Incognito-

I don't want to spend a lot of time on it, but... you know me, I guess I can't help it.

I'm not trying to just pick on you two, but you really boiled it down for me and made easy quotes. I don't get the number of people that rush to the defense of people like this.

The sense I'm getting from those defending Incognito is a point of view something like...
"Martin is being sensitive and if he wants to play football he should deal with it, not run away"
"Sure it's rude, but boys will be boys"
"In today's world, it's so confusing to know when it is and isn't okay to use racial slurs"
"Oh come on the threats on Martin's life were probably not even really serious"
"He was trying to toughen him up - you know, do him a favor - and everybody gets carried away once in awhile"
and
"It's so unfair for him to suffer consequences for his actions. Why can't we just tell him not to anymore and move on? The past is the past!"

I'm sorry, but Richie is older than 7 years old, and so he should have expected to pay for what he did. What he did was repeatedly harass a co-worker, right? Using race, death threats, and other general bullying tactics? See, if I did that at work I'd be immediately fired, never allowed to work at that place again or any place like it, and possibly thrown in jail. And none of those consequences would be wrong in the real world where I live and work. The NFL is a crazy little cocoon where people do crazy things because they're used to it. I'm sure Ritchie was depending on the cocoon protecting him from the reality of his actions. In real life he's a monster and deserves to have his career destroyed and his life shamed. In the NFL he's just another tough guy that everyone will defend because he's in the brotherhood. Unfortunately for this tough guy, his protector Mr. Goodell is also hypocritical and afraid of negative publicity, so he will be sold out somewhat (not completely though, because torture and murder are still cool with the NFL once the publicity dies down).

The bottom line is, the man did those things. Imagine he was a teacher at an elementary school doing this to another teacher. Would we tell the victim that if she can't take it, maybe teaching isn't the right job for her? That sounds crazy, but what if teaching in elementary schools had a long history of harassing new or struggling employees? Then would it be tolerable? Would we say, "Oh yeah, sure what Mr. I did was wrong, but come on, aren't we overreacting? No need for us to ruin his teaching career over what he did." The truth is, in the real world those things are not things that get you a slap on the wrist or a warning. They get you fired, and you don't have a leg to stand on afterward. The end. Those doling out the punishment aren't the ones ruining his career. Mr. I did that himself when he bullied, harassed, intimidated, and threatened his fellow teacher. I'm sure you're thinking that the NFL is different from teaching or any normal job, and obviously in many ways it is. But when it comes to a person's right to feel safe and comfortable at work, it's not different. Well, I guess as it stands now it still is different, but what I mean is that it shouldn't be. These players are humans and Americans, and they deserve the same protection under the law that we all get. Martin absolutely has to be tough enough to put up with coaches riding him about his performance on the field, and other players gunning for his job. He absolutely does not have to be "tough enough" to put up with being harassed and threatened. Incognito is getting a taste of the real world, and although that might not be consistent with how the NFL normally is (pro-hazing), at least it's inconsistency for the good. If Incognito would be fired for good, it would be a blip of Right in a stream of Wrong.

By the way,

Did I read that right? This is what we need in our locker room?

Also by the way, I'm no fan of the media in general, and I hate their bias towards sensationalism and time-filling, but I think "Yes death threats and other harassment is in poor taste, and I might even go as far as to call it bad form, but to rake the man over the coals like this - calling for his job, making him out to be some kind of monster by putting what he did on the news for all to see - is just as bad" has got to be the definition of an Incognito apologist. I mean, the only thing closer would be to say that the things he did were actually the right thing to do, and I don't think anyone is saying that.

 

Not to sound like a jerk, but is this even Steeler related? This is about Dolphins players.....

 

Some people want him on our team.

 

Besides if it was in a different section, think of how much clicking back and forth there'd be for a thread of 5 pages (and still growing). Hell, this thread might even top Cajun's .. "Is Ben an Elite QB" thread.

 

Good to have you back posting again, Snack.

 

I'm with Snack on this one. I've said it before in other threads. If this was happening anywhere in the military it would be front page and people would be coming out saying how could we allow their children be abused this way. There are times when it may be acceptable to go beyond normal yelling, but those are heat of battle moments when an action is expected to be taken immediately. This was neither, if I did half of Incognito's actions I wouldn't be retiring in a few years.

 

I knew you REALLY did want to elaborate, lol.

You make some very good points and for the record, I don't want Incognito on the Steelers. I just can't help but feel he's being sold out to a degree. He's being labeled a racist by some and I think that's just sensationalistic journalism at its worst. He is a drunken idiot and a sober fool, but I do think it's an interesting dynamic that ALL of the Dolphin players and even former teammates are coming to his defense. Maybe that says more about the working conditions on NFL teams than Incognito's behavior itself.

 

I've thought about this before. Where is the only place in America you can assault a person right in the face? Where is the only place in America you can stomp a person's head? Where is the only place in America where you can kick a fellow countryman right in the groin? Where is the only place in America where you can stomp a person while they are laying on the ground? It's on a professional sports field. It's in a professional boxing ring. It's on the ice during a hockey game. If you think about it under any other circumstance a person would be arrested for that but guys can have a HUGE brawl on a baseball field and there's nothing that happens. Guys like Suh or Haynesworth can commit what would normally be major felonies and they're just "ejected" or "suspended" and that's all she wrote. I'm not in favor of legal action being taken I just am saying it's weird how you can get away with that stuff and some of it is actually celebrated in the NFL and other sports.

 

You said it! I can see some of that on the field, even in practice. Maybe you're trying to get under his skin and motivate him out there. When you take it past that?

 

The Truth:
You want your NFL heroes to be all safe, polite, and beholden to you, and society. "A Nice guy."
That image let's you sleep at night but you celebrate that mean mean streak and secretly say "kill him" and hope your man comes out on top.

View attachment 539

The fact is son, You can't handle the truth!

 

Yup that's what we're sayin!

 

LOL

 

No less an authority than Bill Parcells has chimed in on the Incognito controversy:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/...onathan-martin-bullying-hazing-scandal-110813

 

Well gang I do think Field Marshal Guck Fodell will ban him for life anyway so I don't think he will play anywhere again.

 

Not that I don't respect Parcells and all he has accomplished, I don't think he has any idea what goes on these days and when he did his moral compass didn't exactly point north. *cough* LT *cough* Carson *cough* T.O.

 

It will be interesting to see how the punishment plays out in this case, both for Incognito and the Dolphins. You can pretty much bet there won't be any rhyme or reason to whatever the punishment is.

 

...Therefore, it must not be an injustice. See the logic?

 

[video=youtube;hWU7PUJTWhY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hWU7PUJTWhY[/video]

 

The fact that he says "who had his back MOST". Not the first time someone from the locker room has mentioned having his back in there.

 

.............and now, Shannon "Hypocrite" Sharpe weighs in by talking about how players parents and grandparents fought for years to gain respect and get people to stop using "THE WORD". Really Shannon? In your 45 years on earth, growing up in rural Georgia, playing sports at all levels, with a locker room that's, (as you point out) 80% black, you never called anyone else a ......? You don't use it now?
I'm of the opinion that it's just a word and if you get together with your posse off camera and call each other "THE WORD" until the red light comes on and then feign indignation that players call each other that in the locker room, you're a hypocrite!

 

Who cares that meat head not coming to play for the Steelers.

 

Dam if incognito had his back id hate to see what he would have done if he didnt like him