Just as we thought: Richie Incognito bullied Jonathan Martin

christiefan915

christiefan915

Catalyst
From the beginning I thought Richie Incognito was a piece of shit, but I'm really disappointed in Mike Pouncey. His twin brother is center for the Steelers and one of the nicest, most-respected players on the team. How could they be so different?

"If you have any interest in the complex and nuanced dynamics of workplace bullying and harassment, you must sit down with the newly released report about what, exactly, happened in and out of the Miami Dolphins locker room that led Jonathan Martin to walk away from the team halfway through the season last year.

The 144-page report is a masterpiece of evenhandedness, produced by a team of attorneys led by Ted Wells, whose New York litigation firm was retained by the NFL to investigate the circumstances around Martin’s departure and his subsequent accusations against his teammates. His primary tormentor was fellow offensive lineman Richie Incognito, who is white, though the report also implicates two other starters -- John Jerry, who is black, and Mike Pouncey, who is biracial -- calling all three “equal-opportunity harassers.” Martin is black.

Even with its caveats about how locker rooms are different from other workplaces, and how private exchanges never meant for public consumption look much worse when taken out of context, the investigators recount so many reprehensible incidents that I guarantee you’ll will need some time to uncurl your toes.


http://www.latimes.com/local/abcari...gnito--20140214,0,7766892.story#ixzz2tOtqPqlF
 
Incognito is simply the worst offender. Other guys on the O Line, specifically Mike Pouncey and John Jerry, were also bullying him. All three of them were ganging up on other people who were reported as having been bullied.
 
I'll never understand the part I bolded below, and wouldn't care if the NFL dumped these bozos and they never got more than minimum wage jobs for the rest of their miserable lives.

"The tried-and-true defense of the status quo in the NFL is simple: boys will be boys. How can we ask these marauders to be perfect citizens off the field when we ask them to be "gladiators" on the field?

Here's the other tried-and-true defense for the reactionary crowd: This is an isolated incident, and it does not reflect the vast majority of the players in the league.

Well, sorry, but those two defenses contradict each other. Either the violence of the sport is ingrained in the player, leading to a true cultural problem, or what happened in Miami is isolated to Incognito and a few meatheads who must be punished and removed from the workplace...

The other sad outcome of all this is the enabling. So many people in the NFL community looked at this situation and decided that Incognito was getting a bad rap. They actually believed Martin was to blame for starting this instead of shutting up. There is a strange desire to support the so-called man's man, to back up the "bro." "Snitches get stitches," is what Incognito wrote in a text to Mike Pouncey, a linemate and fellow member of the Dolphins' leadership council...

...So what will Goodell do? Yearlong suspensions for Incognito and the others directly involved (including coach Jim Turner) should be only the start. The commissioner needs to strongly convey that the NFL is a workplace of employees, despite the use of the term "player," and that this is the root of several of the league's recent problems. The next time an NFL player is arrested for domestic violence, flash back to Incognito's text about his plans to "run train" and "spit on" Martin's sister. His language might be isolated, but his misogyny is not. Neither should be allowed in the NFL's version of an office..."

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/easy-s...n-response-to-ted-wells-report-125416510.html
 
Since a healthy locker room culture is essential, most NFL players probably assumed the Dolphins wouldn't let things get out of hand and that Martin must be the problem. They also blamed him for not standing up for himself.
 
Big Money said:
All speech is free speech, Christiekins, unless you have a different version of the First Amendment.

Freedom of speech is what allows you to claim the Shitsburgh Squealers are "classy"...:rofl2:
Click to expand...

Freedom of speech is what lets you refer to Pittsburgh by the classless appellation of "Shitsburgh", too. :BKick:
 
NFL veteran: I never saw a bullying culture as bad as the Miami Dolphins

There was no leadership in the Miami Dolphins locker room. There's a difference between teasing and harassment

"In my 27 years I have had fortuitous opportunities to be part of some dynamic social circles. I have been in the board room as a trustee at Hampden Sydney College. I have been in a village in Bukavu, Congo with a President Clinton-assembled group of young leaders. I have been at the Bodleian library with Rhodes Scholars. And, currently, I am in labs with my fellow medical students. However, nothing compares to my football career and my immersion in the culture of a college and National Football League locker room. Nothing...

...Unequivocally, there was no leadership in the Miami Dolphins organization, leading to Richie Incognito bullying Jonathan Martin, forcing Martin to leave the team. The coaches and general managers can set policies for the locker room, but that space is ultimately governed and run by the players. If there is an "anything goes" culture in that Dolphins locker room, then the other players exhibited no leadership when they failed to check Incognito for his vehement abuse of Martin...
 
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