Best take on the Dolphins scandal so far -- Disconnect

[The Ref]

At least in my view, this is a pretty good take from the Miami Herald on the Dolphins scandal. It's not a long read.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/1...ing-miami.html


I want to believe that the Eagles don't have an Incognito or Pouncey or John Jerry in their locker room but we really don't know. They probably do.

[Melchior]

I bet it's that fucking Jon Dorenbos.

[Drama Queen]

Yeah, good take.

Incognito is an extreme alpha male personality, but yeah every team has some of this culture going on.

It's been going on in football forever too. Back in the mid 1980's I asked a whitewater rapids guide what was the worse thing he had to deal with. He said a bunch of Ohio State football players throwing each other out of the boat into the class v rapids.

I read most of the Wells report.

[slag]

Here's another way to put it

Son, we live in a world that has quarterbacks, and those quarterbacks have to be guarded by men with pads and helmets. Who's gonna do it? You?

Richie Incognito has a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Martin, and you curse the rest of the offensive line. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what Incognito knows. That Martin's bullying, while tragic, probably saved Tannehill. And Incognito's existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves Tannehill. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want Incognito on that line, you need him on that line.

Incognito uses words like badass, beast, hardcore. He uses these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. He has neither the time nor the inclination to explain himself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very game day wins that he provides, and then questions the manner in which he provides them. Incognito would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, he suggests you pick up a helmet and some pads, and line the fuck up. Either way, he doesn't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

[The Ref]

Yeah, good take.

Incognito is an extreme alpha male personality, but yeah every team has some of this culture going on.

It's why the Michael Sam announcement is such a sea change. This and the Dolphins situation sends a warning to the rest of the locker rooms that this isn't cool anymore. I think most players will get the message. They're all in well paying jobs. Even if they still think it, they aren't going to express it. Not at work or on social media anyway.

The whole part of the story that's most disturbing to me is the way they treated the asian equipment manager. He's not a football player. In any other work place the way he was treated would be grounds for a substantial lawsuit.

Not being a lawyer, for all I know it still might be in the Dolphins case. I would hope so at least.

[Drama Queen]

That would be Jeff Ireland or Bill Parcells if they were confronted in the Wells report!

[Drama Queen]

It's pretty complex. They also took the Asian Equipment Manager out on the social scene and partied with him. The guy support Incognito in the Wells report and refused to roll.

[slag]

A lot more than them.

Appears to me LeBatard's is saying most of the guys in NFL locker rooms subscribe to the notion that you have to break some eggs to make an omelet.

[The Ref]

It's pretty complex. They also took the Asian Equipment Manager out on the social scene and partied with him.

I never heard that before. It's not in the report at all. But what is in the report is that the asian employee initially denied he had been bullied. That turned out to be out of fear of losing the respect of the locker room and losing his job. That's the classic result of those being bullied. Powerless to do anything about it.

Here's the entire text of the report regarding that employee. It's horrific.

The Assistant Trainer
We found that the Assistant Trainer, who was born in Japan, was the
target of frequent and persistent harassment, including insults relating to his race and
national origin. Incognito, Jerry and Pouncey admitted that they directed racially
derogatory words toward him, including “Jap” and “Chinaman.” At times, according to
Martin, they referred to the Assistant Trainer as a “dirty communist” or a “North
Korean,” made demands such as “give me some water you fucking chink,” spoke to him
in a phony, mocking Asian accent, including asking for “rubby rubby sucky sucky,” and
called his mother a “rub and tug masseuse.” Martin and others informed us that
Incognito and Jerry taunted the Assistant Trainer with jokes about having sex with his
girlfriend. Incognito admitted that these types of comments were made to the Assistant
Trainer.
On December 7, 2012, the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor, Incognito, Jerry and Pouncey donned traditional Japanese headbands that
featured a rising sun emblem (which the Assistant Trainer had given them) and jokingly
threatened to harm the Assistant Trainer physically in retaliation for the Pearl Harbor
attack. According to Martin, the Assistant Trainer confided in him that he was upset
about the Pearl Harbor comments, finding them derogatory toward his heritage.
Martin and another player we interviewed both believed that the Assistant
Trainer awkwardly laughed along with some of the racial insults, even though he was in
23
fact offended. And both players seemed offended by the flagrant racial harassment of the
Assistant Trainer. In a text message sent on November 4, 2013, Martin told a friend: “I
always felt so bad for [the Assistant Trainer] . . . it was really racist.” Martin claims that
a number of Dolphins employees saw how the Assistant Trainer was humiliated but did
not intervene, including his supervisor, head trainer Kevin O’Neill, who allegedly even
laughed at some of the racial insults. As far as we know, none of the players, including
Martin, confronted Incognito, Jerry or Pouncey about the racist comments directed at the
Assistant Trainer or demanded that they cease.
When interviewed about these matters, the Assistant Trainer initially
pleaded that he not be required to answer certain questions, implying that he could not be
forthright because he was concerned about losing the trust of the players. The Assistant
Trainer further claimed that Incognito was his friend and asserted that Incognito had
never offended him. He told us that he could not recall if Incognito had called him a
“Chinaman” or a “Jap,” and refused to answer the question whether Incognito had said
anything about his girlfriend, saying that the inquiry made him “very uncomfortable.”
We did not find the Assistant Trainer’s denials believable. Notably, hours
after Martin left the team on October 28, the Assistant Trainer sent him a text message
indicating that he had indeed been personally offended by the insults directed at him by
Incognito, Jerry and Pouncey: “Hey JM I understand how [y]ou feel man… They are
relentless sometime…. Some day I wanna do exactly what you did today.” (emphasis
added and ellipses in original). The ceaseless racial ridicule directed at the Assistant
Trainer was appalling and plainly over the line in any workplace.
24
We also find the treatment of the Assistant Trainer particularly troubling
because he was not a fellow football player, but a subordinate, a member of the training
staff. In our view, it is likely that the Assistant Trainer felt that he had no standing or
ability to fight back, and feared the loss of his job if he protested and the players did not
take kindly to his complaints. Again, as with Player A, we view the treatment of the
Assistant Trainer as part of a pattern of abusive, unprofessional behavior.

[Drama Queen]

We'll maybe they didn't party or they partied too much, but they did "socialize outside of work".

Page 84.

[Drama Queen]

True.

BTW, your "a Few Good Men" quote is outstanding! I just read it again!