Random Access

David Harrison, 17, was the one wearing the orange Miami Dolphins sweater with "R. Williams" emblazoned across the back. His fraternal twin brother Daniel, sitting just in front of him, was the guy wearing the Williams sweater in teal.
Much to their surprise, they found themselves this morning staring out on the practice field at the University of Toronto at Mississauga at the object of their apparel.
The TTC strike prompted the Toronto teens' dad to let them off school and bring them out to the Argos practice to see the latest twist in the bizarre football career of one Ricky Williams.
“It's mind-boggling,” said David, who apparently got the talking gene for both twins.
“If you'd have told me a couple of years ago that Ricky Williams would be out there, I would have laughed,” said Harrison, an avid fan of both the CFL and NFL. “I would have bet against it for sure.”
But there was Williams, looking - if not in top shape, then certainly not that far from it — as he took tosses left and right, showed his natural speed to the corner and burst straight ahead with an apparent hunger to find a safety and run him over.
“Everyone has been very positive and I'm very excited to be here,” Williams told a scrum of reporters that included some curious representatives from south of the border. “I'm still anonymous here,” noted the big back. “Everybody's so relaxed here. It's a change. Everyone's so nice."
(We won't tell him about Labour Day at Ivor Wynne just yet).
Ricky is already an honourary Canadian.
“I just want to come here and work hard and be a better person,” he said, as some of his team-mates played games with kids from the UTM sports camps. He refused to put down any other Argo backs or to belittle the Canadian game as so many of his countrymen do. He may not know that his rouge from his 55-yard line but he drop-kicked every question aimed at leading him into controversy.
Asked how he would change the Canadian game, Ricky said, “They can expect me to be me. They're the ones who brought me here, you'd better ask them.”
He hopes to teach at The Toronto Yoga Centre. He's just been hangin' out here and he doesn't need a cell phone because the only people he talks to are his girlfriend and his agent.
One thing Ricky has obviously impressed his new mates and coaches with, is his genuine humility.
“He's a very thoughtful person,” said Kent Austin, the offensive coordinator who makes Port Credit home. “He's shy. He's nice and he's cordial.”
And, oh yeah, he has the tools to run like crazy. In just one day you can see, “Ricky's a very special back,” said Austin.
In the midst of the media circus, Austin and Quarterback Damon Allen were at pains to remind everyone that the double blue are already a very good team.
Allen explained patiently that the Argos are not going to be reconfigured into the Oklahoma Sooners or the modern-day equivalent of the Edmonton Eskimo Hall of Fame backfield of Normie Kwong (The China Clipper) and Johnny Bright.
“I've been in this league for 20 years and not one team has run the ball and won the Grey Cup,” said Allen. “We've got good receivers and we're going to use them.”
As a football fan though, Allen said it's wonderful to see a player as good as Williams come into the league.
“We have a special league,” said Allen.
How good is Ricky going to be?
“You can't really tell until you get on the football field,” said Allen. “It depends a lot on his ability to adapt to the new league, run motion and run plays.”
The CFL MVP in 2005 explained that the Argos have a little ritual when a new player joins the fold.
“He has to stand up in the locker room, say who he is and talk about his hobbies and what he likes to do,” said Allen. “Ricky didn't say much. It was short,” he laughed.
The CFL is Ricky's hobby now and he'll do his speaking three, five or 10 tough yards at a time.