Dolphins are a PR disaster for the NFL. The NFL's new big social ad campaign is centered around bullying. Martin has two Stanford lawyers for parents. They are going going to make the league look sooooo bad.
Am I the only one that thinks it could be possible that Incognito/Martin were gay and went through a really bad breakup? That could explain the voicemail (dirty talk), and Tannehill also says Martin would have said Incognito was his best friend last week. Seems like there is way more to this story...
LOL...Give me a break. "A sport for Neanderthals," is just an ignorant thing to say. Any professional sport is not for the faint of heart, and trying to get an edge through intimidation is pervasive in most of them. I'm sure Martin would react in a similar fashion after 20 minutes of Kevin Garnett yapping in his ear. This entire incident only confirms 2 things. 1. Richie Incognito is douchebag. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, so this isn't a surprise. He's already had more chances than he deserves. 2. Jonathan Martin will need much thicker skin if he plans on playing in the NFL again. He's going to get it a lot worse now that opponents know he can be affected by trash talking.
What a bunch of knee jerk self righteous holier than thou nancies we have on this board. I hate that douche Incognito, but to crucify him and to jump to conclusions before we have all the facts is absolutely ridiculous. Who among us non-African American people under the age of 25 hasn't used the expression "n***a" (with an A) at one point or another in a joking manner? Now Tannehill comes out and says they were like brothers. And if you think Tannehill is a "barbaric neanderthal" too, then you know nothing about football. Dude had a 3.8 GPA in college and was a biochem major who wants to go to medical school. He is one of the most respectable and high character guys I've ever met. He wouldn't have come out and said what he said just because Martin was soft. To even suggest that a 300 lb NFL type O-lineman got "bullied" is an absurd notion. I got bullied in high school, but I also was 120 pounds and 5'2, and believe it or not, the "authorities" didn't give a damn when I went and complained despite the fact that I was a straight A honor roll student. Using the word "bullying" in reference to an 300 lb NFL millionaire cheapens the word. There is a serious bullying problem in the United States that is costing us the lives of thousands of people every year. This, however, is not one of those cases.
I agree with those who think there is way more to this story than what's been revealed so far. I also think that at least some of the revealed information sounds like misinformation designed to paint one person or another in a good light or bad light. It's clear that Incognito is a major a-hole with some screws loose (that was obvious before this particular news story) and he probably got that from his f'ed-up father. But Martin increasingly doesn't appear to be much of a saint either in my eyes. Both guys are clearly insecure. I too wonder whether one or the other is in the closet. But the worst people in this whole thing seem to be some of the Dolphins coaches and front office. I think there is a good chance that some of them, including head coach Philbin and possibly their GM, will soon lose their jobs over this. The person who said that the NFL will "die" in 20 years is out of his damn mind. As far as I know there is no evidence of the league declining in popularity. There are a whole lot of men and a decent number of women in the United States who enjoy seeing displays of toughness, power, strength, intimidation and domination over an opponent. The NFL of course provides that in spades and it takes a certain type of player personality to handle and thrive in that environment. UFC has exploded in popularity for the same reasons. Fights in MLB, NBA and NFL get a lot of media coverage and eyeballs on TV screens and Youtube for the same reason. A significant percentage of American (and heck, the world) society quite simply does not like nor respect soft men. Soft and meek are considered by many people to be feminine traits. Incognito is obviously done in Miami, and probably done for the season regardless of team. Good, I can't stand the guy for the same reasons I dislike Cortland Finnegan and Ndomakung Suh. But I think there's a decent chance that Incognito will play again in the NFL. The league is no stranger to guys who are unlikable and have sketchy track records off-the-field. Dallas (Jerry Jones) might give him a call. Martin, I'm not so sure. Even before this whole mess came to light, I think I read somewhere that his performance on the field was unimpressive. That combined with this story and many feeling that he's soft will likely result in most teams staying far away. Maybe he can resume his career in say...Indianapolis, especially if Andrew Luck pushes for that.
