This week, with the
increasing scope and disturbing revelations and turns of the Miami Dolphins
bullying story, we at The Crystal Ball are going to do something a little
differently. Considering the importance of this story and it's outcome goes far
beyond locker room assholery, I'd like to focus upon it and some of the
periphery story lines that have come about due to it.
Opening Kickoff
Jonathan Martin's lawyers issued
a statement this week, defending Martin, his toughness and pointing out
Martin's choice to walk away and speak up was tough and correct. It's sad that
Martin needed lawyers to stick up for him.
Upon Further Review
Last week I used the
unfortunate situation of Jonathan Martin to bring forth the idea that in order
to correct the behavior, we simply cannot bully the bully. My hope was to
attack the problem from a more intellectual, and empathetic standpoint rather than
just repeating the behavior back to the offender.
Again, I am not defending,
justifying or excusing Incognito’s actions. Like everyone, I deplore them and
feel there is no place in our society for this behavior, nor those who
perpetrate it. Punishing him by suspension, fines or even expulsion from the
league may teach him a lesson. However vilifying him, attacking his family or
any other modern day social media punishment accomplishes nothing. Those
extreme methods only treat or attack the symptoms, not the cause. If we as a
society do not attack the cause, all we do is maintain an environment where
bullying remains. And as long as it stays, bullying will mutate to different
forms, and grow over and over again.
Since last Sunday, a flurry
of new information has come to light. Incognito has been suspended by the team,
and some sources are reporting the Dolphins will not play him again this
season. The Dolphins and the NFL are in possession of a voicemails and text
messages Incognito left for Martin that include amongst other things, cursing
at Martin, threatening his mother and Martin himself and using racial slurs. And
there are reports of money changing hands, with Martin paying $15,000 to fund a
trip to Las Vegas
for the linemen that Martin did not attend. Whether this was planned or part of
rookies paying for things as too often does happen is unclear, but apparently
this was not the only time money has changed
hands.
But the most bizarre aspect
of this story has been the reaction from players and NFL personnel toward both
Incognito and Martin.
The messages out of the
Dolphins locker room have been mixed at best. There was initially the
prerequisite support of Martin, but following that there has
been massive support for Incognito, including amongst African American
players. I understand the NFL locker room is a different world from the one in
which we live, and players will put up a lot from some of the bad apples if
they help the team win. But I find it stunning that African American players
would come to the defense of a Caucasian man who so freely throws around racial
slurs and threats.
Conversely, there has been a
lot of derision and venom directed at Martin. Some players and team personnel
are looking down at Martin because he spoke out about Incognito's treatment of
him. Players and team personnel do not like that Martin took what they consider
locker room business to the public. There is a palpable sentiment that Martin
could broke an unwritten rule when he spoke out, that he just could not handle
your typical locker room hazing. This has led to a ton of questioning of Martin
as a man and his character, with people wondering why Martin didn’t just stand
up to Incognito, why he was soft and weak and could not take a bit of teasing.
After all, every young guy in the NFL gets teased and hazed, what’s wrong with
Martin that he could not handle it.
After the deluge of new
information and the bizarre defenses and seeming
vilification of Martin there is another aspect if bulling I would like to
shed light upon. In order to rid society of bullying, we must also cease
excusing the behavior.
The excuses I’ve heard thus
far include that Incognito is a good guy. The coaches
told Incognito to toughen Martin up, so he was just doing the coaches’
bidding. That Incognito is a good guy and a good teammate, and its perplexing
where Martin’s accusations are coming from. The more I hear, the more I keep
thinking they sound like the type of excuses a battered spouse makes when talking
about their abuser.
Shifting blame to coaches is
lame. Excusing Incognito’s behavior because of his talent and his acceptable
treatment of others is sad. As it is, Incognito will learn nothing from this.
He will continue on with his life feeling he is not responsible and that he did
nothing wrong. But turning the blame to Martin and making him the villain
because he spoke out is not just pathetic, but disrespectful and dangerous.
Let’s get this straight.
