Former Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams was one of the strangest players to ever tear up the gridiron. Very few people would be surprised if you told them Williams smoked marijuana. However, some might find it interesting that he supposedly did it in the hours leading up to game day.
According to Channing Crowder, one of Williams’ former teammates in Miami, Ricky smoked weed the night before one of the biggest games of his career, when he rushed for 228 yards against the Buffalo Bills in 2002.
“Remember that Buffalo game, the 200-yard game?” Crowder asked during an interview with WQAM in Miami on Wednesday, via Pro Football Talk. “Smoked the night before. Talk to Ricky. He was doing it, that’s what he did.”
Crowder’s comments came after marijuana advocates put up a prominent billboard outside the Denver Broncos’ stadium that implied smoking weed would lead to less alcohol consumption. As for Williams, Crowder said he smoked because he had anxiety.
“Ricky has social anxiety and he smoked weed. Ricky’s marijuana didn’t affect the team until he got caught smoking,” he continued. “Him smoking weed, sitting at his house smoking weed, didn’t affect anybody but Ricky. He got high and then he sobered up and then he went to practice the next day.”
For those wondering how he didn’t get caught, the NFL tests players who are not involved in the substance abuse program once a year. If the random test comes early, they know they cannot be tested for the remainder of the season.
If you think Williams is the only player who smoked — or smokes — weed the night before games and practices, I could probably sell you a screen door in a submarine. Such is life in the NFL and other sports, and Crowder is apparently here to tell us all about it.
