So Ricky Williams apologized. Well, at least he did that much. Maybe this is just what was needed for him to have the chance to grow up and accept responsibility.

Meanwhile, John Ed Bradley is still feeling the repercussions.

Bradley wrote the Sports Illustrated story which painted Williams as immature and unappreciative and quoted him ripping everyone connected with the Saints from the offensive line to new head coach Jim Haslett to Saint fans.

Bradley, who was a standout center at LSU, has received all kinds of hate mail following the story. He says that Williams’ family released his private numbers.

In an e-mail addressed to Saint fans posted on the New Orleans Saints fan archive via the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Bradley answers his critics.

&uot;I’ve been working as a newspaper and magazine reporter since 1979 and this is the most unsettling experience I’ve ever been through,&uot; Bradley wrote.

Bradley said he was approached by his editors at Sports Illustrated about doing the story on Williams last December.

&uot;I was ambivalent about accepting the assignment,&uot; Bradley wrote. &uot;I’d been an admirer of the way Williams played football, but I’d heard and read the many unflattering stories about him. In only months Williams went from being the most celebrated college football player in the country to being a troubled, banged-up and much-maligned pro. Late in the 1999 season some of his coaches, teammates and fans turned against him, and local reporters, I believed at the time, had unfairly cast him as strange, childish and immature.&uot;

Bradley said the Saints’ media relations department refused to help him so he contacted Leland Hardy (Ricky’s agent) by telephone.

&uot;Hardy told me to write a detailed query letter explaining who I was and what my intentions were, Bradley wrote. &uot;He also asked me to provide a sampling of the questions that I intended to ask Ricky. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that the letter would be posted without my permission in an Internet chat room, along with my e-mail address and unpublished telephone number.&uot;

Bradley said he was mystified by Williams when they first met.

&uot;At times he was rude and sullen, at other times vague and distant, at still others condescending,&uot; he wrote. &uot;For more than an hour he avoided my questions about football and his rookie season in New Orleans, then when at last he did open up he had little good to say.

He was negative about his coaches, his teammates and the Saints organization.

Forget the questions I wanted him to answer, and forget the story I’d envisioned. It was clear that Williams was setting the agenda.

&uot;What seems incredible to me now is that Williams asked me not to interview his mother. He said she wouldn’t be a good source because she didn’t know how he felt. And now Sandy Williams, obviously guided by her love for her son, is working with others to discredit me. I admire Sandy for raising a beautiful family in tough circumstances. But Ricky is a man now, not a child. And as long as his family, the University of Texas and the Saints coddle him and defend his odd behavior he’ll never grow up.&uot;

Bradley said the whole deal turned into a case of kill the messenger.

&uot;Pranksters phone at all hours and leave ugly messages. I’ve been called sick and evil. How would the Williams family feel if I posted their private phone numbers and addresses on the Internet, as well as Ricky’s. I keep telling myself that it’s only football, but that’s a hard sell recalling the sick phone messages and e-mails I’ve received.&uot;

Joey Martin is sports editor of The Democrat. He can be reached by calling 446-5172 ext. 232 or at joey.martin@natchezdemocrat.com.