LOCKER ROOMS ARE NOT FOR SISSIES!

(Milan News, Utica Observer-Dispatch, Rocco LaDuca)

(Tennessean, Thomas Rodgers Kiam, Boston Globe, June Wulff)

(New York Times, William C. Rhoden, Alan Eisenberg, Yahoo Sports)

(Eric Adelson, Jim Thomas, Ted Wells, Philip Trueman, Frazer Chronicle)

 

I suppose I’d better be careful about throwing perceived epithets around so early on a Sunday morning, I might end up in a lawsuit…..or worse, in jail for a stated opinion. I’ve hung around locker rooms for much of my life, as a player, a manager, and coach…..and I’ve seen my share of ritualistic behavior…..in fact, I’ve initiated my share.

Most of the time it was nothing more than innocent horse-play, meant to initiate a new player onto the team, and I suppose as time went on, like year after year, there was an escalation to the initiation, but for my part, it was never meant to hurt anybody, or to inflect a permanent scare either physically or mentally, it was supposed to be in good fun.

There was even a name for the initiation; we called it the blitz, and the blitz involved a series of pinches on a player’s chest area, and grabbing the groinal area. I personally did not grub a guy (grabbing a guys genitals), I didn’t like it done to me, and I figured grabbing a guys boobs was enough of an initiation, after all, a guy’s pectoral muscle is pretty easy to grab, and a bonus is that it’ll bruise nicely.  

I wasn’t always the instigator, in fact I seldom was, but I’ve gotta admit that I was always ready to join in. We’re talking close to 35 years now, so things have changed from when I was trying to be athletic. We now come to the National Football League and their latest fiasco, a couple years ago it was bounty-gate deal in New Orleans, and now it’s the Incognito-Martin (he did, he said, he twitted).

Now I understand the feeling that boys will be boys deal, like I say, I’ve been involved with this attitude in my life. But nobody called anybody derogatory names…..honest; I can’t recall any name calling. And these fellas are a bit bigger than anything I poked fun at.

I’m talking about the Richie Incognito-Jonathan Martin-gate; two men-children who PLAYED for the Miami Dolphins. I say “played” because apparently both their careers are hanging in the balance because of some stupid, insensitive remarks, one to the other.

HERE’S WHERE THE DANGER IS WITH THESE JOKERS

If there is (in simple terms)  anything connected with this seeming stupid chain of events, it would be that sticks and stones may break my bones…..but names will never hurt me. The real problem with these guys, no matter which man is at fault, is the fact that neither can hide, both stand well over 6’ tall and weigh in excess of 300#. If they were going to duke it out, it’d kind of be like Godzilla vs. Hakutaku going at it, everybody would see.

Neither of these guys walk softly and carries a big stick, these guys are professional footballers who play on the offensive line for the Dolphins, or at this point did. Both were high draft picks, Martin was drafted in the 2^nd round, the 42^nd overall pick in 2012, while Incognito went in the 3^rd round, the 81^st overall pick in 2005.

Incognito was a Pro Bowler in 2012, while Martin still seems to be finding himself, moving from right tackle to left tackle, having trouble first in pass blocking, and later in run blocking. Talent has never been a question with Incognito; he’s played for the St. Louis Rams, 2005-2009, Buffalo Bills, 2009, and the Miami Dolphins 2010-2013.

I remember a few years ago, almost 20 years now, when Barry Bonds was cranking homers out of every National League ballpark, and almost everybody knew something was going on…..with the exception of the owners and the Commissioner’s office.

In football, which is a contact sport, things are a bit different, a juiced football player can overreact and kill you with a single blow to the head…..or almost anywhere else. With little exception football players are lethal weapons, and probably should be registered as such. Clearly at the present time, football is America’s sport. And as such, it has a responsibility to portray accordingly.

When I read about the problems that Rickie Incognito has had, I start to wonder how close to being unglued he is. According to reports he’s a dirty player, in fact, one of the dirtiest. He was in trouble in college and he’s been in trouble in the pros. He’s one of those habitual time bombs ready to explode.

Of course some would love to see these two guys go at it, but not for the reasons that you might think, in fact be prepared to be surprised. These two fellas are about as different as Mutt and Jeff, their backgrounds are so diverse that it’s really a wonder that both ended up playing football.

THE OBVIOUS IS NOT OBVIOUS

Richard Dominick “Richie” Incognito was born July 5, 1983 in Englewood, New Jersey and went to high school at Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale, Arizona, and won numerous individual awards. Incognito redshirted at the University of Nebraska in 2001, and again won individual awards for his performance on the gridiron.

It was during this time however that Incognito begin to develop, spitting on opponents, picking fights, and eventually was sent to the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas for anger management treatment. However the treatment didn’t seem to take as Richie was involved in a fight at a party, and was charged with three counts of assault, and paid a fine of $500.

Incognito was drafted in 2005, basically without a college that he was attending; he’d been kicked out of Nebraska as well as Oregon. At an NFL combine, Incognito impressed scouts by being the strongest and most explosive player in attendance. ESPN scouts still had reservations regarding Incognito and his inability to control his emotions, both on and off the field.

Jonathan August Martin was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on August 9, 1989 to Gus Martin, a Harvard University graduate and a professor of criminal justice administration at California State University. His mother, Jean Howard-Martin, also a Harvard grad is a corporate lawyer for Toyota Auto.

Martin’s football career, high school and college wise was quite different than Incognito’s, Martin was ranked as the 44^th best offensive linemen in the country, and after being accepted at Stanford, Martin re-committed from U.C.L.A.

What Martin did at Stanford was to collect three straight All American offensive linemen honor. In January of 2012, Martin announced he was declaring for the 2012 NFL draft. He was regarded as the number 3 tackle in the entire draft, and was taken in the 2^nd round.

Absolutely nothing against Richie Incognito, or anybody else who might have been involved with hassling Martin, but if I’m a betting man I go right to the envy button, and push it for all it’s worth, that’s what I think is at the root of the problem with Jonathan August Martin any whoever he had problems with…..intellect can be a heavy burden to carry…..especially in a locker room full of testosterone dripping jocks with the Corse attitudes and crude language and jokes.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY…..JONATHAN A. MARTIN!