Miami Dolphins Hazing

[The Brain]

The top story in the sports world over the past two days has been suspension of Miami Dolphins Guard Ricky Incognito after alleged extreme hazing of teammate Jonathan Martin. It’s hard to weigh in on this story without all the facts (my knowledge comes from brief discussions I hear on the radio to and from work) but it is believed that Incognito has verbally abused Martin including using racial slurs and physical threats against his family. I think we can all agree that if true this goes beyond what has been known as normal rookie hazing and Incognito deserves his suspension which will surely lead to him being cut. Martin voluntarily left the team as a result of Incognito’s actions and it is unclear if he will return. With our limited knowledge do you think Martin was right to leave the team and if he returns will his teammates accept him back?

Some of the discussion I’ve heard has been about what has been accepted as rookie hazing over the years. I’ve heard former players mention that they’ve had to carry the veteran’s bags through the airport, pick up their dry cleaning, bring donuts for the entire team during practice and pick up the tab after an expensive team dinner which could reach thousands of dollars. This all seem pretty harmless, although picking up a dinner bill for several thousand dollars seems like a bit much. Do you think rookie hazing has a place in the locker room in this day and age? Does it actually build team camaraderie or could it cause resentment among teammates? Should a locker room be treated like any other place of business in this country or do you believe normal HR rules don’t need to be enforced in sports? I don’t really find anything wrong with the harmless examples listed above but at the same time it does seem kind of silly. Maybe by the time players reach the pros they should act like adults and leave the childish games behind them.

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

There's a huge difference between rookie hazing and what Jonathan Martin was subject to. I am very conservative when it comes to hazing in fraternities, athletics, and other organizations: as long as it doesn't constitute a threat to one's physical health or cause one severe mental distress, then it's "man up, boys will be boys." You want to put Icee Hot in someone's jock strap? That's fine. You want to tape someone's hands and feet together and throw them in cheerleading practice with only their boxers on? That's fine, too.

Calling someone a "half-******" and then threatening to kill them and assault their mother is flat-out criminal. Incognito will be lucky if the only consequence of his actions is never being able to play in the NFL again.

 

[#tamale]

What Jonathan Martin endured was harassment. Each new piece of information that comes out is more disturbing than the last. If the reports are true, it seems that Dolphins management personally told Incognito to "toughen up" Martin. The Dolphins players are trying to deflect this on Martin because they know Goodell is going to come down hard on them and they are trying to save their own ass. Philbin either knew what was going and let it happen or was not aware of the situation that was happening on his team, but that's a sign of a terrible leader. This spells disaster for the Dolphins organization.

I'm going to go with Daron's point about rookie hazing. As long it does not cause any physical or mental harm, I'm fine with it. I can understand that tradition in sports. A strong organization with great leaders will be able to control the hazing and make sure it does not go overboard. I think some organizations have even told the players to scale back on the rookie hazing (Packers, Patriots). What I'm interested in is how the NFL and NFLPA will address this situation. It's not like Goodell doesn't bring down the hammer and this is a PR nightmare for the NFL. Will it get to the point where rookie hazing will be outlawed?

 

[The Butcher]

Specifically on the Martin/Incognito situation, all signs actually point to this being more of a statement on Jonathan Martin's mental toughness/health than on Icognito being a bad teammate. And everyone should remember that all we have to go on are signs, because no one knows what really went on except those involved.

Should Richie Icognito be using the N-word? In a word, no. In two, hell no. However, his black teammates who have spoken publicly on the situation seem to have no issue with it, and a video released by TMZ shows Icognitio using the word while with a black teammate, center Mike Pouncey. Clearly they know the man better than we or those in the media do, and it would seem as if they condone his use of the slur. None of his teammates have come out against him, which is equally as telling. The threats are dismaying, but it's hard to believe that Incognito would have acted on them. He's earned a reputation for being a dirty player, which makes this narrative easier to write and to digest, however I doubt he's ever hit a teammate's family member or defecated in someone's mouth.

The specific incident that led to Martin walking away from the team supposedly involved the entire offensive line, not just Icognito. I'm not saying that Icognito is being unfairly singled out, because he's clearly guilty of harassing Martin. However, he's most likely not the only guilty party, just the one with the most damning piece of evidence against him. Martin's upbringing and college environment didn't really seem the type that would have exposed him to the Richie Icognito's of the world. Even Martin's own high school football coach wasn't surprised that he'd receive such treatment. This speaks to Martin's mental state. Alpha males prey on weaker males; the team probably didn't respect him.

I'm not saying that the actions of Incognito were justified. However, as New York Giant Antrel Rolle said, Martin is guilty of allowing it to happen. Does this mean that Jonathan Martin should have picked a fight with his harassers? Not at all, but it's looking more and more like he took no action whatsoever until he reaching a breaking point. In my experience as an adult, it's always best to handle things at the lowest level possible; you know, before they require inquiries and get press coverage. This isn't just true for locker rooms, but for all environments where maintaining amicable interpersonal relationships is crucial for success. Say, for example, that a soldier in the army is getting harassed by a clique of soldiers in his platoon. He should go to his platoon leader before he goes to the battalion commander, and he should go to either before he goes AWOL.

