The Viall Files - E229 Astrology, Cannabis, & Football With Ricky Williams

Episode Date: January 27, 2021

Today we are speaking with Ricky Williams. Most of you would likely know Ricky as a former NFL player but we discover today he is so much more. Ricky realized one day that he was being defined by being an athlete, by being in the NFL and he decided to change his life to make sure that he could be something more than that. Retiring and finding his spiritual journey through astrology, and taking a holistic approach to to his body, and working in Cannabis made people think he was crazy but what he found was creativity and inspiration for what his future was going to be outside of the NFL.  “When it comes to Astrology, I think it is abused and misused when it’s used to describe people, I think at its best it describes circumstances you are going to have to face.” Please make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode and as always send in your relationship questions to [e-mail] to be a part of our Monday episodes.  THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: Truff: http://www.truff.com use promo code VIALL for 10% off site-wide plus FREE shipping  Echelon: http://www.echelonfit.com/VIALL to try any Echelon Fitness equipment at home for 30 days. Theragun: http://www.theragun.com/VIALL to try Theragun for 30 Days starting at only $199 Episode Socials:  @viallfiles @nickviall @williams See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, all you not-so-great cookers out there, well, we have a secret sauce for you. Truff! That is right, truff. The hot sauce truffle oil, crafted with a signature blend of red chili, black truffle, organic agave nectar, and savory spices. It's one of Oprah's favorite things. Well, then you know it's great. Hot sauce with just the right amount of truffle oil to make any meal you have delicious. That's 10% off plus free shipping on everything, including white truff VIP box and truff variety pack. Just shop truff.com. That's T-R-U-F-F promo code V-I-A-L-L. what is going on everybody happy wednesday to all you diehards out there and just happy day

in general hope you're doing well wherever you are wherever you are listening to us or watching if if you prefer the the visual qualities of this show i do dress up for you people on the youtube those socks they say what's up yeah these aren't my socks these are actually i i borrow these um from a lady. Cindy. Cindy's giving you socks now? Yeah. I know it.

It wasn't Cindy. How are you doing, Chrissy? Good day. Oh, yeah. We're recording this as a big inauguration day. So history has been made. Our first female vice president. I cried a little bit. Our first, yeah um it was great uh

all the it was super great you know if if you if they weren't who you voted for that's okay you could still it's okay still be historical i hope that uh there was a moment in history for sure i feel like our audience well i hope it's successful enough that we get people on both sides you know otherwise yeah but i i think we have an audience that um likes to be is you know is it maybe maybe my audience isn't as divisive as the world is that's what i like to believe i don't know if that's yeah but i would agree congratulations agree. Congratulations. Only when it comes to Bachelor topics. Yeah, only when it comes to... I get divisive.

You don't like Erica? Fuck you! What? Sarah's a gem! What's going on? I can't believe it. She helped her... It was a crazy historical day.

I cried a tear to my eye watching Kamala get sworn in. And, you know, I'm a girl. Biden's speech was boring and awesome it was so it's just the right amount of boring the type of boring I missed the type of boring world leaders are like yes that's great anywho let's move on from politics but uh we have a fantastic episode for you today uh i guess that i was really excited to have ricky williams uh if you've are an nfl fan you know who ricky williams is he is a former heisman trophy winner uh former rushing collegiate leader that uh ron dane he actually broke his record i only you know i went to wisconsin so i remembered that and um we uh we have a great

conversation about ricky you know obviously i'm a sports fan so we talk a great conversation about Ricky. You know, obviously I'm a sports fan, so we talk a little bit about football. If you are a football fan, you will enjoy some of the stories, but also talk a lot about Ricky's big passion and something that's part of his new podcast, Astrology. And I got to tell you, after talking to Ricky, I have a whole new perspective on astrology

and the role it can play in people's lives and relationships. And, you know, obviously we talk a lot about relationships on this show. So I'm sure you will find that as fascinating as I did, whether you are already, if you're into astrology, you're going to love it. If you've been a skeptic or just have questions about the seriousness of it, I think you will find this really interesting. We also talk about cannabis and the role it's played. A holistic approach to life. Our lives and maybe some of the stereotypes. And, you know, if you have a curiosity around cannabis,

you might find that interesting as well. So for anyone who might be tuning in for the first time on this show, because you are a football fan and you are interested in Ricky's story, be sure to check out Monday's episodes are Aztecs if you are interested in relationship stories and people's problems and how they

might be fixed make sure to check that out other than that anything we're forgetting we have some merch obviously for people who support the show and find t-shirts with clever sayings to give to your annoying friends who won't shut up about their broken hearts, then we have a T-shirt for you. And on a mask.

And on a mask. Got a bunch of stuff. So I feel like we rambled enough. Should we get right to Ricky? I feel like. Yeah, let's do it. Let's get to Ricky. Ricky. What's up? Welcome. Thank you. Glad to have you.

I've been looking forward to this for, for some time. I personally have been a fan of yours for a long time. You know, really if you follow football, which, which I do closely, you have been well-known in that space. And so, and, you know, following your career I've always found you really fascinating because you're someone who it seemed, I don't know you personally, but you have even then seemed to have like a lot of interests outside of football. And it, it seems like, you know a lot of the the players that you follow it it's whether they have other interests or not you don't really know about that it's football football

football and you've always been kind of and kind of expressive about that if oh it's always been kind of interesting for me to get to know you better so thanks for coming yeah no you know when i was a kid i remember sitting at home grew up in san diego sitting at home watching um notre dame football and because it was on nbc and there was something about college football that you know i i watched it and i said i gotta be a part of that and so with that you know probably 12 years old you know i decided i'm gonna be a college football player and And, and it wasn't really even about like being rich and famous. It was about what, what to me, college football, really amateur

sports represented is doing something competing for the love of the game. And so when I, in my life, when I got to college and I was able to play college football at a great university and even, you know, win the Heisman trophy, I didn't really have a plan after that. And so even you know win the heisman trophy i didn't really have a plan after that and so you know the way i approached it was everything else after that was kind of icing on the cake and so i went into the nfl you know quite naive that i could just be me and it would be fine and i realized that there's a certain expectation and for good reason that this is your job this is what you should be committed and dedicated to and i just wasn't really good at that i like you said i had too many other interests to to and i wasn't even good at being like the macho football player guy and so i kind of had to have other interests yeah i mean that's that's really even interesting to hear just because you hear so

much about you know people going you know if you play d1 football and and you're you're good there's even if you're not good there's always like i'm gonna play in the nfl like i literally what do i have to do to play and to hear you kind of be like i don't know i was just kind of playing yeah that's kind of that's fascinating um yeah and so was it pretty early on that when you were playing that you started tapping into some of these you know other interests that you had like sort of sort of kind of you know when i when i got i was drafted by the saints and when i got to new orleans um i had a lot of money i had a lot of money i had a lot of money and i had a lot of free time and so i was bored and so i was getting into a lot of different things

just to you know to pass the time i got into electronics and I got, I got into traveling. I got into a whole bunch of stuff, but nothing, nothing really stuck. And then my second year in new Orleans, I broke my ankle on my thousandth yard, you know, which was cool that I got to a thousand yards, but it was only week 10. So broke my ankle. And I kind of went through a depression where I, where my whole life, pretty much I'd been defined by being a really, really good football player. In my first two years in New Orleans, I was hurt so much that I had to start to redefine myself. And I think that's when I started to open my mind to other things. Did you feel like when you were playing that that was well received in that community?