This is not hazing. Hazing is supposed to be fun, harmless pranks that tease
but ultimately make the young guys feel accepted and part of the team. It
should not make them feel they have no other recourse to make it end but to
quit their job. This is far beyond hazing. This is bullying the different kid.
This is picking on the smart kid, the sensitive kid, the guy who isn't a macho
tough guy. This was psychological intimidation. This is extortion, racial hate
crimes and terroristic threats. Once this crossed the line of hazing into
criminal behavior this stopped being a code of the locker room situation. It
became a potential criminal code situation.
But by the players excusing
Incognito’s behavior, even as its sheer vileness is increasingly revealed, it
only illustrates how these attitudes that do not take seriously the damage done
by bullying persist. Martin was different, so he was picked on until he went
home crying to his mommy. That’s the attitude that’s coming out of some locker
rooms and from some former players right now. Not that Incognito went well past
too far, but that Martin couldn’t cut it.
I've read a few hypotheses
that perhaps because of Martin's seeming unwillingness to stand up for himself
that was the reason others did not defend Martin as Incognito's behavior
intensified. Why should that matter? So he wasn't an overly aggressive
douchebag off the field, does that mean its ok for others to harass him? No.
And there's nothing that's been said, written or quantified that shows me being
an aggressive, tough professional athlete and decent human being that sticks up
for and defends his fellow man must be mutually exclusive.
Look, even if this were mere
hazing, not everyone is good at handling such things. Some people just are not
built that way. If it were hazing, and Martin couldn’t handle that, you can’t
tell me there would be no one on the team that could pick up on that and tell
the others back off? No, they picked up on it all right. And then exploited
that weakness over and over until Martin snapped and walked out.
You hear the same script
being put forth from players and the league how being a part of an NFL team is
special, how it’s more than family and how being in the league is being part of
an exclusive brotherhood. I wonder where this brotherhood was when Martin was
being relentlessly harangued by Incognito. Apparently, at least in some locker
rooms, that brotherhood is only extended to those who fit in and don’t cause
trouble. Players around the league are saying the same thing. Martin is a man
and he should have stood up for himself instead of ratting out Incognito. You
know another sign of being a man? Standing up for those who cannot stand up for
themselves. From my vantage point, there are no men in the Dolphins locker
room, and I'm not the only
one putting blame on the team for allowing this to occur.
None of us know at this
point what Martin may have done to try to stop Incognito’s actions and abuse.
Perhaps he tried to talk with Incognito, perhaps he tried to turn the other
cheek and tried to ride it out, or maybe he did talk to a coach. That has yet
to be revealed.
But eventually he did speak
up, and that’s what should matter most. It’s what we try to teach children in
this situation. If you’re suffering from a bully, speak to someone, come
forward and don’t be afraid anymore.
But by blaming Martin what
message does that send to bullied kids? They see Martin speak out and stand up
for himself, and then he gets ridiculed, marginalized and dismissed by not only
his friends, but the authority figures in which he placed trust? How is that
helping the bullying problem? It sends the wrong message. If I am a kid
suffering at the hands of a bully, and looking for a way to stand up and speak
out, and I watch this situation, you know what I do? Nothing, I suffer in
silence. If my choice is to put up with a bully’s abuse or to speak out and
then be called soft, weak, a coward, have my character questioned and have
people support the man who did the bullying, I'd probably go with a tragic
third option, which happens far too often in our society.
How will things changes if
these attitudes persist? Some people seem to think it was bad that Martin told
on Incognito, likening it to a kid tattling. But is that not what we want our
children to do if they are being bullied? To not be afraid to speak out? How is
Martin speaking up for himself and speaking out about Incognito’s abuse a bad
thing, especially if Martin could not handle the situation on his own? By
excusing, marginalizing the behavior and shifting blame, the NFL, its players,
the media and NFL personnel are making the solution worse than the problem.
These ignorant men are
setting back the efforts to stop bullying by years with each passing day. And with
each pathetic defense of Incognito and vilification of Martin, they send the
wrong message to kids who now are more afraid to speak out than they are of
continued harassment. And they are creating an environment where they are
putting kids in such danger of bullies and their own desperation, they might as
well be doing the bullying themselves.