This situation shouldn't be used as a referendum on hazing. Much more fitting and tragic examples exist to make a better case with. They are few and far between considering the amount of sports teams, frats, etc. that are out there, but I digress. Jonathan Martin isn't a rookie, and he wasn't being hazed. He was being harassed, and he should have spoke up. As a rookie, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant refused to carry a veteran's shoulder pads after training camp practice like all rookies were told to do, and last I checked no one from the team assaulted his mother. There's no reason for anyone to try to change a culture they don't understand from the inside just because an isolated incident occurred in a dysfunctional organization.

 

[LSN80]

I don’t really find anything wrong with the harmless examples listed above but at the same time it does seem kind of silly. Maybe by the time players reach the pros they should act like adults and leave the childish games behind them.

They're certainly being paid enough money to be professionals, aren't they? The last time I checked, these men were professionalfootball players, and highly paid ones at that. It's an example of a time and a place where you examine any other workplace environment, especially those that pay well, and see how long the behavior of a Richie Incognito is allowed. I would venture not very long. Further, I think the childish explanation of Antrelle Rolle that Jonathan Martin "allowed" this to happen to himself is ludicrous. In Incognito, you have a veteran, pro-bowl player, and Martin, a second year guy. Usually, situations such as these are left to be policed by their own, I.E., the players. Incognito was one of those players on the Dolphins that was part of a six man counsel that was supposed to be a leader. The Jonathan Martin's of the world see this, feel helpless, and we wind up with situations such as this. Such a player or employee feels that they can't go higher, lest they be labeled a "pussy" or "not tough enough" mentally to play in the NFL.

Perhaps Martin doesn't have a tough enough mentality to play in the NFL, but that's a different story for a different day. What Richie Incognito did was borderline criminal, and the Dolphins, the NFL, and any outside investigators they might use need to treat it as such. Perfectly normal people have their lives destroyed by this type of harassment, and the NFL etc.al. needs to send a huge message, one that says they won't tolerate this type of behavior.

Sometimes, people can't fight back for themselves, and they need others to do so for them. We see this mentality fostered in school with bullies and victims, and it continues throughout life to some extent. Neither you nor I know Jonathan Martin, but here he's facing harassment from a member of the Dolphins leadership counsel, and a pro-bowl veteran. Standing up for himself would make for an awfully tall task, perhaps one he wasn't up to. Should he have gone to another veteran for help, be it that he was reaching an obvious breaking point? Perhaps. But there's also the possibility that Martin saw this as normal behavior, and in his mind, thought he needed to simply toughen up and take his lumps. After all, this is the big leagues, where only the toughest survive. Undeniably, that goes beyond the physical to the mental as well.

The problem is, it's also a professional place, and certain levels of conduct should never happen, especially in a professional environment. Only the foolish blame the victim. This one is on Richie Incognito and those who allowed it to happen under their nose, within the confines of what is a work environment.

1 Corinthians 13:11 :When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, and I behaved as a child. But when I became a man, I put childish things behind.

Richie Incognito would have been wise to do the same thing.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

I don't see an issue with hazing as long as it doesn't cross the line, Richie Incognito crossed the line plain and simple. When you start acting like a racist and threaten a guy's family you've went way too far and as a leader of the team you got to conduct yourself at a higher level than the rest of the locker room, doing such a thing is bullshit no matter where you are on the team but as a leader you have to be extra mindful of that kind of stuff as you are a role model for the team, being a leader doesn't start and stop on the football field and Incognito proved he's not worthy to be a leader.

Hazing is fine as long as it's not personal. Being rougher with rookies in practice makes sense, making him do harmless errands for the team makes sense and having a little fun with him is a bit juvenile but still harmless and makes sense. I get when a rookie comes in you are harder on him because you want to see what he's made of and you want to see how he will respond to the challenge. In essence rookie hazing is a test to see if you will be accepted by the team as a whole, the hazing doesn't need to go far but as a team you want to make sure that this new guy coming in can handle himself on and off the field because those aren't only the guys you want on your team, they are the guys you need on your team, guys who are mentally and physically tough.

I never played past High School Football so I understand the level you must conduct yourself between High School and Pro is night and day but it was common practice to haze the rookies, not in a malicious way, just in a way to see if they could handle the physical workload and stay mentally tough throughout a game. For example we would hit the rookies harder during tacking drills (as the coach put it "don't hurt them but make them hurt") and during scrimmage we would might do blatant pass interference and it wouldn't get called, then we would keep doing it and the QB would just throw to the rookie every play just to see if he would get easily agitated on the field. You do these things to make sure the rookie can handle football both mentally and physically and I think hazing in that sense is perfectly acceptable whether its on a pro level or not.

On the other end of that spectrum the other High School team in Airdrie (where I grew up) went in the opposite direction even going as far as physically abusing the rookies at a party (often tanning their ass with paddles and even a lead pipe once) and these rookies would CONSTANTLY get verbally abused and it would never be about football. Like Incognito they were being juvenile assholes for no other reason then to get a few kicks in, it had nothing to do with football or the team and when it came out how far they took hazing every player involved got kicked out of school because it was bullshit and there was no reason for it.

Like I said above there is a line you don't cross with hazing and when you cross that line you are no longer hazing, you are being abusive and a bully. That's where I see Incognito in all of this, he wasn't hazing the rook, he was abusing the rook and his spot on the team quite frankly and honestly if I was a member of that Dolphins team I would make Incognito pay when he comes back and pound it into his head that you don't treat teammates in that manner.