Or were you a little more guarded by some of the things that you were enjoying outside of football the truth is when I when I got into the NFL college is one thing because you get into college you're 18 you're essentially a kid and you're and it's like a family you know your your friends are on the team and even the coaching staff and the support staff it's like a family and so so I, I loved college football. And then I went to the next level kind of thinking it would be the same and, and it wasn't. And so every day going into work, I was miserable. I felt so uncomfortable. So, so out of place. It was, it was, it was rough. And so later on, when I finally started to have other interests,

I kind of had a reputation for being different, but I was just so happy that I found something I was interested in that I really didn't pay too much attention to what people thought. And then soon after that, I ended up retiring and going away for a year at the height of my career. And then after that, people gave me free reign. They just said, this guy is out of his mind and so i got to just be me i kind of i kind of remember that i remember when you retired i remember it would being big news um you know obviously i mean you you made a you made a lot of headlines throughout your career you know when you're when you were drafted you know that the saints gave up their entire draft draft you then

your your contract made news wedding dress cover of cover of the magazine, everything. And, and then I remember you retiring and coming back. I do kind of remember that kind of like, you know, fuck it is Ricky's going to be Ricky. And like, and then we, people seem to,

it was weird. There's been a few other players like that in the NFL, but they have you, you, it's almost like you have to take the beating from the public perception. It's like, Oh, cause you know,

a lot of sports fans, like they always praise with this guy just loves football. And you know, that's all he eats, breathes football. And we know a lot of sports fans like they always praise oh this guy just loves football and you know that's all he eats breathes football and we did we as sports fans we don't like that you know we want our we see our players as like little madden players and if they're rated a 98 they have to play like a 98 you know it's like why did he drop the ball i don't he's human i don't know yeah i mean you know i've had this these thoughts many many times and you know on the positive side and i'm sure you you, I've had these thoughts many, many times. And, you know, on the positive side, and I'm sure, you know, you've had a taste of this. It is kind of cool when people project, you know, all these wonderful things on you. And there's perks to the job. But I got to a point where I just wanted to be not a normal person because you can't be normal and play professional football, but I just wanted to be a down-to-earth person that people could feel they could connect to. And I feel like once I gave it all up,

and I kind of feel like in the first Superman movie, when he gives up his superpowers and he becomes mortal again, that year I spent not being a football player in the middle of my career was the most exciting, exhilarating, adventurous, wonderful year of my life because I got to know myself. And I think, you know, becoming a superstar, a famous person at such a young age, you know, and loving the game of football, I don't think I had a chance to really get to know who I was outside of that. Well, we already talked about Truff and how great it is, how it will make all your meals delicious, whether you're a great chef or a shitty chef,

truff will make your dinners better. Also, if you are into the gift giving, you want to make someone who you maybe, you know, sometimes it sucks to tell someone they suck at cooking. So what you can do is give them a really great gift. It comes in these really fantastic box and have a great unboxing experience

for all your friends out there. And you can make them believe they're good cooks just like here here's some amazing sauce i love it i put on everything and then they will be a hero in the kitchen they won't even know they suck because now they're using trough each bottle ships pristinely packed and topped with troughs eye-catching black diamond shaped lid hinting at the truffle infused treasure inside it's got over 10 000000 five-star reviews. So, you know, it is great. It's the number one selling sauce on Amazon and Whole Foods nationwide.

So to get your trough now, get 10% off site-wide plus free shipping. We can use promo code V I A L L at trough.com. That's 10% off plus free shipping on everything, including white trough VIP box and trough variety pack. That's T-R-U-F-F-F as in fantastic.com and use promo code V-I-A-A. A lot of ways to meet your fitness goals, but there's no better way than Echelon. Because right now they are kicking ass in the connective fitness like fitness bikes, fitness mirrors, rower machines, and even their Echelon Strike Smart Treadmill. No matter what your favorite fitness activity, Echelon gives you a fun and challenging workout from the comfort of your home.

I have the Echelon bike. I love it. I use it. It's part of my routine. About three times a week I get on the old bike, and I love it. Mix it up from working out. Easier on my knees. The EX7S Echelon latest state-of-the-art innovation that takes cycling to the next level.

Ooh, yeah, it sure does. The EX7S connected bike is built with performance, flexibility, and durability in mind, and the EX7S is the bike for competitors at heart. It's got world-class instructors that will help you motivate you with thousands of online, daily, live, on-demand, studio-level classes always available when you need them. And you know what it's not as expensive as? Yeah, fuckoton it's not as expensive as peloton go save a buck get some six-pack abs while you're at it yeah you're gonna have more money to buy a donut after you ride a bike there you go go to echelonfit.com slash v-i-a-l-l that is e-c-h-e-l-o-n fit.com slash v-i-A-L-L, that is E-C-H-E-L-O-N, fit.com slash V-I-A-L-L. When you decided to retire at first, were you confident in your decision?

Were you pretty terrified or a little bit of both maybe? It's all of it. I mean, the decision, it was like a two-month process. So I remember my personal assistant at the time, she asked me to drive her daughter down from new york because her daughter was moving to florida and her daughter was really cute so i was like sure so so we we were driving down and i knew her daughter a little bit and she was always described as the actress okay so we're we're driving down long drive from new york to to miami and we're talking a lot during the drive. And I come to

realize she acted in like a play like six years ago, but she was still defining herself as an actress. And I thought that was I thought that was strange. And I was strange. And so I got home and next day I was I was getting in my car to go somewhere. And I lived on South Beach and I had a concierge. And the whole year the concierge would beg me, you know, there's a party coming up. Go to the party. But I'm like a homebody. So I'd always say no. This morning I was in a good mood. I was in a good mood. And so I said, you know, when's the next party? And this was like the week after Memorial Day.

So he said, you know, the parties are done in Miami. He said it's the it gets hot now. And so the season doesn't start up again until November. Okay. So these two things, one, this, this, this actress is not really an actress. And then this idea of seasons changing. So I had these, these thoughts going on in my head and I'm in the car and I'm, and I started thinking, cause I always think in the car, I started thinking about my football career and I start thinking, am I doing the same the car, I started thinking about my football career. And I started thinking, am I doing the same thing? Like at one point in my life, I was all in to be a football player. But now it doesn't really like feel like what I should be doing.

And that thought scared me to death because everything I'd been to that point in my life had been defined by being a good football player. It scared me to death. And the awareness I got was it's time to do something else. And I was afraid. And then the next thought was the season's over. The season's changed. And I started thinking maybe the season for me to be a football player is coming to an end. And now it's time for me to do something else. And having all these awarenesses, I got really excited to go home and call all my friends and to tell them I'm going to retire and go back to school and do something different. You know, I was excited. I called my friends and all of them across the board tell me I had lost my mind. I started rethinking and

thinking, OK, maybe they're right. You know, I only have this window. Maybe I should come back and play one more year. And so I convinced myself halfheartedly that I'd play one more year. And so I convinced myself half-heartedly that I'd play one more year. This whole while I'm in the NFL's drug program for failing a test for marijuana. And so the rules of the drug program is you get tested once a year in a window. And if you fail that one time, they put you in the drug program. And then you're tested nine times a month. Damn. That's still the case? They're tested nine times a month. Okay. So. Damn. And I was still the case.