Thumbnail Sketch of a Bully
To hear the Dolphins players
tell it, Richie Incognito is the salt of the earth and they
support their exiled teammate through this trying time. The treatment he is
suffering at the hands of the press and these terrible allegations by locker
room rat Jonathan Martin are both tragic and mysterious.
But this behavior is not an
isolated incident. Incognito's actions are merely another signpost on a long
road of questionable behavior that has been excused to date due to his talent.
Let's look at a few highlights of this career and the pattern of behavior that
Martin's revelations may finally end.
- In 2002, he was suspended from Nebraska for bullying
a teammate so badly he quit the team mid practice.
- The St. Louis Rams, who drafted Incognito
because of his nasty play, eventually had enough of his nasty personality and
cut him before the end of the 2009 season.
- Actually, his history of incidents with
teammates and opponents is quite
long and well reported, so this behavior should not be a surprise.
- One of Incognito's biggest
defenders and character witnesses is Dolphins center Mike Pouncey, who is
on record for defending Aaron Hernandez who is accused of murder and has now
been subpoenaed by the same grand jury working on the case against Hernandez.
Good character witness there.
I point these stories out
not to denigrate Incognito, but to illustrate my point. Incognito is a man with
a long history of bullying, bad decision making, poor behavior and aggressive
anti social conduct. Why are so many players rushing to his defense and willing
to throw Martin under the bus where it's obvious the problem starts with
Incognito?
My guess is that by allowing
Incognito's behavior to continue to the point where Martin felt forced to leave
the team and break the code of the locker room, it makes their teammates look
terrible for their inaction. The only way they can save face is to minimize the
damage done by Incognito and try to portray Martin in a bad light.
Unfortunately, that only makes them seem worse for this ignorant behavior. It's
sad when many players across the league are the ones with a more
reasonable outlook on the proper way to treat a teammate.
As Edmund Burke once said, "Bad men need nothing more to compass
their ends, than that good men
should look on and do nothing."
Well, good men in the Dolphins locker room did nothing, and that makes them as
much of a bully as Incognito, and just as culpable.
The Steel Pit
Steelers 31 - Patriots 55
Yeah, that sucked. But
there's bigger issues this week.
As you may have noticed, I
have been happy with very little of the on-field from this team this season. And
I have been less than quiet about it. I am a passionate fan, and I do love this
team. Their performance this season has left me, and many others, with far more
questions than answers and the behavior of some players has me speculating
giving such support to this particular squad.
But then I read these
articles, one from the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette and one from the Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review, each story discussing the Jonathan Martin fiasco with
Steelers players. And to a man, each interviewed soundly put down Incognito's
behavior and were thoroughly disgusted with the story.
After reading these
articles, I couldn't be more proud to call myself a Steelers fan. It's been a
rough season, with very little to cheer about. But the old pride of being a
member of Steeler nation came flooding forth. This is why I root for this team.
They are, even in down years, a cut above other franchises. And while I doubt
there will be much else to cheer as this season moves toward its conclusion, I
know that at least I'm cheering for a team that may be in the losing column in
the standings, but they're ranked number 1 as basic human decency.
He Said He Said
No commentary will follow
the quotes this week. We'll let the words of these people speak for themselves.
Some will make you question the intelligence and empathy of some people, while
others will give and renew hope in the decency of humanity. All will make you
think and hopefully re-evaluate how we all treat each other in our daily lives.
