Dear NFL: You are making it hard to be a fan

[ElvisL1ves]

It’s telling to me that the other players are rallying around Incognito, not Martin. That’s understandable, given that Martin quit on them. But the fact is that the team suspended Incognito indefinitely, and he does have a rep as an a-hole above and beyond the call of duty. So my vote is that nobody’s right here.

Where does the name Incognito come from, btw (besides Italy)? Was an ancestor of his a foundling, and that’s what the nuns at the orphanage named him?

[shiftless]

Why is everyone calling this bullying? It is plan old hazing that has gone since the beginning of time. Calling it bullying may make the story fit the most current headlines, where everybody is talking about bullies, but to me it diminishes the issue. Bullying suggests a little name calling, a little pushing, maybe some laughing. The kinds of hazing that go on in certain institutions - sports, the military, fraternities - go far, far beyond that to the point of outright abuse, accepted and encouraged by those institutions in a lot of cases.

[LawMonkey]

It’s just more of the stupid fucking macho bullshit that football’s all about. If I wanted to like football (and god knows it’d be a social advantage in this town), I couldn’t do it–because it’s just one neverending stream of stupid fucking macho bullshit, from the advertising, to the field, to the locker rooms, to the announcers, to the fans. Incognito will get a slap on the wrist, Martin will fade into obscurity, and we’ll all forget about this in a few weeks.

(Also, is there no justice in this world? Why should a complete douchebag get a cool name like “Incognito?” shakes fist at the sky)

[Algher]

I like this commentary:

There will always be locker-room assholes. They should be curtailed. And when a player says he needs time off for mental reasons — again: in a sport with a suicide problem — it shouldn’t spark a national conversation on whether he’s soft.

» Man Up

[Darth_Panda]

@shiftless

Why is everyone calling this bullying? It is plan old hazing that has gone since the beginning of time. Calling it bullying may make the story fit the most current headlines, where everybody is talking about bullies, but to me it diminishes the issue. Bullying suggests a little name calling, a little pushing, maybe some laughing. The kinds of hazing that go on in certain institutions - sports, the military, fraternities - go far, far beyond that to the point of outright abuse, accepted and encouraged by those institutions in a lot of cases.

Honestly, it’s not even hazing - Martin was far from a rookie. This is plain old workplace harassment and assault.

@LawMonkey

It’s just more of the stupid fucking macho bullshit that football’s all about. If I wanted to like football (and god knows it’d be a social advantage in this town), I couldn’t do it–because it’s just one neverending stream of stupid fucking macho bullshit, from the advertising, to the field, to the locker rooms, to the announcers, to the fans. Incognito will get a slap on the wrist, Martin will fade into obscurity, and we’ll all forget about this in a few weeks.

(Also, is there no justice in this world? Why should a complete douchebag get a cool name like “Incognito?” shakes fist at the sky)

FWIW, the Dolphins have suspended Incognito indefinitely - slightly more than a slap on the wrist. But the reality is that the Dolphins as an organization are probably more at fault than Incognito himself. It seems they asked him to ‘toughen Martin up’ and when Martin’s agent complained to the GM, the agent was told that Martin should punch Incognito in the face. Incognito might be an incorrigible douche, but management should know better - a lot better.