They, they're not suspending players anymore. I think they might test still, but they're not, they're not, it's not anywhere as harsh for marijuana. Yeah. For marijuana.

Okay. It was, it was quite draconian. It was, it was very punitive. So, and you know, I was one of those guys where I was like,

we only get tested once a year. Anyone who fails that test is an idiot. Okay. So fast forward a year, I get traded from the Saints to the Dolphins. And in New Orleans, they tested us in training camp. In Miami, they tested us in the off season. And no one gave me that memo. So I failed the drug test and I get put in the program.

I'm being tested a whole bunch. And then second time you fail, you get fined four game checks, but it's still confidential. Third time, you get suspended four games and it becomes public. Yeah, okay. So I had failed the second test, but it was up for appeal as this is all going on.

And so in the back of my mind, I'm realizing I'm one failed test away from it becoming public. And I the deal I make with myself is if I fail another test that's a sign that I need to retire okay and if I don't then I'll play the season so in the football offseason we practice until June and then we have like a month and a half off until the training camp starts and so I was at home in Miami and had a month and a half off and I just was sitting around and I'm a really good friend of mine at the time was Lenny

Kravitz personal assistant and Lenny at the time happened to be in touring around Europe. And so she called me and she was like, Hey, if you're not doing anything, why don't you come join us on tour? Sounds like a blast. Yeah. And I was like, and I was sitting there and I was like, I was like, I should be sitting here like training, but I can't, I can't pass. Lenny wants to party in Europe. I hopped on a plane.

I met him in Vienna and I hung out with them for two weeks and I, I had the time of my life. But you know, if you think about it, I already considering retiring and then having this amazing time in Europe, you know, I started at this time, mid 27, 27, 27. And then having this amazing time in Europe, you know, I started at this time, mid 27, 27, 27. And then, okay. And then I fly back from, from hanging out on tour and I get a call from Bob Marley's younger brother, Robbie. And he's like, Hey, you know, taking my mom down to Jamaica. Do you want to come? And so

big Bob Marley fan. So I was like, sure. And so I went to Jamaica. Then I smoked, of course. But I took a drug test the day before I left. And I know in the NFL, it takes them seven days to send you back. The results. The results. I mean, my first wife has PTSD any time she sees a FedEx truck

because it was always FedEx truck a week later. With the results, you tear it open. And then it has a letter. Like a college application except like pass or fail. Exactly. I was in Jamaica and then I had, of course, had a friend call me and say, hey, I'm hanging out in the Bahamas.

Do you want to come hang out? So I was like, sure. So I got to the Bahamas. I was hanging out and I told my sister to go by the house to see if there was a FedEx because I knew it was a week since I took that test. And this is really the last test. If I would have passed this test, I probably would have played another year. So my sister calls and says, yeah, there's a FedEx. And I'm like, OK. And it just became real like right away. And I was sitting there and I was like, OK, what am I going to do?

What am I going to do? And so I went, I was at my friend's house. I went, I picked up the phone and I called, I called the NFL. And as the phone was ringing, I saw my whole life flash in front of my face and realize everything I had done meaningful in my life had somehow been attached to football. And I was about to give all of that up. And I did it. I called and I said, you know, I got the letter that said I failed the test. And I said, don't worry about it because I'm done. I'm retiring. And he said, are you sure? I said, yep. And I hung up the phone and next morning got on a plane and met Lenny in Tokyo. It was scary. But when I hung up the phone, I felt this huge weight lift off my shoulders like like I was free. Yeah. I mean, there's definitely a huge sense of freedom in that.

I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of people listening being like, oh, my God, crazy. I remember as a fan of football when you retired. I'm I'm sure I thought you were nuts. Right. Yeah. And yeah. And then there's also like this Weird the stigma with marijuana Even back in the day that wasn't even that long Ago in terms of if you were put in the Drug program because I don't even remember They wouldn't really release what it was like

It could have been steroids right or it Could have been like marijuana A drug that is now very legal In many states and it's Kind of a bizarre thing how that Dictated your life but just to The power you must have felt to give that up um and the freedom like i can i can do a lot of things without

without this like i i can i'll make it work i'll bet on myself i'll it's funny when i'm at the moment i retired the plan that i had developed on that one sunday morning when i was when i was driving was that i was going to go back to school and I was going to work and I was going to work with young people. Just reflecting on my life, realizing that especially college, college age kids, college athletes, it's, you know, I think of that time in life is the gateway really to the rest of your life and such a pivotal rite of passage. And I wanted to be a part of helping young men move through that rite of passage. So in my mind, I was going to go back to school and and pursue that path but and when i retired it was just the story was you know the big deal was that i retired at the height of my career but at the time one of my best friends was dan lebitard who wrote wrote for the miami herald he's got he had a show on espn

also and we had been talking over the years about one day writing a book together. And so, you know, after I retired, he wrote all the stories about my retirement and he made me sound amazing. You know, he made it sound like I was riding off into the sunset and I was it was a respectful thing to do. And, you know, I was taking care of my body. And then one night, Dan and I were talking on the phone. And and for some reason, you know, I mentioned to him that I had failed the drug test, you know, because it was, I was the only person that knew me and my sister. And I told him and he just started flipping out. And it's like,

I think the journalist in them got afraid that he was going to get scooped. And so he started freaking out on the phone and I was like, you know, why are you freaking out? He's like, I got it right. I got it right about you failing the drug test. And was like wait wait a minute I said I said we were talking to his like friend we were talking to his friends and now you're gonna and he said you know we hung up the phone and the next morning that's when the that's when the legend began the next morning I woke up to the you know to the reason I quit was because I failed the test you were thinking about this even before that it was that

the test was a catalyst really? Yeah. And so, and so it comes out and then, you know, at least the way I felt, you know, that kind of put a kibosh on my plans to go back to school. I didn't want to be that guy, you know, with all this negative media going back to school. And so a friend called and said she was, you know, she was traveling overseas. And I said, I'm going with you. It's a good time to get out of town. Don't follow football in Europe. Exactly, exactly. And it was the best thing I ever, I got away from it.

And I started to live really. And I got to meet people and have experiences with people who had no idea that I ever played football. And I started to really, for the first time in my adult life, get a more accurate reflection of who I was. And that year off, you know, I healed. I started eating better. I found yoga. I found astrology. I found my spiritual path. And as I was on that spiritual path, I learned about a Sanskrit word called Dharma. And that's like finding your purpose. And I realized that the way I left football, it was going to be difficult for me to achieve the things that

I wanted to achieve. And so I kind of had this awareness that I have to go back into the lion's den and do it the right way and walk away with some dignity. And I took everything I learned that year off and I came back, you know, I came back and I played another five years and I was able to walk away with my head held high. And I was able to get back on track and do the things that are really important to me. Yeah. And you had a fantastic kind of second stint. Yeah. And to tap it off, you know, where I have peace with it all because my last year i played for the ravens and i i got over 10 000 yards and so for me i feel like even though it was crazy and up and down and i still accomplished something on the field but actually i also got to live you know i

think so many players we we we work so hard to play as long as we can and then when we're done it's like our bodies are beat up a lot lot of times the way we, it ends, our confidence is beat up and it's difficult to start over. And I feel like I was lucky that I got a dry run. Yeah. I was just thinking about that. Yeah. You're kind of almost a cold open, a warmup if you will, for, for retirement. And I'm curious, well, because when you left for the year and you got to experience all that, even though it did prepare you for retirement, but you were kind of almost living,

you were living that life while playing the second time. When I came back, when I came back around, exactly. So, you know, so in the off season and days off, I went back to school. I was taking workshops. You know, I, um, I got really into body work craniosacral therapy and I became a massage therapist and I really spent all of my off time really building for my second life after my second retirement and when i retired the second time i hit the ground running theragun the world's greatest gift you know what makes me feel good

is that i brag about theragun and i got people dming me saying now they're heroes of their family they don't have to like give their spouses back rubs. Here, press this button. Magic. Whatever part of your body might be aching, Theragun is there to help. Whether you have a stress, tension, headache, and you can use it on my neck and it just helps me relax. Sometimes when I get tense, I shrug my shoulders and my neck gets tight. Theragun kicks the ass of any tension that you have in your muscles. Theragun is trusted by 250 professional sports teams like Real Madrid and elite athletes like Paul George, DeAndre

