Report: Ricky Williams Almost Changed His Name To 'Rio Don' To Join Raiders
By Rahul Lal
And the starting running back for your Oakland Raiders out of the University of Texas, number 21, Rio Don! Oh, what could have been.
Ricky Williams is best known for quitting football in part to smoke marijuana but a new story has broken about the talented back highlighting that, in his suspension year from football, Williams was interested in returning for the Oakland Raiders. The move would've come with a whole new number and a whole new name too, the latter of which was a misguided attempt to stay low-key that would've likely accomplished just the opposite.
"By then, the name Ricky was widely used as a synonym for aberrational behavior. Days earlier, the Dolphins had won an $8.6 million judgment against him over his signing bonus. And his solution -- the way he would leave behind his status as the pothead who threw away fame and fortune -- was to ... change his name. He would become Rio Don, swap jersey numbers, from 34 to 21, and play for Oakland. He even signed a batch of footballs for Steinberg: RIO DON, #21."
At a time where Michael Vick was allegedly using the name Ron Mexico as an alias for receiving treatment for a sexually transmitted disease and politician Anthony Weiner was doing some not-so-appropriate stuff under the name Carlos Danger, Ricky Williams was trying to hide his name from the football world by suiting up with one of the league's most headline-grabbing teams.
Williams was reportedly drug tested over 500 times in his NFL career and was looking to escape the tag of being a stoner. He believed that changing his name and team would help with this transition. Think about that for a second; Williams was going to change his name to Rio Don to get away from the headlines and attention. If I had a time machine...
Today, Williams is a college football analyst for the Longhorn Network, a running backs coach at a small San Antonio University and is a business owner
for a gym that allows marijuana use after athletes complete a work out to better manage their pain. To see more about Williams' current pursuits, read the incredible Sports Illustrated piece that was recently released.
Rahul Lal is an LA native stuck in a lifelong, love-hate relationship with the Lakers, Dodgers and Raiders. You can follow him on Twitter here.
