Imagine yourself taking a job where, for the first year or two, you have to put up with verbal taunts and physical intimidation from your more senior co-workers; where you are expected to serve their every whim, submit to involuntary head shaving and pick up the tab for thousands of dollars worth of meals that those more senior workers consume. You probably would say, “Take this job and shove it.”…. That is pretty much what second-year tackle Jonathan Martin told the Miami Dolphins this week when he left the team and returned home to Los Angeles. Hazing is said to be endemic in the NFL and other professional sports, but, for Martin, the treatment was even worse…. Martin’s teammate, veteran offensive lineman Richie Incognito, reportedly sent Martin a series of menacing texts and voice messages. Among other things, Incognito reportedly used racial slurs, threatened to slap Martin’s “real mother,” said he would defecate in Martin’s mouth and then kill him. In the locker room, Icognito was the ringleader in bullying aimed at Martin. On Monday, when members of the offensive line abruptly left the dining table as Martin took a seat, the Stanford grad slammed down his tray and walked out.
Having spent a goodly amount of time in locker rooms in my younger day, I know that cretins who are merely objectionable in real life can be far worse when part of a team. Bullies do what bullies do, but when you through in the somewhat cloistered environment that is your average sports team, things can and often do get out of hand. The stories of team hazing rituals having spun wildly out of control are legion and often quite disturbing in their inhumanity. They shed a light on the sort of damage and humiliation human beings are capable of inflicting on those they’re able to exercise control over. It can be juvenile and silly, and in most cases relatively harmless. Left unchecked, hazing can easily become severe, mean, and quite traumatic.
You might be forgiven for thinking that in the NFL, where players are professionals, there’d be an expectation of at least a minimum level of professionalism and decorum. In the case of the Miami Dolphins, you’d be wrong. WAY wrong. Jonathan Martin probably thought he could expect to be treated like a mature, professional adult. He probably thought he’d be able to make a good living playing professional football and could devote himself to perfecting his craft. Instead, he walked into what became a living Hell that would be the envy of any college fraternity. And the world gets to find out what most of the NFL evidently has long known: Richie Incognito is a mean-spirited, racist asshole with almost no redeeming social value.
Incognito has been a troublemaker at least since his days playing at Nebraska. He was kicked off two college teams and has been disciplined for dirty play as a professional. Why would anyone want to hire this guy or keep him around once hired? Because he is good at what he does — physical intimidation — and that is greatly valued in the brutal world of football. Up to this point, it had not mattered that he is a creep, but Incognito has been suspended from the Dolphins with little expectation that he will return.
The juvenile hazing that NFL rookies endure is as disturbing as Incognito’s thuggish actions. The excuse is that the bad treatment builds team spirit, which is absurd. There are a thousand better ways to forge a strong team. Hazing is childish behavior that real men leave behind when they sober up and exit the frat house.
NFL players prove their toughness every time they take the field. Off the field, they deserve the same thing any one of us should expect in the workplace: respect and freedom from harassment. Jonathan Martin is a smart guy who considered going to law school instead of pursuing a football career. He might just be too grown up to waste his time with immature punks like Incognito and his pals.
People with violent streaks can be found throughout the NFL, where no one could be confused with Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa. It was George Will who once described football as “violence punctuated by committee meetings.” Violence is the NFL’s stock in trade; it’s what makes football America’s favorite sport. Most players understand that while a violent mean streak might be a useful asset between the lines, that bellicosity can’t bleed into civilian life. Richie Incognito evidently never got the memo.
There are undoubtedly explanations for Incognito’s disgusting racist abuse directed at Jonathan Martin. Reports indicate that he was abused as a child, and it’s not uncommon for abuse survivors to act out and become abusers themselves. That may be a reason. It may help to explain Incognito, but it by no means excuses his mistreatment of Martin…especially when you consider that he drew others into the abuse.
It’s not an excuse.
I can’t help but wonder where Miami’s coaching staff was as Martin was being harassed. NFL coaches and their staffs are famous for being world-class control freaks, so it stands to reason that the staff knew- or should have known- what Incognito was doing. Did they not take action against Incognito because “Well…boys will be boys, right?” Did they believe that hazing rookies was just a necessary part of team-building, and besides, it happens on every team and has for generations?
Isn’t about time we held bullies responsible for their actions…and that people in a position to stop them would do exactly that? There are other ways to “toughen” people up- ways that don’t involve abuse and/or racism. It’s time for the NFL and the NFLPA to set an example by banning the hazing of rookies.
Jonathan Martin deserved better.