Hopkins, and many, many more. You don't have to take, in my advice, like a washed up high school track athlete. Like real athletes use it. Try Therag gun for 30 days starting at only $199 and i gotta tell you that is that's practically free with the value you're gonna get from your theragun go to theragun.com slash v-i-a-l-l right now and get the gen 4 theragun today that's theragun.com slash v-i-a-l-l theragun.com slash v-i-a-l-l i don't know if my audience will care about this but were you part of the original like wildcat? Yes, that was me and Ronnie Brown. Yeah, that was awesome. It was awesome.

I remember watching that one Sunday like, what is going on? This is awesome. It helped revive my career for sure. And then in Baltimore, they started running that a little bit with you. We ran a little Wildcat, yeah, in Baltimore. That was really cool. How did come how that created so um we had a coach um david lee who was at arkansas the previous year and he ran the wildcat with felix jones and darren mcfadden so he came on the staff and um we just had a really cool offensive staff coaching staff where they were open to all kinds of ideas and i remember we were in training camp and coach d lee got up there and said, I got something for you guys. And he started like

drawing this crazy stuff on the board. And at the time I was in my thirties. And so it was all this crazy high school stuff. And so I just sat back thinking to myself, I'm not going to be in, I'm not going to be in this play. Well, I'm done. And then he starts like saying, who's going to play which position. And, and, and I was actually the wild cat, the one that goes in motion. And so I was like, cool. You know, I get to be on the field because Ronnie and I both, both good running backs. We were able to share the field.

And then we would practice it maybe 10 plays a day, you know, 10 plays a day. And we start our season and we go, we're going to, and we're going up to new England to play the Patriots and not Wednesday and practice before the game, D. Lee gets up there again. He says, guys, this is the week.

We're going to pull it out. And, you know, we were thinking, this high school bull crap. But we said, you know, we're 0-2. We'll try it. And so we work on it all week. And we get up to New England. And we bring it out. And I think I have like, I think I had 90 yards.

Ronnie had 100 yards. And we beat it out. And I think I have like, I think I had 90 yards. Ronnie had 100 yards. And we beat him bad. And the best thing about that is watching Bill Belichick run up and down the sideline having no idea what was going on. And to see them confused. I mean, that's probably one of the brightest spots of my football career. I mean, were you literally across the sidelines just kind of watching it being like wow they're they're dumbfounded because you know what one of the things that made the patriots so so good is because they were always so prepared yeah so many times we'd be playing the patriots and they would know the play we were running

you know they would pick up on towels and i think belichick is just he just watches film like a hawk and he tries to pick up on every towel and every every clue he can get and so to see them utterly confused. That's really cool. Thanks for telling that story. It's a piece of football history. I mean, this last week, the Rams used it against the Packers. I mean, they don't use it as much, but you'll find it a package here and there.

And to be a kind of a part of that first time seeing it is a place in football history for sure. that first time seeing it is a place in football history for sure. And I'd also make the argument that that was really the entree to bringing the zone read back into the NFL. I mean, you saw it a lot in college, but it wasn't until people started seeing that you could run from the quarterback position more that it slowly eked its way back. Well, even still, the NFL was very old school.

We always do it this way and and it was the wild cut that kind of opened things up the game is way more college you're you know the innovation in the league now is not what it used to be even 10 years ago it was you know you're just your basic formations and you definitely were a huge part of that that's that's really cool yeah that's cool to think about it that way i think you mentioned astrology um and obviously cannabis use and that's something that is a big part of your life today yeah yeah and uh every morning i have my astrology book and my joint it's i'd love to talk more about that i i'm someone i don't talk a lot about it at all. Um, but, uh, I, I started smoking weed, uh, like five years ago. I was one of those kids. I was an athlete growing up, you know, not as successful obviously as you,

I ran, you know, and I ran track at Wisconsin. So I'd never touched a cigarette in my life. My grandpa died of emphysema. So I was just one of those kids. I used to joke to like dare work for me. Like, it was like, dare you turn green? Nope, not touching the stuff. And then, you know, I drank a little bit here and the stuff and then you know i drank a little bit here and there and then i just i don't like getting drunk i just would feel crappy and so like i'm out here and i'm just like well my friend you know and i had a little bit of weed that loosened me up and i'm like this is great i feel great in the morning i don't have there's no hangover i don't have to get drunk or anything and then you know i suffer from anxiety

so that i started just kind of using it as a way to just relax and calm myself down. And you have a lot of thoughts on obviously cannabis use in a more like medicinal way, not necessarily even recreational. And I'd love to to talk about that just because there's there's so many kind of stereotypes around that. Right. And, uh, I really like to break down, you know, stereotypes or things that people are misinformed about on the show and, and learn a bit. I'm sure you could probably teach me more about it as well. You know, interesting thing is, you know, the story you just told about how you started using cannabis is eerily similar to me and it doesn't seem like it now, but, but I was the same thing. I was an athlete and wouldn't touch anything until i got into college and i saw that the other guys on the team were doing it and so

i kind of did it just to fit in but i didn't really experience anything major i felt relaxed yeah but my senior year um my girlfriend for two years and i broke up which was tough and then she started dating starting quarterback on the football team and so it was yeah yeah it was it was really rough and and so i was miserable i was obsessing about it was bad and one day my roommate was like dude you gotta chill and so he he was a smoker and so he had me he had me take a couple hits from his bong and it was the first night i wasn't obsessing about about my ex and that was the first time i was like okay there there's there's something to there's something to this and and you know i would just smoke every once in a while and then i was in new orleans

and things just got really stressful and really bad and i found the thing that helped me was after work i come and smoke let it all go wake up in the morning i could do it again and i kind of got into it was like a self-care routine but this was in the early 2000s before anyone, at least outside of California was talking about medicinal marijuana. And so I was experiencing relief. It was it was more than relief, because that, you know, there were certain times after, after work that I'd smoked that I'd look at my life differently, you know, I would look at my life differently. I would look at the kind of father I was or the kind of boyfriend I was or the kind of teammate I was and I would want to be better. And so this reflective quality I felt was great for me,

being an introvert and also suffering from anxiety. And so I just found that this was doing a lot for me, but I didn't have the language or understand what was going on. So I just took on all the negative stereotypes. And then when I got into the drug program and was being tested 10 times a month and having to go talk to a drug therapist, then it was really confusing because they're trying to tell me I have a problem. but my experience is i see all the other guys that are drinking and doing all these things and i just go home and you know smoke and play madden like i'm not doing i'm and i'm and i'm carrying the ball 40 times on sunday and you know like i'm not hurting anyone it's even here hearing you that story because for me i i didn't start

using it till later in my life and i i use it a decent amount now you know even a little bit at night smoke just take a little hit just get a nice relaxation i'm not like fucked up or anything it's just a nice chill maybe pop in a movie hit a hot tub whatever play video games but i remember again you playing i remember you being the programmer for other players and it was i had this very judgmental kind of like opinion of anyone, you know, because you're just taught drug, drugs are bad.

