LAY OFF RICKY

When Ricky Williams retired from pro football this weekend, three groups of people were placed on immediate suicide watch: Dolphins fans, Dolphins coaches, and people whose fantasy football leagues held drafts before training camps opened. Only the middle of these three is justified in holding a grudge.

While today we’ve come to learn that Ricky’s retirement is related to his choice in recreational activities, there is also the larger question of whether it’s wrong for somebody who’s really good at something to walk away from it just because they don’t enjoy it very much.

The Fish fans and fantasy freaks have had their say: Ricky’s a traitor. They’ve got a teeny, tiny little point. The timing of Williams’ move certainly leaves the Fins in the lurch, and probably means they’re bound for an 8-8 season at best. And Ricky was certain to be no worse than a second-round pick in any fantasy league out there. But those are quibbles. There’s any number of reasons why the Dolphins probably weren’t bound for the postseason this year (like say, not much quality quarterbacking), and people who get upset over fantasy football need to put down the remote and take up needlepoint, anyway. It’s a game. In fact, even the games on Sunday are still games. (The games on Saturday are, of course, much, much more important than that.)

But was Ricky’s retirement unethical–or just honest? If you say it’s unethical, because it hurts his team’s chances for the postseason, what are you saying about the rest of the team?

It’s really fundamentally unfair to insist that somebody do something they’re good at when their heart’s not in it. Obviously, none of us would want to be operated on by a surgeon who fancied herself a novelist or be defended by a lawyer who thought about nothing but rock-climbing. Those are pretty clear examples.

I’ll go you one better, though: I wouldn’t want to eat a pizza made by somebody who hated making pizzas. I wouldn’t care to have my car serviced by somebody who hated his or her job. I wouldn’t want a taxi ride from a driver who couldn’t care less about his or her work. I’d much rather deal with people who enjoy what they’re doing and whose hearts are fully committed to their work.

We’ve all had to do jobs we didn’t enjoy, of course, but there comes a time when you have to be honest with yourself and say that the paycheck’s not worth your soul. It’s easy for a 27-year-old multimillionaire to say that, not so much for a 45-year-old who struggles to keep the wolves from the front door. But I wouldn’t begrudge either person the right to walk away and find something they want to do. While too many guys would give anything for the chance, playing professional football is hard work that takes a terrible toll on your body, and running backs have it worse than most other players. I don’t blame Ricky for walking away from the game. I do think there’s a lot of people out there who need to consider how long they’d be willing to take that sort of a beating–even for a Ricky-sized paycheck.