Miami Dolphins Players Harassment Case

[Kobi]

I don't know if anyone else is following this bizarre case. With every bit of info that comes to light, my reaction becomes more and more

Is it harassment? Bullying? Weird locker room/football culture crap? Totally bizarre male bonding/brotherhood thing? Racism? Now, there are rumors it was a "toughen the guy up" thing. And, it has morphed into the "victim" now taunting the "perpetrator".

Here is the latest:


MIAMI (AP) -- Suspended Miami Dolphins guard Richie Incognito says teammate Jonathan Martin sent him a threatening text message as an apparent joke only a week before their relationship became the subject of a harassment case that has prompted an NFL investigation.

In an interview with Fox Sports televised Sunday, Incognito said he never took the threat seriously. Incognito said he regrets the racist and profane language he used with Martin, but said it stemmed from a culture of locker-room ''brotherhood,'' not bullying.

''A week before this went down, Jonathan Martin texted me on my phone - 'I will murder your whole ... family,''' Incognito said, quoting Martin as using a profanity. ''Now did I think Jonathan Martin was going to murder my family? Not one bit. ... I knew it was coming from a brother. I knew it was coming from a friend. I knew it was coming from a teammate. That just puts in context how we communicate with one another.''

Incognito said Martin sent him a friendly text four days after leaving the team to undergo counseling for emotional issues. The message came on the heels of the Dolphins' overtime victory against Cincinnati.

''Wassup man? The world's gone crazy lol. I'm good tho congrats on the win,'' Martin said in a text verified by Fox Sports. ''Yeah I'm good man. It's insane bro but just know I don't blame you guys at all. It's just the culture around football and the locker room got to me a little.''

Martin left the team two weeks ago, and his attorney alleges the second-year pro was harassed daily by teammates, including Incognito. Martin hasn't spoken publicly but will discuss the case late next week with a special investigator hired by the league.

''This isn't an issue about bullying,'' Incognito told Fox. ''This is an issue of my and Jon's relationship. You can ask anyone in the Miami Dolphins' locker room who had Jon Martin's back the absolute most, and they'll undoubtedly tell you me.

''All this stuff coming out, it speaks to the culture of our locker room, it speaks to culture of our closeness, it speaks to the culture of our brotherhood.''

Incognito's phone showed 1,142 text messages between the two players over the past year, Fox reported.

The network said Incognito declined to answer only one question: Did coaches order him to toughen up Martin? The NFL will investigate the role of coach Joe Philbin, his staff and Miami management in the case.

Incognito is white and Martin is biracial. Teammates both black and white have said Incognito is not a racist, and they've been more supportive of the veteran guard than they have of Martin.

Incognito acknowledged leaving a voicemail for Martin in April in which he used a racist term, threatened to kill his teammate and threatened to slap Martin's mother.

''When I see those words come up across the screen, I'm embarrassed,'' said Incognito, adding that Martin used the same racist term ''a lot.''

''I'm embarrassed by my actions. But what I want people to know is the way Jonathan and the rest of the offensive line and our teammates communicate. It's vulgar. It's not right. ... I understand why a lot of eyebrows get raised when people don't know how Jon and I communicate to one another.''
Incognito said he never sensed that football or the locker-room culture were getting to Martin.

''As his best friend on the team, that's what has me miffed - how I missed this,'' Incognito said. ''I never saw it coming.''

Long labeled one of the NFL's dirtiest players, Incognito acknowledged his reputation for out-of-bounds behavior - and the impact the much-quoted, threatening voicemail has had on his image.

''It sounds terrible. It sounds like I'm a racist pig. It sounds like I'm a meathead. It sounds a lot of things that it's not. ... If you go just by all the knucklehead stuff I've done in the past, you're sitting in your home and thinking, 'This guy is a loose cannon. This guy is a terrible person. This guy is a racist.' That couldn't be farther from the truth.''

Incognito said if he met with Martin and his family, he would apologize for anything they took as malicious.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/incogni...5999--nfl.html

[Martina]

I think it's bullying. I have been following it. A lot of the remarks Incognito made include calling Martin "weird."

Martin went to Stanford, and his parents are professionals who went to Harvard. One is a professor, and the other a lawyer.

My guess is he is on the sensitive or geeky side. Not a fucking animal like Incognito. The advice people gave him was to to give as good as he got. Respond in kind. Now people are taking his efforts and turning them back on him.

My guess is that while he is a football player, he is not a fighter. Doesn't like it, doesn't want to.

Incognito is a psycho. The fact that the team, the press and the fans seem to be siding with him is a sign of how sexist and homophobic the culture of football is.

A sensitive dude better also be willing to kick your ass. If he's not, then he's going to be chewed up and spit out.

I think Martin was not used to this shit and it affected him deeply. I am glad he made it public. I hope he's got massive amounts of support.

[Cin]

An interesting twist of weirdness from a radio host about this incident.

Radio host Damon Bruce: Sports are set to the dial of men.

Sports are for men, and Richie Incognito is a man, acting manly in a man’s world. And if you don’t like it, ladies, you can lump it. That is the short version of a nine-minute tirade against women in sports this week by KNBR sports radio host Damon Bruce.

Bruce is mad at women because women are to blame for the suspension of Miami Dolphins guard Richie Incognito after his alleged (and apparently legendary) harassment, bullying and threats against teammate Jonathan Martin drove Martin from the team.