And you put these labels on. And then I'm here like in the past five years of my life, thinking like, and again, very, I don't abuse it. It's just very, and it's just like,

wow, that I could be doing these things with all these labels if let's say I was playing or something or I had a job that tested or whatever and it became public. What people would say about me for doing something that helps my anxiety, calms me down, sometimes I can feel more creative sometimes

and I find it to be very, very positive. And it's, it's kind of wild how we as a society can turn one thing. And yet, you know, I find that alcohol to be a wild thing because we, we grew up in a country where, you know, have a beer with me, man, have a drink with me. And if you like turn it down, you're, you're the outsider. You're like, why are you so weird? You're not going to drink with me. And yet that's the, that's not only okay. That's like a rite of passage. And yet I just find it to be like a bizarre thing since I, I drink less and less and we'll indulge in a little bit of marijuana.

Well, you know, to me, this is one of the great things about life. It really wasn't that long ago where people were being thrown into jail and penalized and lives ruined and things have changed things have changed fast so less people have to suffer for for taking care of themselves and it also goes just to the the how we evolve you know there's certain things we're ignorant to and keeping an open mind we can see more clearly and hopefully we keep making changes because you've kind of studied like the medicinal uses of it i mean i just use it regulation but you what are some things that if people do use it or they've thought about using it what are what advice do you have for them or

the best way the first the first advice that i tell everyone is when you start take one hit yeah one yeah one just take one hit and put it down. One. Just take one hit and put it down. A baby hit. Yes. Take one hit and put it down. That's the first advice because it's like anything, you know. So I've traveled a lot and I've actually studied cannabis medicinally, but also kind of spiritually in studying the history of how cannabis has been used.

And it was used as a spiritual sacrament. And the idea of a spiritual sacrament. And the idea of a spiritual sacrament is, you know, we spend most of our days, you know, working, taking care of stuff. But, you know, it's nice to have some time where we, you know, even if it's looking at the sky, we just connect to something, to something larger. And, and anyone who's experienced cannabis as you noticed, like, like I said, the first time time i used it things that were had me tied up in knots and i was worried about i got a reprieve i got a reprieve um and in this reprieve um it can serve as an escape and it does it does that extremely well but it also serves as an opening to to creativity or to inspiration to come in and uh and in my sense is with cannabis or any psychedelic

you know what they've shown is it's about set and setting so it's about your mindset and the environment you're in when you when you engage in it and i think because it was considered a drug and taboo for so long that people have lost the respect for cannabis as a as a sacrament and and realizing that it's powerful medicine, you know? And if it's used right, if it's used consciously, it can lead to healing and opening. And if it's used unconsciously, you know, it can lead to delusion. And so that's why I say start with one hit and see. And also the other thing I tell people is it was a sacrament.

So it's like, don't just, you know, don't just don't just consume, like do something. Right. So, you know, whether it's hanging around people that you enjoy talking to or reading, reading a book or taking a walk or spending time in nature, it's, you know, cannabis opens up, opens up your senses. opens up your senses. So like do something with it. And so I'm a big proponent of, you know, simple little rituals, right? Is someone, you know, I don't like to just smoke just to smoke. And so again, my morning rituals, I'll wake up and I'll have a joint and I'll study, you know, I'll do my morning scripture reading, you know, reading my favorite astrology book. I mean, as a player, like there are obviously a lot of, you know reading the my favorite astrology book I mean is a player like there were obviously a lot of you know pain medications and then opioids and it is a country do you find that to you know be an alternative a more kind of less invasive than more traditional drugs that are heavily abused and damaging to their people's bodies there's no doubt in my mind so

probably my second year my second year Miami was in the training room one day and I was watching the guys come into the training room one by one to get their shot of toward all like and strong insane anti-inflammatory pretty damaging drug yeah I mean especially if you're taking it every day you know and I started to realize wow like you know this this game is so brutal. We're having to take take this shot or take this pill on a daily basis just to practice. And I and I challenged myself. I said, OK, I want to see how long I can go in the season without having to take these these pain pills. And I started stretching. I started spending more time warming up. I started incorporating. I mean, I can only smoke a tiny bit because i was being tested but i started incorporating cannabis into my routine and i found

i could go the whole year without having to take those capsules because when you take those pills it's like they shut you off to the awareness of your body so that you can perform which is helpful but i find with cannabis it does the opposite it turns you on to the awareness of your body so that you can be so that you can attend to it. And I found using cannabis helped me stay healthier and helped me play until I was 34. And I walked away from the game at 34 for a running back is that's like playing to 43 as a quarterback. Yeah, exactly. And I probably could have played in another two years. I know I know Baltimore would have loved to have had me back. And you were someone who took a pounding in college too. You've had a lot of wear on those tires.

So you played a really long time. It kind of speaks to what you just talked about. I think cannabis, but also yoga and meditation. Really, it's just taking care of myself. And I think for each person, taking care of ourselves is going to look is going to look different. And I was motivated because my body was beat up and to start to find alternative ways to to take care of my body. That's really cool. Horoscopes. Yes. You're obviously it's huge into that. It's a big focus on on your new podcast, which is called Curious Questions with Ricky Williams. I don't know much about it. I mean, my my knowledge of horoscopes is just through women I've dated, uh, things in magazines,

pop culture, obviously. Uh, but you, you take it very seriously. It's you study it, you know, a lot about it. Um, and how did you get into it? And, you know, without, you know, spending hours talking about it what can we learn a little bit in this time and this this is the challenge because it's it's such a vast such a vast subject um but i found it this time i retired and i was traveling and i came back to the states and i i kind of realized i don't really have a skill you know i've been a football player my whole life i don't know what i'm going to do and so i thought i like making people feel better and i'd heard about ayurveda and so i started to study it and while i was studying ayurveda we were taking yoga classes so it was my first introduction to yoga and i just loved it and so one of the yoga teachers came up to me and she said i heard you

were a football player i'm curious as to where your mars is so mars is the planet of aggression and i didn't know what she was talking about. I was like, I have no idea what you, but I said, sure. And so she said, do you know what time you were born? And I have a twin sister. So our birth time is kind of part of the family story. And so I was like, sure. And so she put it on her computer laptop and we sat down

and we had the most amazing two hour conversation. And this woman who I had known for 30 seconds, you know, before, before this interaction, I felt that she, she saw me and connected to me more clearly than anyone, anyone in my life. And you could describe yourself as an introvert and you're a unique person. And do you, before that, even maybe that moment, did you always feel like the average person never fully understood you or made assumptions about you? And you almost felt like this person who you barely knew really saw you. And then you could just be yourself. Exactly. Especially being famous and people, that's just another layer. It's already difficult to really know someone, but you add fame there,

it's another buffer. And so this feeling of, wow, I feel really seen and keep in mind, I had just given up everything in my life a couple months previous. So I was in a very tender, vulnerable place. And to get this kind of clarity at a time where I was so hungry for it, I just became fascinated at studying and understanding whatever, whatever she used to have that kind of insight. And so, you know, that was 2004. And I, since then, you know, I've like, I don't think a day has passed by where I haven't at least, you know, spent a half an hour thinking about, thinking about astrology. And so, so the big question is what, what is astrology? A metaphor I came up with the other day is in football.

