(news) In his two seasons in Detroit, Williams drove head coach Doug Collins to distraction, but he played well for the Pistons, averaging 16.2 points and 8.9 rebounds his first season. But, not surprisingly, Williams didn't care for Detroit. Not to live around the Great Lakes is not to understand. It's not only the snow and cold. One can go weeks without seeing the sun. Brian Williams' life was lived in sunshine. So this is what he did: He purchased a gigantic fish tank -- the size of one wall -- for his home. He loaded it with all sorts of tropical fish and then got himself some snorkeling gear. After practice, Williams would go home and stick his head in the tank and imagine he was snorkeling in the South Pacific. He'd come to practices and tell his teammates about his adventures in his tank and how it took him out of feeling of being locked in the Midwestern winter.
This message is posted in tribute to one of the great crazy athletes of our time, former Bull Brian Williams, missing and feared dead in the South Seas. Many athletes (like many people) are crazy, but there is something special that defines a truly great 'crazy athlete': you can see the traces of higher education floating around in his head, but he was never in a classroom long enough for professors to guide the assorted elements into a whole; and so, a special brand of crazy is born, one born of long hours spent running around with nothing much to think about and the insularity / impunity (or, crazy[b], dreams of impunity) afforded by money, fame and the protection of the sports industry. Some turn vicious, but others achieve a strange, inexplicable beauty. (Hence, Ray Lewis is an athlete who is crazy, Rod Smart is a crazy[b] athlete, and Brian Williams is - or, sadly, was - a crazy athlete.)