Here’s how the tirade starts:

“A lot of sports has lost its way and I’m gonna tell you, part of the reason is because we’ve got women giving us directions. For some of you, this is going to come across as very misogynistic. I don’t care, because I’m very right. I'm willing to share my sandbox, as long as you remember you're in my box. I didn’t slip into your box....”

Allowing women to “slip into the box” of professional sports has pretty much ruined sports, Bruce thinks. It has feminized men and made it hard for men to bond the way they like to bond—by being assholes. That’s what Jonathan Martin didn’t understand. Incognito was trying to bond with him when he called him racial slurs and threatened to rape his sister.

Here’s Bruce’s sage advice to women sports journalists who can’t hack it: “If sports get too gruesome for you, go write a restaurant column. Go write a housekeeping column.”

Sweet of him to be concerned.

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-an...t-surprise-you

[Martina]

I just googled Martin and found this:

Martin has a total of nine relatives who graduated from Harvard including his grandfather, a professor in international development, and his maternal great grandfather, one of a dozen African-American students there in the 1920s

He majored in ancient history. He's said to be soft-spoken. Wanna bet Martin's just a sweet smart well-adjusted guy with the good sense not to take it anymore?

The twisted white guy's privilege has gotten him none of that. He was bullied as a child and takes any opportunity to hurt and harrass others. He's super angry. He's lost games and jobs because of his anger. He was sent to the Meninger Clinic for anger management at some point, I read.

One person said Richie is really good at seeming reasonable and decent when he gets in trouble and then goes right back out and re-offends. Sounds like a sociopath.

Another thing I read is that there is an unwritten rule that the hazing stops after the first year. I think Martin made it through the first year and expected it to end. When Incognito for some reason kept it up into the second year -- just with Martin -- Martin couldn't take it. Without believing there'd be an end, he just couldn't face going forward.

Incognito needs long-term professional help. What is appalling is all the support he's getting.

[JAGG]

Incognito is a racist, sexist, overpaid , immature , obese, asswipe, with huge anger management issues. Typical good ole boy syndrome. I agree 100% with every word Shannon Sharpe said about Incognito. I think alot of people should be losing their jobs for allowing this guys behavior to go on for even one day. If I was the owner of the Dolphins , we would be on the hunt for a new coaching staff, and some players would be looking for a new team.

[The_Lady_Snow]

Originally Posted by JAGG

Incognito is a racist, sexist, overpaid , immature , obese, asswipe, with huge anger management issues. Typical good ole boy syndrome. I agree 100% with every word Shannon Sharpe said about Incognito. I think alot of people should be losing their jobs for allowing this guys behavior to go on for even one day. If I was the owner of the Dolphins , we would be on the hunt for a new coaching staff, and some players would be looking for a new team.

This!!! I feel the only way that the message is ever going to get across to these people is just that, get rid of them and stop allowing, enabling, endorsing disgusting, mean, gross mentality that is being used as a measure of what real men do.


I'm pretty adamant about my belief that if we didn't raise our man cubs to be violent, and showed them more tactile, gentle ways to approach and communicate that this will never change. Sports and competition should be healthy, not some sick form of Gladiator performance where the more violent the surroundings the happier the crowd. The women hate and shenanigans allowed in professional sports is going to HAVE to start with the people who own these behaviours and that is Owners and those who fall behind in the lines of who's in charge, it's time to make them accountable for their inappropriate, unprofessional behaviours...

[Kätzchen]

I have been following media reports concerning the racilized events pertaining to Incognito and Martin.

I have zero tolerance for prejudical behaviors of the racialized kind.

Most reports and media clips/snippets released by media, to me and in my own personal opinion, are nothing more than an orchestrated act to manage Incognito's offensive behavioral choices and the choices of those who preside over the Miami Dolphins National Football Team. The technical term for this kind of image management is called: Apologia (which is Greek by origin: Aristotilean).

Just to be super clear about Apologia: It's not about apologising for offensive behavioral choices. Apologia is about professionally managing behavioral choices with the hope that an image can be saved and not suffer more impugnment that it already deserves (and more).

[JAGG]

I hope Roger Goodell makes an example out of Incognito. The Dolphins organization seemed to turn a blind eye to this toxic individual. The fact that a player would get up and walk out and quit as if this was his only recourse, tells me that it has gone on for a long time and he knew he had no where to turn .That the coaches and maybe even the front office would not help him .
With various crimes Incognito got away with , such as the sexual assault of a female volunteer at a Dolphins golf fundraiser, which was reported to Dolphins management (should have called the cops and sued him for 500 million) but nothing ever happened , would probably be a good indicator to Martin that he was on his own .
Professional football players ( all pro athletes) need to understand that it is a privilege to play in the NFL , it's not a right , and that privilege can and should be revoked when your behavior on or off the field is not in keeping with certain standards, which should already be in place. It's a privilege afforded to very few. Basically you make millions of dollars to play a game you love, not a very vital contribution to mankind . I love sports just as much as anyone, I love to play and watch so don't get me wrong , I'm just looking at it from a matter of fact view.
I think Incognito needs a big dose of reality. Let him go find a real job , he doesn't deserve to play in the NFL. And there are alot more just like him out there, in all different sports. And they come in all sizes and colors too.
Martin should be welcomed back with opened arms , and given the rest of Incognito's salary for putting up with the crap he endured. My 2 cents worth. Again. lol