"Hey, wassup, you half-nigger piece of shit. I
saw you on Twitter, you been training 10 weeks. [I want to] shit in your
fucking mouth. [I'm going to] slap your fucking mouth. [I'm going to] slap your
real mother across the face [laughter]. Fuck you, you're still a rookie. I'll
kill you." - Richie Incognito's
voicemail to Jonathan Martin
“You know what, I’m just trying to weather the storm
right now. This will pass.” -
Dolphins lineman Richie Incognito regarding his suspension
“I’m not surprised. In fact, I’m a little surprised
something like this hasn’t happened before. If you’re mentally weak, you’re
going to get picked on.” - former
NFL offensive lineman Ross Tucker
"Incognito doesn’t have that filter. He was the
jokester on the team, and he joked with everybody from players to coaches. That
voicemail he sent came from a place of humor, but where he really screwed up
was using the N-word." - former
dolphins lineman Lydon Murtha
"They did a lot of stuff together. So if he had
a problem with the way he was treating him, he had a funny way of showing it." - Dolphins tackle Tyson Clabo
"If somebody sees something, you have to kind of
handle it internally. Somebody needs to step in and take care of it before it
gets turned into a real problem. I guess that's what didn't happen there. Let's
separate a voicemail from hazing because that's not hazing. That's an anomaly.
That's a tremendous lapse in judgment. It has nothing to do with hazing in my
opinion. Hazing is haircuts, hazing is filling a guy's car with package
bubbles, putting water under their door at the hotel. It's pranks, it's
carrying a helmet, all that stuff but all the while being respectful of that
person and also sensing if somebody isn't well equipped to handle that and kind
of tapering off a little bit." -
Rams defensive end Chris Long
"As an interior lineman, you just want to earn
the respect of your peers and the guys you are going against, let them know
that you’re battle-tested and you are ready. Sometimes that comes on and off
the field. But there is a right and wrong way of going about it." - Jets lineman Willie Colon
“I never heard anything of that extent or anything as
vulgar or as foul as what's going on in Miami.
But there is some banter that goes back and forth between players who are friends.
I think some guidelines should be set in place. No one should have to endure
that in their workplace, whether they work for IBM or for the Miami Dolphins. I honestly wouldn't have had
any problem with Jonathan Martin hitting Richie Incognito in the head with a
weight, but that's illegal and he'd go to jail and he shouldn't do that." - Steelers safety Ryan Clark
"A lot of people might look at Jonathan Martin
and think that he's soft because he stepped away from the game, and say, 'Why
don't you just fight him?' Well, if you look at it with common sense and being
logical, what options did Jonathan Martin have? He could fight Richie
Incognito. He could go and tell on the players, which we know in the football
locker room doesn't go over too well. Or he could remove himself from the
situation and let the proper channels take care of itself. And I think he made
the intelligent, smart choice without putting himself or Richie Incognito's
physical abilities in danger." -
Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin, a former college teammate of Martin's
“I think he handled it the right way by not being
physical, by not causing more trouble by making a rash, emotional decision to retaliate
with physical action. I would like to say that I would do the right thing if I
witnessed it, and I have never been put in that situation. Thank God.” - Steelers safety Troy Polamalu
Idiot of the Week
This week, I emphatically
label as idiot any Dolphins player, team personnel, team management official,
NFL official, media member and any current or former player who in any way dared
to try to defend or justify Incognito's actions and/or place blame for this
situation and Incognito's behavior on Jonathan Martin.
Some of the bigger idiots in
this mess include:
- Former Dolphins offensive lineman Lydon
Murtha, who went on record
calling Martin and Incognito best friends, even though he only played with
the two for several months and has not been around either or the locker room in
almost a year and a half. It seems odd that without daily contact Murtha could
defend or properly ascertain the nature of their relationship. He can't, but he
had to stick up for the locker room secrecy.
- Former offensive lineman Ross Tucker, who
while usually an intelligent and well spoken analyst, justified being mentally
weak in the NFL as an excuse for bullying.
- Former defensive lineman Tony Siragusa,
current Giants safety Antrel Rolle and dozens of others who advocated that
Martin is to blame because he should have
stood up for himself. It's funny how they all love the idea of frontier
justice, yet they have no idea what Martin did to stand up to Incognito nor
none of them advocated teammates sticking up for Martin. They all blamed Martin
instead of the bully and his enablers.
- current Dolphins general manager Jeff
Ireland, who told martin's agent when he contacted Ireland about the problem, that Martin
should punch Incognito. Keep in mind, this is the same man who asked Dez
Bryant before the 2010 draft if his mother was a prostitute. How he has a job
is beyond me.