Okay. When we're playing, we're playing the Packers. Okay. We're playing the Packers on Sunday. Wednesday, we come in for our team meeting and we get this packet about this thick of a scouting report. Okay. And we go through the scouting report and we know on first down, right? On first down Packers defense blitzes 30% of the time.

Okay. They play cover three, 20% of the time and and they play cover one 40% of the time. So we have a very good idea what we're going to see. We still have to prepare and execute, but we have a good idea of what we're going to see. And I think this is how to think of a horoscope or an astrological chart. And I think this is how to think of a horoscope or an astrological chart. I think it's abused and misused when it's used to describe people. I think at its best, it describes circumstances that you're going to have to face.

That's really interesting to think about because I'm not being into astrology. I guess you could call me a skeptic or even a, not even a critic, but a skeptic of astrology. Cause the, the average person, but do you believe in astrology and it's people treated like a yes or nah, you know? And it's an, that's an interesting analogy and I, and I love analogies, but it's like people treat horoscopes as if, can you predict the final score of a football game? Right. And you're like, well, no, that's insane. You can't, but I could give you a nice game plan and i can tell you a pretty good idea how it might look yes you know and you know shit happens yes but uh that's a really interesting way of looking at it the tradition of of astrology has a reputation of being deterministic but you know especially in

the west it's not going to work and so the kind of astrology i i practice and and the way i understand it it it's empowering and it empowers you to have free will an example i use is when i was a kid um my mom she believed in spankings no no no she believed in whoopings okay and so and so my you know one of my only chores was to take the trash out to the street on Friday morning. And I knew that if I didn't, you know, chances are I was going to get a whooping. Okay. So this is like astrology, right? Is that if I know, and I remember to do my chore and take the trash out, I'm fine. If I forget, I'm going to get a spanking. I have free will inside of that, inside of that situation. Right. I can either take care of my responsibility or I cannot. And astrology is like that is we have free will, but you know, if you,

especially if you've been around kids, right. Certain things, certain kids gravitate towards, right. That other kids don't. Right. There, you know, we, we have a constitution. We have, you know, things that are already predetermined about our behavior. And I think astrology can give you insights into that. That's very interesting. And now I just have more questions about we talk a lot about relationships on this podcast. And a lot of times in astrology, people will say, well, are you a Libra and a Gemini? Oh, you're great together or you're bad together. And that sounds crazy.

That's bullshit. Yeah. Yeah. But what I'm hearing from you, it sounds like because we love languages or all these other personality tests is like in a way, it's just a way to better understand your partner. Maybe I'm guessing you could probably find ways to maybe communicate in conflict or what makes them happy or what makes them sad exactly uh so it sounds like you could probably use these tools uh if you understood your horoscope to better understand yourself and then therefore maybe your partner yeah i mean i found by far the best use of astrology for me has been navigating relationships like hands down not even close because it's so it's so applicable and you see

you see that you see the results. All right. I'll give you an example. OK, hopefully it's not too too jargony. Basic, basic astrology. OK, astrology. There's three basic symbol systems. OK, the first one we call signs, which most people know, Aries, Taurus. The next we call planets, you know, and we consider the sun and the moon planets. And then the third is what we call houses. Okay. And if you understand those three things, then you can do it. You can do astrology. Okay. And so what planets represent is our parts of us. Okay. So for instance, the sun, which everyone knows where their sun is, that's their sun sign is about how we shine, our sense of self, our identity identity and the symbolism is sun is the

center of the solar system everything revolves around the sun we wouldn't be here if there was no sun we would have flown off into the galaxy and so the sun in our chart is our ego it's what keeps all of us together okay all right and so and all the other planets representing parts of ourselves and and so that when you look at someone's birth chart, you get a sense of if I'm talking about when's your birthday? September 28. Okay, so you're a Libra. Yeah, you said that. Okay. So how fascinating. All right, fascinating. So this type of astrology is called evolutionary astrology. And so it means that we're here to become to reach our full potential is one way to short speak to say it

and so sun and libra is you're here to reach the full potential of libra and libra the scales is about serenity at the core libra is about serenity and what do you mean by that because i always heard balance so it's equilibrium okay equilibrium isrium is another word that. So if you imagine two people, right, two of your good friends. OK. And one of them is a staunch liberal and the other is a staunch Republican. OK. And you care about both of these people and they're yelling at each other. OK. They're going back and forth and they're yelling at each other. OK. back and forth and they're yelling at each other. Okay. The impulse of Libra, right, of the scales is to be able to, it's like a gift to be able to find that middle point between those two and offer it up, right? Because if they could both see where they were both saying the same thing,

then they're not going to be arguing and fighting anymore. And there's going to be peace or serenity, right? So the Libra dynamic is to be able to hold essentially two opposite truths that on one level could be seen as polarizing or conflicting and actually see what they have in common. And our ability to do that in life is the key to having peace of mind. And so, you know, Libra gets a reputation for being the artist, but that's the same mechanism but applied to colors and shapes right seeing the balance and how they go together where you're like

yeah you know another thing to think about balance if you ever played with scales right they're finicky and to find that balance it takes like it takes work and it just takes a gust of wind to throw that to throw that balance off and so the. And it just takes a gust of wind to throw that balance off. And so the work of Libra is how do we constantly maintain that balance. Yeah, I mean, it's very fascinating to hear you say that. I've always been the friend who the both sides. What are the both sides? I mean, there's common ground.

Let's find the common ground. Let's mix it up. And it's interesting to hear you say that's here's let's put it into real life of real life context and so let's so what i'm saying is a libra is is on this earth to figure out that dynamic okay and so let's say this libra is so a shadow side of libra is is indecisiveness because if you see how choice one could work and choice two could work uh how do you know which to make and you know if you choose one that this person is going to be pissed and if you choose this this person is going to be pissed and so it's it's tough when i think

about the the work of libra um i feel like especially what's going on in the world right now you know but it feels like almost a civil war is that we we need more of this impulse to find to find common ground and so let's say someone's born with a libra and they're born in a family where um two two scenarios one they're born in a family where the mother and the father are always fighting okay always fighting okay this libra is going to be an expert an expert at trying to to navigate two people fighting and probably grow up and with some self-esteem issues because the parents could never seem to get along no matter what the kid did okay so that kid's going to have a different relationship with the libra energy because of nurture right that you can call

the signs nature you can call the environment nurture so this kid is going to have a different relationship all right next kid grows up in a family where he never ever hears his parents say a bad word right never sees him fight when the parents fight they go off to the car or they go somewhere else and they they hide that right this kid is going to grow up having a difficult time with any kind of conflict because he's a Libra and he wasn't exposed to conflict at a young age. And so he's going to manifest more of that shadow side of Libra of being extra indecisive because he doesn't want to upset anyone.