I'm 26, so I don't qualify, but I'm white, and I can tell you without a doubt, that I have not. It's just not something I would ever say. I, on the other hand, have said that Incognito is an idiotic douchebag who deserves to be booted from the league, multiple times before this incident. We can sit here and talk about "the code" of the NFL all we want. The fact of the matter is this: looking at this idiot's past, he deserves no respect from anyone. When you intentionally fight teammates and try to injure opposing players, you deserve nothing. This guy's teammates are idiots for supporting him. Apparently, they care nothing about his past... As far as the rest of your post goes, Just because you were bullied doesn't make you an expert on a situation that you know nothing about. People have different makeups mentally, and some can handle things better than others. Not only does this country have a severe bullying problem (as evidenced by someone that was bullied now claiming, over the internet, that it's impossible for someone to be bullied because of their size), but this country also has a HUGE problem with grasping psychiatric issues. I think the two things go hand in hand, personally, and I think there is a larger issue here. The reactions of those in the sports world, as well as a lot of those that follow it, just show how backwards the mentality of a large portion of this country tends to be. I'm not saying that Martin is not the problem here. I'm not saying that he is completely innocent. I'm saying that I don't know anywhere near the full story. There is so much more that is left to come out. But for anyone to blast anyone else for ridiculing Incognito is just stupid, in my opinion. The guy is thought of as an SOB pig all the way back to his hometown in Arizona. He deserves anything he gets in this case. He also deserves to be jobless.
If Martin tried to address it with management, and this is the response he got, it makes sense that he'd walk away. What a ridiculous stance from management.
Incognito is the same size and much crazier than Martin - at best, there's a 50/50 chance of winning that fight. I'm pretty sure if Martin lost and got himself injured, Jeff Ireland is not going to consider what advice he gave when deciding whether to pay him or cut him. Management is basically saying they don't have the player's back and are asking him to risk his own health and career. That's not a way to build a healthy NFL locker room either.
I could see teammates telling Martin something like that, but the general friggin' manager? Are you kidding?
Bill Parcells used to tell Lawrence Taylor to go start fights with certain players. He was eventually a GM I believe. Mark Schlereth was on Mike and Mike and said when the investigator does his investigation that he should be prepared to see that the NFL locker room is a place where a lot of unexpected things occur (I don't remember his exact words but that's the point he was trying to make). This isn't IBM guys. Ireland may now be a GM but e played college ball at Baylor, was an asst coach at North Texas and a scout for KC. He's been in the locker room too.
This is probably the closest thing to the truth. I don't know if Incognito had full intentions of bullying and extorting because I don't know the full story. It seems as if Martin is cut from a different cloth. Was this thing handled poorly? I'm not sure. Martin probably felt he had no other place to turn because from most accounts, it seems the coaches knew about it. Also, some people just don't handle stress like this very well. As I've posted before, mental health is a topic very few (including me) understand. Martin did a commendable thing, in my opinion. He could have easily chosen a more violent or different route. Maybe it's not that acceptable in NFL culture, but in the real world, this guy did exactly what he should have. My bias against Incognito stems from his past. The guy has never been a model citizen and because of that, he probably deserves any label he gets. Martin's biggest crime here seems to be his white collar upbringing, and breaking "the code." I will never understand teammates sticking up for a drug abusing, rule breaking, teammate fighting bigot, though.
Well, do you believe the writer? He says there was no extorting and that they made him pay his portion of a trip that was already booked. If true, that's not extortion. Drug abuse is nothing new to the NFL, or life in general. I'm sure we all have some friends who abuse drugs. Yes, liquor is a drug. Ask Justin Blackmon. You probably can't field a pro NFL team without some rule breakers. Teammates fight all the time. When training camp rolls around again I'm sure you will here more stories of guys getting in fights. They even show it on the highlights sometimes, and then someone will say something like "we are tired of going up against each other all day and can't wait to play a real opponent". I don't think we have seen one Hard Knocks where there wasn't a fight. If you believe the author and other teammates then Incognito also isn't a bigot. He says they said more worse things to each other in the locker room. Is that unbelievable?
I think this is exactly how everything went down. If Incognito wasn't such a FLAMING DOUCHE, I would probably feel pretty bad for him.
Needs source and more importantly, context. I can see this happening maybe on a practice field. But if someone came to you and said "hey, this guy is harassing me and I feel unsafe" and they told you "so kick his ass", that's a different story. Regardless, I believe Ire's actions to be the exception, and not the rule. None of that makes any of this OK.
