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Incognito Brings NFL Locker Room to the Public


Walrus

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I'm sure you all have been following this story out of Miami concerning Martin and Incognito. Anyone care to share your thoughts?

There's clearly a lot more to the story than has been released publicly to this point. I'd guess Martin's poor treatment has been ongoing since he was drafted and that Incognito was not the only player involved (and that involvement was not necessarily isolated to players, either). Obviously, the Dolphins have a pretty toxic locker room. How common do you think that is? Lots of commenters over at PFT seem to think it's pretty common to the NFL.

I can't see this kind of thing happening in Cincy with guys like Whit and Peko in leadership, but then I'm a bit naive. I could see our LB corp and maybe secondary being a little rougher with each other, but to harass/degrade one another to the degree of the Miami allegations? I don't think so.

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Something along these lines happens in very locker room, school, workplace, etc. across the country.

But where it happens an how often it occurs is irrelevant. None of that makes it right. It's not just a failure on Incognito's part, but also on the part of anyone and everyone who was aware of the situation and sat back while allowing it to occur.

I've heard a lot of national media commentators and former NFL players that say Martin shares part of the blame for not standing up for himself. I'm not sure when or where it's been decided that people who are afraid, weak, or marginalized deserve to be picked on. It's not a theory I'm on board with.

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I'm sure there's a certain amount of rookie hazing that goes on in every locker room. As long as it's good-natured (like the rookie talent show we've seen on HK) or typical low-man-on-the-totem-pole stuff you deal with in any workplace, I don't see it as a problem.

But what Incognito did, and Bill Polian pointed this out on M&M this morning, is textbook workplace harassment. If Martin wanted to he could sue the crap out of the Fins right now. And IMHO that, more than anything else, is why Richie is getting run out of Miami on a rail. Expose your employer to a massive liability claim? Then your a** is toast.

As to Incognito personally, I don't know if he's really a racist ahole or just rock-stupid.

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Did anyone else happen to see the text he sent to Martin ??

Holy hell. I can't envision that as being construed as anything close to amusing.

Do things like this happen ?? Sure they do, but as Whitworth mentioned in an article, there is a line.

How much people come close to or step over the line needs to be watched.

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Did anyone else happen to see the text he sent to Martin ??

Holy hell. I can't envision that as being construed as anything close to amusing.

Do things like this happen ?? Sure they do, but as Whitworth mentioned in an article, there is a line.

How much people come close to or step over the line needs to be watched.

How stupid is Incognito for even putting such language on tape and in print (text)? How long till we get treated to the teary eyed presser from Incognito apologizing for all of this and blaming his upbringing?

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Well, at least we know why Martin just walked out. Wasn't much else he could do. Apparently Philbin knew hazing was going on in the locker room, didn't like it, but didn't do anything to stop it. Coaches give Incognito license to be a jerk. And he's on the so-called players council so Martin can't go to the alleged locker room leaders for help. So it's either get in a fight with one of the top guys in the locker room or leave.

Management needs to clean house.

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And the f**ked-up-ed-ness goes to 11...

“They think it’s sad, not only that Jonathan’s not on the football team, but also that Richie is being depicted as a bigot and as a racist.”

How is this possible?

Well, I've spoken to multiple people today about this and the explanation from all of them is that in the Dolphins locker room, Richie Incognito was considered a black guy. He was accepted by the black players. He was an honorary black man.

And Jonathan Martin, who is bi-racial, was not. Indeed, Martin was considered less black than Incognito.

"Richie is honarary," one player who left the Dolphins this offseason told me today. "I don't expect you to understand because you're not black. But being a black guy, being a brother is more than just about skin color. It's about how you carry yourself. How you play. Where you come from. What you've experienced. A lot of things."

Another former Dolphins employee told me Martin is considered "soft" by his teammates and that's a reason he's not readily accepted by some of the players, particularly the black players. His background -- Stanford educated and the son of highly educated people -- was not necessarily seen as a strength or a positive by some players and it perpetuated in the way Martin carried himself.

smh

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And yet another loop-de-loop on the roller coaster: did GM Jeff Ireland tell Martin's agent that Martin ought to solve his problem by punching Incognito?


/>http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/11/06/sources-ireland-suggested-that-martin-confront-incognito-physically/

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If this had been a Bengals player it would have come out in 2012 and the media would have been all over the "same old criminal Bungles" story. Miami? Gets a pass until the locker room implodes.


/>http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9944012/police-report-filed-richie-incognito-alleged-molestation-2012-no-charges

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Oh for gawd's sake...

According to two sources, suspended Dolphins guard Richie Incognito regularly held meetings for the team’s offensive linemen at a South Florida strip club, demanding that other linemen attend at the location. Incognito went so far as to “fine” teammates in an erstwhile kangaroo court if they did not show up.

“Richie wanted to set up Richie’s world as a way for everybody to act,” a team source said. “Richie thinks everybody should act that way. He doesn’t get that some guys aren’t into that behav-ior. Some guys don’t want to constantly explain to their wife or girlfriend why they have to go to a strip club.”

If players didn’t go, Incognito would mock them for not being part of the group, one of the sources said.

Let me tell ya, that's one helluva pro football organization they got down there in south Florida. To echo earlier comments, yeah, just how in hell did we lose to these jokers?

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Even without 2012, if this whole Incognito thing had happened to the Bengals, it truly would be a different type of coverage.

Our guys can help all the old ladies across the street, they can visit every sick kid they can find. It won't change. Until one of our guys cures AIDS, resets the earth back on its axis after a meteor strike, or walks across the Ohio River, we're going to get treated like s**t by the media.

The Patriots employ a mass murderer? Wow! Look at Brady stand in the pocket!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Richie Incognito, equal opportunity douchebag:

The troubles of the Miami Dolphins are well documented. And now they extend beyond merely the alleged harassment of a female employee and the alleged bullying of Jonathan Martin: according to a report Richie Incognito and at least one other Dolphins player harassed a Dolphins team employee.

Jason Cole of the National Football Post reports that Incognito and "at least one other" Dolphins player "mocked the ethnic background of a team staff member and made crude jokes about the staff member's wife."

Additionally, Cole reports "Incognito would sometimes dress in garb from the staff member's culture and then make profane jokes about that culture" and that another player "joined in on the antics, creating an extremely uncomfortable environment for the staff member."

The worst part, though? Cole's report that "Incognito said on a number of occasions that the staff member's wife had sexual relationships with several members of the team."

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  • 2 months later...

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