The issues involving the Miami Dolphins and Richie Incognito with regards to Jonathan Martin's harassment and abuse highlights a number of issues in sports, including hazing, respect for veteran players as well as stereotypes and how players and athletes handle and look at others with emotional and mental health issues.
Incognito has been accused of saying some terrible things to Martin and treating him badly and while Incognito likely thinks that he was doing the normal amount of hazing and bullying of a younger teammate, this disconnect shows the issues that athletes with emotional problems have in sports and in locker rooms. Could Martin go up to another teammate and say how he felt about Incognito or about anything in general?
Based on the way Incognito treated him, why would he feel safe doing that? This brings up an issue within a locker room, putting players like Martin with issues on one side and players who think they should be "tough" like Incognito. I bring Royce white into this because his mental health issues have been well documented and while his are not the same as this, he is no longer with a team because the Rockets and the Sixers either were fed up with his issues or did not see him as a productive player. White has talent, but he has been unable to get things together and one reason is because the professional sports landscape does not cater to players with emotional issues.
Incognito sees himself as innocent, as someone who did some harmless ribbing and bullying, but that's because Incognito is ignorant to the issues around him, not seeing anything serious about Martin's emotional issues. Everyone can have their opinions on it, but the way Martin was treated by Incognito was done with such ease that clearly there are some deep issues with locker rooms in sports. Take a look below about the news on Incognito and see what you think about it:
According to ESPN.com, CBS Sports and Adam Schefter have seen transcripts of voice mail messages and text messages and the words that Incognito reportedly used against Martin included: half n----- piece of s--- as well as curse words and a threat to his life, saying, "I'll kill you" and the report says that the voice mail message was left in April of 2013, as Martin was entering his second summer as a player with the Dolphins and now the team and the NFL has heard the message.
Even if Incognito says this was a joke or hazing, this clearly went above and beyond and seeing some of the pictures that Incognito has on social media, he sounds like a racist conservative who hates taxes, and apparently rookies based on a picture he took of a sign that said Richie Incognito hates taxes and rookie. So he clearly is a very good teammate. Incognito clearly is a jerk and this now sheds light on the little seen life in an NFL locker room and behavior like this is too far from just joking, especially for someone with emotional issues and as we have seen from Royce White, professional athletes are not always embraced for their emotional and mental issues.
Sources have said to ESPN.com that Incognito and his behavior were not isolated incidents and that there has been issues before with Martin and now Incognito comes into question even with him being part of the leadership council on the Dolphins, which was obviously a ridiculous mistake. Incognito is a pathetic person and deserved to be punished for the way he has treated Martin and while he tried to deny that he did any of this, all this reporting would not come out, as no one is trying to slander Incognito with false accusations, only the truth.
The report says that texts from Incognito also had "derogatory terms referring to the female anatomy and sexual orientation" and the "I'll kill you" statement is always a nice touch for someone you are supposed to share a locker room with. No wonder why Martin felt worried about certain consequences for not paying for a Vegas trip and other issues.
The Miami Dolphins are heading into a huge game on Thursday night football against the Cincinnati Bengals and for the game they likely won't have Jonathan Martin, as the offensive lineman left the team after a prank and now he could be out for the matchup at Sun Life Stadium.
According to ESPN.com, Martin left the team on Monday after getting pranked by other Dolphins players in the lunch room and now he is listed as doubtful for the game. Martin has been solid for the team all season after being a second round pick in last year's draft and he has started all seven games for the team this season. Martin "snapped" after being pranked and now he may not be in the lineup, meaning Tyson Clabo is likely to start.
The Dolphins are coming into the game after losing four straight games and now the quick turnaround means they will play after losing to the New England Patriots. The Bengals have been one of the best teams at 6-2 and they will be a tough test.
"O-line made fun of him and he snapped," a source said.