Richie Incognito, a guard for the Miami Dolphins is currently indefinitely suspended for conduct detrimental to the team.
Jonathan Martin, offensive tackle for the Dolphins has been allegedly bullied by his teammate, Incognito. Martin checked himself into a South Florida hospital to be treated for emotional distress. This emotional distress caused Martin to leave the team on October 28, 2013. Martin’s attorney, David Cornwell, said in a statement issued late Thursday night that Incognito and other teammates bullied Martin to the point that he felt like he had no choice but to leave the team.
The final incident that occurred to cause Martin to leave the team was in the team’s cafeteria when he sat down to eat. After sitting down the other players he joined got up and walked away and he was left to sit alone. I don’t know about you, but this does not seem like something you do to a teammate. There were also texts from Incognito using racial slurs in threatening texts to Martin.
Incognito was told by coaching staff to “toughen up” Martin. The general manager, Jeff Ireland, told Martin’s agent that the player should “punch” Incognito to make the alleged bullying stop. HOW WOULD THIS HELP ANYTHING? “Violence is NEVER the answer,” yet the general manager said Martin should respond back with VIOLENCE. How would this help Martin? Isn’t it possible that Incognito [or other teammates] would bully Martin even more and harder? Also, if the general manager knew the tiniest bit about the possible bullying of Martin, WHY DIDN’T HE DO ANYTHING? WHY DIDN’T HE TRY TO STOP IT OR TALK WITH THE OTHER PLAYERS? This could have saved the Dolphins a lot of trouble.
Incognito is denying the bullying of Martin and said the threatening texts and racial slurs were just him playing around and that is their “brotherhood.” I don’t know about your friends, family, teammates, or whoever else you hang out with or see, but TO ME THESE DO NOT SEEM very brotherhood-like.
Even Incognito’s ex-teammate from the St. Louis Rams called him a ‘scumbag.’ Cam Cleeland, the ex-teammate of Incognito said he dealt with hazing on a very personal level when he came into the league. Cleeland said,
I’m not afraid to say that he was an immature, unrealistic scumbag. When it came down to it, he had no personality, he was a locker room cancer, and he just wanted to fight everybody all the time. It was bizarre beyond belief.
It is said to believe that the 30 year-old guard will reportedly consider filing a grievance against the team.
As a college student, I hear a lot about bullying, hazing, emotional distress, and harassment. All of these things which are frowned upon no matter what you are a part of. To see that this is happening in the NFL is beyond ridiculous and I thought that an NFL team would be supportive of all their players, just like a family should be.
Related articles
- I’m not a bully… (nypost.com)
- Richie Incognito: “I Had Jonathan Martin’s Back More Than Any Other Dolphin” (thacover2.com)
- Incognito: Only a ‘product of environment’ (espn.go.com)
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