Ricky Williams Documentary Tells Bizarre Life Story

Since the Heisman Trophy-winning running back entered the NFL in 1998, Ricky Williams' biography has always been somewhat bizarre. He has been looked at as a cloudy oddball with erratic behavior, one that has wasted numerous opportunities. Williams has been captivating in numerous ways, ways of which might be comparably good, considering a league populated with wife-beating wide receivers. Apparently, he is good enough to be the top topic of the latest installment of ESPN's "30 for 30" series called "Run Ricky Run," which premieres at 5 p.m. eastern time Tuesday.

The biography of Ricky Williams

His bizarre entry to the NFL is summoned up in this Ricky Williams biography. To get Williams within the draft, New Orleans head coach Mike Ditka traded away all his 1999 picks and also the first and 2nd 2000 NFL draft picks. This unprecedented move made Williams the first and only player who has been the sole draft pick of an NFL team. Hip hop star Master P was who he hired to be his agent, a agent who negotiated a contract that many still believe cheated Williams out of millions in additional cash. Williams eventually was traded to the Dolphins after Ditka was fired and led the NFL in rushing with 1,853 yards in the 2002 season.

Ricky Williams - the 'retirement'

Williams faced a $ 650,000 fine and four-game suspension by the NFL to start the 2004 season after he was tested optimistic for marijuana for the umpteenth time in 2003. Instead, he walked away from tens of millions of dollars and announced his retirement. The Dolphins went 4-12 in 2004, without William. He bounced around the world for a year and studied holistic medicine. After returning to the game of football and the Dolphins in 2005, he faced an additional suspension for the 2006 season when he tested optimistic again. Prohibited from playing in the NFL, Williams spent a season in the Canadian Football League, earning a decent pay day carrying the ball for the Toronto Argonauts.

The social anxiety disorder of Ricky Williams

Williams kept to himself for the most part. Besides that, he was known for conducting post-game interviews when wearing his helmet, on top of a tinted visor, and warding off eye contact. Williams was later diagnosed with clinical depression and social anxiety disorder. For a brief period, Williams became a spokesperson for the drug Paxil, a treatment for the disorder. Williams eventually quit Paxil claiming the drug did not agree well with his diet. In an interview with ESPN, he said "Marijuana is 10 times better for me than Paxil." Eventually Williams acquiesced to a strict drug testing regimen and was reinstated to the NFL again in 2007.

The documentary - 'Run Ricky Run'

In 2004, after Ricky Williams retired from the Dolphins, he asked Sean Pamphilon, an award winning filmmaker who had produced four features on the running back for six years with ESPN and Fox, to tell his story. According to Chris Jenkins of the San Diego Union Tribune, Pamphilon quit his full-time producing job to document the life of Ricky Williams. A lot more than five years of his career, Williams has had to live with resentments and criticisms from members of his own family, Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown, previous teammates and coaches and, of course, the brutal media. And also the documentary "Run Ricky Run" is now the ultimate result.

Ricky Williams: what's next?

For the time being, Williams is making some money now by carrying the ball for the Miami Dolphins in the final year of his $ 8 million contract. He's also taking premed courses and plans to become an osteopath. He informed the Associated Press that he is "unsure" at this time about whether he will continue playing after 2010. "There's a very good chance it might be, but I am not sure," said the 33-year-old. "My body is probably the single biggest factor in the decision. If you can't be 100 percent, you can't do it." Williams is shy of Larry Csonka's Dolphins rushing record by 900 yards. His contract ends following the 2010 season. Taking to mind the patterns of his life so far, what he chooses to do next seems to be anyone's guess.