Ricky Williams Misses Canada, Where People Were Nicer and He Didn't Work as Hard

The Bills and Dolphins square off in Toronto this Sunday, and Ricky Williams is definitely looking forward to a return. He played one year for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, and, apparently, really enjoyed himself.

Williams enjoyed the five-hour work days of the CFL, versus the more rigorous 8-9 hour NFL days. He truly loved living with his family in downtown Toronto, within walking distance of his favorite Thai restaurant, yoga studio and homeopathic store.

Well, no one ever accused Ricky of committing himself to being the best football player he could be, so this is hardly shocking. Of course, there are plenty of other things to do in Miami than just play football. Could the shorter work day really be that important? Actually, I'm sure it was, but there's more.

"In America I think people sometimes you're frowned at when you try to be an individual and be yourself,'' Williams said.

I take exception to that, actually.

People didn't so much dislike or frown up Ricky's individuality when he was a team player and piling up stats. The Dolphins' fans kind of had a problem when he signed a massive contract and walked out on the team when the season was too imminent to find any legitimate replacement. His other point is a bit unfounded as well.

"When you go to a game [in Canada] the people there are true fans,'' Williams said. "Sometimes, especially in Miami, you get people coming only when you're winning. So it was a lot of fun being in that type of environment week in and week out.''

Now, I haven't been to any CFL games, but it's hard to imagine the average attendance of 28,616 per game -- of a 46,374 capacity -- the season Ricky played in Toronto doing much to help his point. By comparison, last year's Dolphins were 1-15, yet drew over 72,000 fans per game. I'm not doing a complete statistical breakdown, nor am I accounting for people who paid for the tickets before the season started and failed to show up for late season games.

I'm simply saying that Ricky's points about why he likes Canada so much don't make any sense. Just say you enjoyed your time there without trying to knock down America or the Dolphins' fan base, Ricky.

Oops, there I go again -- frowning upon him because he's an individual. Society has really dealt him such a bad hand, haven't we?

I do have an issue with him, and it has nothing to do with this individuality or anything of the sort. He acts like it's some kind of burden that he's been blessed with an insane ability to play football. Many people would do quite crazy things to have his ability, if only for one day. If it's such a burden, don't play.