After reading
Ted Wells’ 144-page report on Miami Dolphins players Richie Incognito, Mike
Pouncey and Jerry Jones’ harassment of fellow teammate Jonathan Martin among
others, including a Japanese Assistant Trainer, it is clear the ‘Fins locker
room and workplace culture is hazardous and needs a serious overhaul. The text
messages released a couple of weeks ago between Incognito and Martin painted a
drastically different picture than Wells’ report. Although the language was
vulgar, it did not appear as if Incognito was bullying or harassing Martin. If
you had known nothing about the case and decided to read the conversations
between the two young men, it would seem like normal banter (to some) between
two close friends who were interested in the same things (clubs, girls,
drinking, football, etc.). Whether the language included in their texts was
offensive to you or not is irrelevant, because it did not clearly appear as if
anything was seriously wrong. But Wells’ report vividly depicted that something
was indeed wrong, and Martin, along with a few others, was being subject to
over-the-top harassment, even for an NFL locker room.
Martin had noted
that his early time with the Dolphins was not that bad in terms of hazing, but
as time went on it became progressively worse. He was repeatedly taunted and
singled-out, according to his accounts, and Incognito along with fellow
offensive linemen Mike Pouncey and Jerry Jones were the three main catalysts.
Incognito called him names such as ‘stinky Pakistani’ and told him ‘you’re my
bitch,’ while Pouncey and Jones had said he was not ‘black enough.’ Martin had
a different upbringing and other intellectual interests, such as high-level
reading, that appeared to bother pure jocks such as Incognito, Pouncey and
Jones. He was not your typical jock that only loved football, partying and
women. Martin was passionate about all three of those aforementioned things,
but had other interests that led to him being nicknamed ‘Big Weirdo’ by
Incognito. Incognito, according to notable players such as Pouncey, Jones and
quarterback Ryan Tannehill, was an outstanding, outspoken team leader and
inspired others to work hard, get in the gym and play a physical brand of
football. But, as Martin noted, Incognito had a ‘bi-polar’ personality, which
usually went from friendly and caring to aggressive and out of control when he
was either drinking or surrounded by a bunch of teammates. Martin acknowledged
that he sometimes liked Incognito and that they had similar interests, but
their ‘friendship’ was very unusual and could turn on a moment’s notice. One
example was during a 2012 Christmas party hosted by Pouncey for the offensive
linemen that, according to Martin, displayed Incognito’s bipolar tendencies.
After they had started drinking, Incognito and Martin got into, what at first
seemed like, a playful altercation. Soon after, Martin noted, that Incognito
ripped his shirt off and started seriously punching and hitting him. Martin did
not want to further escalate the situation, so he took the blows, which by his
account were not seriously injuring, until his fellow teammates pulled
Incognito off and stopped the fight. Five minutes later, they were having a
great time at the strip club as if nothing had happened. According to Martin,
this was regular behavior from Incognito, whom he separated into ‘Good Richie’
and ‘Bad Richie.’ Martin had been continuously subject to name-calling and
inappropriate physical contact from these three, which led him to contemplate
suicide and, at one point, check himself into a mental hospital.
Martin had been
in constant contact with his parents while this was all occurring. Wells’
report has several text conversations between Martin and his parents that show
the fragile mental state he was in at the time. Martin vented his frustrations
about himself to his parents and complained that he wasn’t tough enough or man
enough to stand up for himself and confront his teammates. According to the
report, he had been subject to bullying and unfair treatment in middle and high
school, but it had tapered off during his college years at Stanford under
now-49ers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh. It was obvious Martin had been depressed and
had low-self esteem as a result of the bullying throughout his life, and this
malicious hazing from his Dolphin teammates only exacerbated his issues. His
parents continued to check in on him and support him, and at one point Martin’s
mom flew down to Florida to see how he was holding up. He got to the point
where he would arrive to the Dolphins’ facility in the mornings and tell
himself, ‘Just get through the day.’ That is not a normal thought to be having
for someone supposedly living their dream of playing professional football in
the NFL. A grown, 24-year old man should be able to walk into his workplace on
a daily basis without fear that he will be humiliated or embarrassed by his
co-workers or teammates. I understand that NFL locker rooms are a different
environment, and that much of the language used can be vulgar. I have played on
sports teams my entire life, and although I did not play organized football I
am well-aware that a lot of the camaraderie is developed because of cracking
jokes, making insults and talking with a certain careless vulgarity. There
reaches a point where, as veteran teammates, you have to be aware of the mental
state of your younger teammates. Rookie hazing and younger players getting the
brunt of the jokes and pranks is nothing new, but it becomes a totally
different issue when a young man is being brutally broken down to the point
where he is contemplating suicide and has to leave the team for his own mental
health purposes. The NFL locker room should not be held to a different standard
from other workplace environments. Just because a man is 6’5”, 320 pounds does
not mean that it should be permissible to make demeaning comments about his
sister and mother on a regular basis, as Incognito, Pouncey and Jones did to
Martin. The veteran offensive linemen on the team, notably the ones who were
Martin’s harassers, should be held accountable and should have recognized when
enough’s enough. Not everybody is from the same background and is accustomed to
banter that goes on in locker room settings, and Martin should have been
respected enough to be given space. I’m sure the usual rookie hazing and
infrequent jokes would not have bothered Martin, but when it became harassment
and detrimental to his emotional well-being, that is when the veteran players
should have known to back off.
Martin was not
the only one who was subject to this unfair treatment, as a Japanese Assistant
Trainer was abused and called names such as ‘gook’ and ‘chink.’ In addition to
the Japanese Trainer, a previously unidentified player, who has now been
identified as Andrew McDonald, now a member of the Carolina Panthers, was
subject to harassment. Incognito had said that McDonald ‘took it well’ and was
not one to complain about getting a hard time. During his time with the
Dolphins, McDonald had been the center of a joke that he was gay and had been
given a male blow-up doll as a prank by offensive line coach Jim Turner. Turner
had been unclear during his interviews that he played a significant role in
harassing or mistreating any of his players. Martin, in an attempt to fit in,
even admitted that he sometimes participated in this long-running joke about
McDonald. Clearly, McDonald had not been as affected by the harassment as
Martin, and has said that ‘he has no problem with the Dolphins organization.’
Martin should not be looked upon as a snitch, or a rat, in this situation. If
anything, he should have spoken up to his coaches earlier than he did and not
have allowed this to keep going on. It is unfortunate if other GMs and coaches
hold what happened to Martin against him going forward, as Wells’ report
clearly shows that this was not a normal case of rookie hazing or joking. The
vulgar harassment continued beyond Martin’s first year into his second, which
led to him walking away from the team late this past October. This issue should
open the eyes of Commissioner Goodell, GMs, coaches and players across the NFL
to the unhealthy nature of some of their workplace environments. At the end of
the day, professional football is a job for the players, and for many of them
it’s the only thing they can do at a high level. If Martin does not feel as if
he can succeed in the NFL because off the nature of his surrounding
environment, and he has devoted his entire life to being a professional
football player, that leaves him at a major disadvantage. Martin is good enough
to be a starter in the NFL, and this should not be compromised because of
off-the-field issues. He should be surrounded by an atmosphere that boosts his
morale and gives him the upmost confidence to perform at a high level on the
field; not where he has to worry about being ridiculed and humiliated by his
fellow teammates every time he walks into work in the morning.
Here is Ted Wells' entire, eye-opening 144-page report: Wells' Report
And over 1,000
text messages exchanged between Incognito and Martin between October
2012-November 2013:: Incognito-Martin text messages
