cat knew it was committing suicide because it looked her in the eye as if to say “Screw you” just before it jumped over the balcony rail.
When the girlfriend returned and Ryan told her what had happened, the girlfriend blamed Ryan for the “catacide” and wanted Ryan to buy her two cats to replace the one that had jumped. (The girlfriend’s logic for wanting two cats had to do with the dead cat having been so valuable, but in her defense, perhaps her ability to rationalize may have been impacted from having smoked too much of Ricky’s good stuff on their trip.)
Citing that it was not her fault that the cat had jumped, Ryan refused to buy any cats and the friendship went south after that. The girlfriend and Ricky broke up afterwards, but because Ricky still came to Honolulu a lot, Ryan stayed in touch with him.
Hence, as a present for me, Ryan was able to obtain this autographed picture from Ricky to me. Also, below is the trailer to an ESPN documentary on Ricky which gives you some more insight into his approach to life. How his act plays in Baltimore (click here) and with the Ravens, who are not exactly the most New Age group in the world, remains to be seen. Just run hard Ricky!
