Thursday, November 7, 2013

Who are the people in the Incognito/Martin affair who are acting like immature children?



The “fallout” from the Richie Incognito/Jonathan Martin case continues apace as the tide has swung not necessarily in favor of Incognito, but more against Martin. Martin should have kept his problems from the media rather than go public with it, embarrassing his teammates who long condoned such behavior. Nobody wants to play with a “snitch,” and no one will trust Martin with whatever they say around him. Of course, one wonders what exactly players are saying—like putting together “bounties” to seriously injure or cripple opposing players. One ex-player/commentator on ESPN even went so far as to suggest “No one needs to know about these things.” Attitudes like that are why problems are allowed to fester, and then explode.

Martin did keep it to himself—like a “man”—until he decided he was not going to take no more of it. His teammates are acting like they didn’t know about the harassment he was enduring? Who are they trying to kid? They had to be “told” to stop it? Who were the people who were not acting like grown men, but like overgrown children? Incognito and the teammates who not only condoned, but exacerbated the behavior. Frankly, “hazing” is for children; these people act like they are still in college. 

It also one thing to act like a bully; it is quite another to do so out of such motivations as racism, street thuggism, and disrespect. Are you trying to tell me that you are trying to “help” a young teammate by alienating him, like walking away from the lunch room table knowing all of the other things that went on before? Whatever happened to supporting a young teammate, taking him under your wing and “schooling” him in a tough but respectful way? Miami players claim that Incognito was Martin's "best friend." Is that like in "With friends like this, who needs enemies?" or at least he didn't completely "ignore" him?

The behavior of Martin’s teammates can only be explained by a desire to “put him in his place.” Why? Because he is a Stanford grad and his parents went to Harvard; it is probable that most of his teammates were indifferent students and never graduated. As mentioned before, Incognito was expelled from Nebraska and Oregon for the same reasons he has been suspended from the Dolphins now. People are now saying that Martin should have kept things “in-house”; what did keeping things “in-house” do but to allow Incognito to continue his bad behavior?

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