- And of course Incognito himself for a
multitude of reasons.
Incognito bullied Martin
until he broke and that's bad. But these people have been bullying Martin
almost as long as Incognito and that's worse. You should all be ashamed of
yourselves. You chose defending a racist psychopath over the victim just
because of some made up locker room code, or because the truth reveals their
own cowardice and accomplice in this tragedy. How do you sleep at night knowing
the damage you have caused?
Shame on all of you idiots.
On Tap This Week
Making these picks each week
is hard. The pressure, the decision making, the study and instruction needed.
But you know what's infinitely harder? Coaching in the NFL, just ask Gary
Kubiak and John Fox.
Our best wishes for full
recoveries go out to both Kubiak, who suffered
a mini stroke right at halftime of last week's game, and Fox, who had heart
valve replacement surgery this week. And gentlemen, take your time coming back.
Your teams will still be here. Your long term health is more important than
anything.
Now, where am I entering
Week 10.
Last week: 8-5
Thursday: 0-1
Season to Date: 88-46
Pretty good, and sitting in
third place overall. But perhaps the Incognito story has me discombobulated,
but I had some trouble picking this week. Let's hope that was just nerves or
cold weather.
Sitting at home, working on
a wicked barbeque recipe - Cleveland, Kansas City, New
England, New York
Jets
Sunday
Detroit (5-3) at Chicago (5-3)
Nice comeback win by Chicago last week. But
tell me this, could they have accomplished that if Aaron Rodgers had remained
in the game?
Lions over Bears
Jacksonville (0-8) at Tennessee (4-4)
Meh.
Titans over Jaguars
Cincinnati (6-3) at Baltimore (3-5)
Call it a hunch, or just wishful
thinking, but perhaps the Bengals have one more game left in them. If not,
Bungle time is officially here.
Bengals over Ravens
Buffalo (3-6) at Pittsburgh (2-6)
I couldn't pick against my
boys. Well, I could, and probably should, but not after what they showed me
this week. Now if that could just translate to better on-field performances.
Steelers over Bills
Philadelphia (4-5) at Green Bay (5-3)
Do you trust the backup
quarterback on the road, or the backup quarterback at home? Tough call, probably
even tougher to watch.
Packers over Eagles
St. Louis (3-6) at Indianapolis (7-2)
If Indianapolis is down in
this game by 21 points in the half, who feels more nervous, Colts fans or Rams
fans? Discuss.
Colts over Rams
Oakland (3-5) at New York Giants (2-6)
New
York is like Pittsburgh, a champion
team in a down year. But there's no way I think that crappy Oakland squad is flying 3,000 miles and
winning.
Giants over Raiders
Seattle (8-1) at Atlanta (2-6)
Seattle's offense looks terrible, but so does Atlanta's offense. And
their defense, special teams, coaching....
Then why do I feel like this
is a trap?
Seahawks over Falcons
Carolina (5-3) at San Francisco (6-2)
Carolina is creeping up the standings, but they haven't
played anyone of quality. If they win today, I'll start taking them seriously.
Until then...
49ers over Panthers
Denver (7-1) at San Diego (4-4)
Please, you think Peyton
spent his bye week making
pizza? Heck no! He spent it instructing interim head coach Jack Del Rio how
to pretend to coach and stay out of Peyton's way.
Broncos over Chargers
Houston (2-6) at Arizona (4-4)
Inspirational game for their
fallen coach? Maybe, but a third string quarterback on the road usually does
not end well.
Cardinals over Texans
Dallas (5-4) at New Orleans (6-2)
Dallas can take control of the NFC East with a win. But
they won't.
Saints over Cowboys
Monday
Miami (4-4) at Tampa Bay
(0-8)
Here's your moral question
of the week. Which team would you rather pick; the team that bullies one
player, or the team whose coach bullies all his players? Disgusting.
Dolphins over Buccaneers
Labels: bullying, football, Jonathan Martin, NFL, picks, Pittsburgh, Richie Incognito, Steelers