And so that's why astrology can't really describe a person. It can only describe the kinds of things that you're wrestling with that you're figuring out. Definitely. You shouldn't read your horoscope and decide if there's a guy or girl who you like, whether you should go on a second date with them. And that sounds like maybe if to really use it to benefit any of your relationships with friends, colleagues, you know, romantic relationships, it's something you use with someone you're actually in a relationship with. Like, it can't really really it doesn't seem like it'd be very useful in a early dating situation or maybe it was how would you use it could be so so I I

recorded a one of my curious quit one of my podcasts earlier today and the guy I was talking to something in astrology we call the rising sign. And what the rising sign represents is the first impression you make on someone. Okay. And it might hide who you really are or it might accentuate who you are. It just depends. Okay. One of the ways you can use the ascendant, and this would be an application in dating, is as an icebreaker. Okay.

That the ascendant gives me information about someone of how I can show them that I'm okay, that I'm safe, that I smell right, right? That their guard can come down. And so Scorpio is a lot about intensity and honesty. And oftentimes people with Scorpio rising get a reputation for being too pushy, trying to make people deal with their stuff,

trying to make people deal with the stuff, trying to make people deal with the truth. What I did with them is I asked them a question that was a deep pointed question that sent the message that you're allowed to go there with me. Okay. So in dating, if we understand how to, how to disarm the other person so that we can really get to see who's, who's there. And also it gives us information about so if i think of the sun in someone's chart my wife is a pisces okay and when i first the first time i met her i wasn't even picking up on her but i'm an astrologer so i said what's your sign and she said pisces and i was like oh the mystic and she looked at me and she's like i'm a corporate

attorney okay but i write we must love those moments where someone tells you and you're just like, well, let's find out. So we keep talking throughout the night and I start talking about this weird spiritual stuff that I like to talk about. And she's following me like beat for beat, beat for beat. And I'm like,

okay. And you know, a year later she quits her corporate attorney job and becomes the CEO of a cannabis company, which is very Pisces. And so I think coming back to relationships, I think the power of astrology in relationships is we can more consciously activate our partners, because usually in relationships, it's it's unconsciously activating and usually triggering our partners. But when we have a clear sense of who this person is, what energizes them, what gets them down, what excites them, then we're in a better position to be a better partner. And my idea about this sign and this sign, I believe that any two people can make it work,

but it's nice to know what's going to be required to make it work. If you know the playbook, then you'll better understand what to do. Or you'll know, this woman is amazing and she turns my body on, but I'm not sure if this is the kind of relationship that's going to work. In the long run, I can really be what she needs. It's a bad matchup. Exactly. And a bad matchup exactly yeah in in a

bad matchup meaning you're not willing to put the effort in to do the work to meet the person where they are this is really i have a whole i have a whole different perspective on on horse okay yeah back to my example so neptune planet neptune is the planet of spirituality okay so whenever neptune interacts with the planet in your chart it usually means you need to lose something because you've, you've misidentified your, yourself as something you're not. And so Neptune comes around and, and through some kind of synchronicity, whatever you're holding onto is it's, if it's not truly yours, it's going to find a way to disappear. Okay. So, uh, beginning of COVID Neptune enters the area of my chart that has to do with relationships.

And so a typical typical interpretation is ending of relationships or spiritualizing of relationships. Right. If the relationship is too base and it doesn't meet my spiritual needs, the chart says that relationship needs to go. If it does, then we can deepen that. All right. And so I'm married to a Pisces. So Neptune and Pisces are like very similar. So I'm like, okay, I'm good. So COVID hits and our revenue streams start to dry up. And my wife's a double Capricorn, so very resource minded. Okay. And so she starts to get nervous about resources and I'm like laid back Gemini. So I'm like, we'll be fine. You know? And of course, right. Of course. Um, you know, I, I happened to look at her phone and she gets a text message from her billionaire ex-boyfriend. Okay. From her billionaire ex-boyfriend

and she's pissed at me about financial stuff. And so I'm like, okay. And normally, you know, I would see that I would get pissed off but i knew neptune was was entering my my seventh house and so i had to have a serious talk with myself and say if she's that concerned about finances and not about the spiritual work that i'm here to do then maybe it's time for this for this relationship to go and and that was that you know it was hard to hold that attitude but but i felt i felt because I believe in astrology. I felt solid and wanted to hold yourself accountable. I felt exactly.

I felt solid in that in that awareness. And so I went up to her and I said, listen, if you really feel you need to go see him, like you have my you have my blessing. And I'm not just saying that I won't hold it against you. I think it's important that you have that experience to know if this isn't the kind of life you want, then honor yourself. Yeah. And and at the same time, I said, you know, this might be a good indication that as a as a family, we should start meditating more together. OK. And she agreed. So we started meditating twice, twice a day as a family.

And this is another indication of Neptune. You need to bring more spirituality into your relationships. So we started meditating as a family together. And she decided not to go see her ex. And we came together. And it was magic. It was magic. And I know if I didn't have that information and I saw that text message,

my insecurities would have got the best of me. And would have flipped i would have flipped yeah i would have been like go and don't come back it's funny so many people like we say cliche things that we mean right like what are you looking for in a partner i want the my want what make me a better person or bring out the best in me and that is great but we don't really do anything after we say it it sounds great how do you do that and it sounds like at least for you through astrology, that's helped you do that, right? It's helped you find and connect with your partner. And then when conflict happens, face it head on, but in a way that you can not necessarily push her buttons that will set her off or yourself off, but push her buttons that might bring her back and connect with

you and i think in relationships that which what's what we all want right it's because we're we want to push each other's buttons otherwise you're just fucking bored you you said it and that's why that the gemini's and libras get along it doesn't work because they'll be bored right they'll be bored if there's too much harmony in a relationship and i think you know my my astrology teacher says the the those harmonious connections in astrology they make friends right friends but those tense aspects those tense signs and relationships they create passion you know and do you want to do you want a relationship where you're only friends do you want a relationship where there's only passion or would you like a mixture of a little bit of yeah exactly yeah and again you just want to push your buttons so that like you don't push

your buttons just to like to fight but like to motivate each other just bring something out or you know like you you want to be held accountable or or you know and have that person that does that so it's it's fascinating um yeah i have a whole do it's like my understanding of astrology before that is like what does does Cosmo say? Yeah. Yeah. Another interesting kind of sign story. So my, my, so my wife, she has a lot of Capricorn, I'm a Gemini.

And so you can think of Capricorn is like the, the old grandpa. And you can think of Gemini as a little kid running around everywhere, you know, and the grandpa's like, I can't keep up. And so a fight that my wife and I have, we don't have it so much anymore but we had a lot in the first couple years of our relationship is whether to lock the car door or not you know so like i'm gemini like kind of free-wheeling like you know if someone steals this because we we it was our karma we had it coming to us okay and she's capricorn like very you know capricorn is winter like you, survive the winter.

So we can be somewhere like. It's more like that's on us if we don't lock our car. Yes, exactly. And so we can be like way off in the woods where there's not anyone for miles, you know, and we'll get out. And she's like, can you lock the door? And I'm like, who's going to, who's going to, like, there's not even anyone, you know. But we learn, right. I appreciate she's a Capricorn And so that's just who she is and she realizes that I'm just more laid-back and we respect that about each other

And so it doesn't turn into fights We realized to give each other each other space to become more of who we are That's great man, and we could probably talk a ton more about this But if you are interested in learning more about astrology, you should check out Ricky's podcast curious questions with Ricky Williams he you do readings on your guests and then you well and have that be a catalyst for actually don't what I do is I in the intro I'll look at the chart and all and I'll just speak to what jumps out at me what catches my attention and then I won't necessarily share it with the guest it'll just guide

the questions that I ask and then at the end I kind of tie it back and talk about, you know, what I, what surprised me, what I, and what I learned. That's really cool. Uh, well, if you are interested in learning more about, uh, about it, uh, check out, uh, Ricky's podcast, curious questions, Ricky, before I let you go, we play this stupid fun game with our guests. This is called Do You Know Me? Yes. Are you willing to play? I'm willing. Great.

