Ricky's Debut

Maybe Ricky Williams won’t tear up the Canadian Football League the way a former NFL rushing champion should.

Williams rushed for seven yards on four carries in Toronto’s first exhibition game last night as his team was blown out by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 31-3.

Williams said the biggest thing for him was being able to see the game and get a feel the tempo. On the other side, Hamilton didn’t even appear to take notice of Williams.

“Anytime we play the Argos we don't need any extra motivation,” Tiger-Cats coach Greg Marshall said. “Personally, I didn't even know when Ricky was in the football game. I don't know if our defense was even aware.”

An interesting side story…

It looks like Joe Theismann isn’t the only one unhappy about Williams playing in the CFL. Former Ole Miss star John Avery has not talked to the media since Toronto signed Williams to take his place as the team’s starting running back.

Avery should be pissed off. Despite being injury plagued, he might go down as the only player in history to have completed the trifecta, amassing over 1000 total yards for a season in the NFL (1998), XFL (2001) and CFL (2002).