It's real simple. It's called Do You Know Me? I'll ask these questions. Don't answer right away. Okay. Chrissy and I will guess the answer. If you have a story that goes along with the answer to your question, like, yeah, I did that or i haven't done that and here's why yeah feel free to share if not no big deal do you know me with ricky williams question number one this one's real simple does ricky think that pineapple belongs on a pizza does ricky believe that pineapple

i believe i i don't i feel like ricky i figured you wouldn't ricky's carefree he i don't think he has a strong opinion about it but he'll definitely be down and he's not judgmental like i would be how it has no place on pizza but But I understand why people like it. It belongs on pizza, 100%. So I'm going to say he's down for some pineapple. I am down. I am down, and I do have a story. I do have a story. It's related to something that we spoke earlier.

This was the first time that I got drunk. First time I got drunk. And I was a junior. I was a junior in high school down in San Diego, and one of my closest friends, Steve, was a senior. And his brother was at school at Azusa Pacific up here in L.A. And we drove to meet his brother. And I thought I was the coolest guy hanging out at a college bar, shooting pool, drinking Foster's beer.

I remember pounding Foster's, eating pizza that had pepperoni and pineapples on it. And my first hangover, I vomited pineapples from the pizza. Can you still eat it? I couldn't eat it for about five years. And actually, true story, the first time I probably had it in a couple of years was a week ago. Do you ever have jalapeno pepperoni? I love jalapeno on everything. Yeah.

Yeah. Same. Question number two. Does Ricky know the rules of chess? Yes. Yes, he does. I'm going to say yes as well. Yeah.

Yeah, I do. Do you play often? I played. I learned when I was. Yeah. Yeah, I do. Do you play often? I played. I learned when I was a kid. Our neighbor taught me. And the last time I played, I did a reality show. I did Celebrity Big Brother. And we had a pool table and a chess set.

And that's it. And so, yes. How did you do on that show? I feel like you would have done so good. I came in second. It was funny. You came in second. Yeah, I came in second. And was funny. You came in second. Yeah, I came in second.

Interestingly, I got zero, zero votes. So I came in second, but I had zero votes. Because I think I tricked everyone. Everyone thought I was just low key. And as they got out of the house and they realized what I was doing behind the scenes, they were all kind of salty. And it backfired. But I was happy to finish second.

I think it's pretty good. And I had a wonderful time. That's great. Question number three. It's a sports question. Does Ricky think LeBron is a better player than Jordan? No. Yeah.

You're from my generation. I'm a Michael Jordan guy. And I think it's very generational. And more than generational, Michael jordan definitely is the goat and no disrespect to lebron but uh i feel like you're gonna agree with me i would agree in the sense of if there was no michael jordan there would be no lebron james is that you know michael jordan it wasn't only he was a great player but he he changed what it meant to be a great player in basketball and i don't that's hard to yeah and you know and i watched the last dance which i feel like most sports fans did and after that

i was even a bigger fan and i couldn't yeah that's it was a mentality it was the it was the person michael jordan was like how do like, how do you do what? That's not replicable. Yes. And all the athleticism in the world, which he had plenty of, is secondary to that. Question number four. Has Ricky ever failed a class? Hmm. Hmm.

I'm going to say yes, because if he wasn't interested in it or passionate about it, maybe he didn't care about it. That's a great answer. That's a really good answer. I don't know if I could disagree with that answer, but it doesn't mean he did. Yeah, he just seems like a guy, like once he's passionate about it he gets into it but if he's not passionate about it he ain't got time yeah so so it's interesting i i never failed a course that i finished okay but i dropped i dropped i know the classes where i took withdrawals that i never finished okay and so i have a lot of f's a lot of f's but never like you said never a class that I was engaged in.

But the same way I left the NFL, I left school a couple of times and didn't come back. Okay. Two more. Can Ricky name five books in the new Testament? I don't even know if I can't, I grew up Catholic. I can't. I'm going to say yes. I mean, he's, he studies astrology, which is obviously not the same, but you know, there's a, he probably does some historical work and, and you kind of have to know there's probably still similar.

All religions have similarities. I'm going to say yes. All right, let's go with yes. Yes. So I, uh, my mom's, um, mother was a minister. My dad's mother was a minister. So, so, you know, I's go with yes. Yes. So my mom's mother was a minister. My dad's mother was a minister. So you know your Bible. I better, yes.

Yeah, you know your Bible. Catholics don't know their Bible. Like, I went to church every Sunday. I grew up with priests and nuns, but we don't know our Bibles like other- But you didn't bring your Bible to church with you. Yeah, we didn't quote scripture. You know, it's different. Yeah, we got a spanking if we didn't

have our bible at church uh final question has ricky ever been stood up on a date nah he's too good looking and he was an athlete in in you know college i mean i would like to meet that girl i would like to meet that girl flat up you like to meet that girl. Flat up. You know what I mean? Like stood up. I'm sure you've been rejected before at some point, but flat up no show. One time. One time. One time. Wow. And just, of course, these questions are cool.

It just came back to me. So this was after I retired. I was taking workshops, international workshops, and I took a workshop in Rome. There's this attractive young lady there. And it was cool because, you know, everyone there was foreign. So it was kind of like this cool, exotic experience. And I was like, I've never been out with someone from another country before. And so I just asked her if she wanted to meet and chat for dinner. and she said yeah we'll meet at the in front of the elevators at six

and she never showed do you ever find out yeah we we ended up becoming friends later on um but yeah it was it was the first time an humbling experience i was 35 It was the first time. It was very humbling. Yeah. Those are good moments to have in our lives. Yeah, it was, but it was humbling, but also I was, you know, I was proud of myself for the courage to, to put myself out there in a foreign land with foreign people. It was cool adventure. That's great. Ricky, it's been an absolute pleasure talking to you. I really appreciate you, uh, teaching me more about astrology.'m i'm far more fascinated than i've ever been and i've had other people try to get me into astrology so so thank you just thank you for that if you are interested in learning more about it and listening to ricky's podcast curious questions with ricky williams

uh make sure to check that out is it out now or is it dropping it's drop it drops first week in february oh so first week in february can find it on, I'm assuming, all podcasts. Wherever you listen to this podcast, you can find Ricky's podcast. This is our exclusive with Ricky. Oh, this is our exclusive. Yeah. We're the place to be. We're hitting it, telling everybody he's got a podcast.

Be sure to check out. Be sure to send your questions at AskNickAtCastMeOut.com,'s got a podcast. Be sure to check out, be sure to send your questions at asknickacastme.com, cast with a K. I feel like maybe, Ricky, if you ever want to come back, you should come on our Ask Nick episodes. It'd be a lot of fun

answering people's relationship problems. I'd love to. Yeah, so we'll bring you back for that. That would be so good. It's a popular show we have and I think that'd be a lot of fun with you. So if you're into it, we'd love to have you back. I'm definitely into it.

Other than that, subscribe. Rate us five stars for that fun stuff. We will see you in the next one.