Incognito rants on Twitter...

[footballisasport]

I am glad to see a good deal of folks on here isn't defending nor justifying Incognito's behavior. I am a bit troubled by those who seem to want to sit and dissect an article that clearly shows not only behavior that went beyond what should be acceptable in today's football locker room but the psychology of a guy who is raised to bully others and the psychology of his victims. 

 

The racial component of this incident we won't even go into because it has become more than clear that some of you seem to have a pre-set outlook on all situations based on race and your rationale leaves much to be desired. I wonder if Jonathan was your son, how would you feel about Incognito saying a lot of the uncalled for isn he was saying and his treatment of other human beings. 

 

[footballisasport]

The texts between he and Mike Pouncey and teammate references to 'The Tornado' are pretty damning.

As to the objectivity, I'm not sure what Ted Wells has to gain from this result as opposed to one exonerating Incognito. It also makes both the Dolphins and the NFL look bad (especially the Dolphins) and even puts the NFLPA in a tough spot, so it's hard to buy that any of them were hoping for these sorts of revelations.

 

Why does it make an entire organization look bad when a couple of people act like ass-holes? I feel the same way when less than 1% of the minorities in the NFL get into any sort of  trouble and media paints their behavior with such a broad stroke that many of you simply run with it and start labeling and judging accordingly. 

 

Maybe Incognito should have been out of the NFL a long time ago seeing that his behavior is quite a legend with the other teams he played for.  I was quite surprised to see that not one person, white or black, from his previous team came to his defense but instead hinted of his abusive nature. In his case I can see where one can hold the NFL and NFLPA at fault for not kicking him out of the league but Dolphins are no different than any other team who was willing to look past Incognito's behavior issues because they felt he was a good player. Heck some fans on here started a thread wondering if the Panthers should take him. 

 

In the case with Jonathan, I honestly don't get some of the attitude towards his desire to speak up. I don't get why his manhood is being questioned because he doesn't fit the typical ignorant views some of you seem to have of black young men being nothing more than "thugs" who belong in jail. He's all of a sudden a "woos" because of his upbringing? Go figure. I find it blatantly hypocritical for this society to be all against bullying but want to redefine it base on who is attacker and who is on the receiving end of the attack.

 

I guess since Martin comes from decent pedigree and one cannot search his background for any hint of "thug" like behavior to say he deserves what he's getting, then I guess that makes him a "punk." Yep, the psychology of this society. 

[Sam Mills Fan]

CatfanMO is clearly Richie Incognito's dad.

[CatfanMO]

Nothing like that at all. To me it is all about the timing of this and Micheal Sams. Just wait and see. Do you think Incognito is the first douche bag in the nfl that treated another player bad? Please take off the blind folds pertaining to current events.

[CatfanMO]

CatfanMO is clearly Richie Incognito's dad.

And you are clearly 12. I hope that cuts as deep as your slam.

[Happy Panther]

I read the report and it is pretty well written and damning for Incognito as well as others including the coach. Incognito is an idiot for tweeting beforehand that it would bury Martin. 

 

There are a few things that smell. I don't think there is any huge conspiracy but I would bet that the NFL helped write it. Question is why?

 

The Dolphins approached Goodell and turned over the evidence (tweets voicemails) on a Sunday and by Wednesday the NFL had hired Wells and his firm to do an independent investigation. That is is really really fast to get the facts and make the decision and vet law firms. Just deciding on someone who can be independent takes a while. I've been in similar situations where an independent investigation is needed and it just doesn't happen that fast. Also noting that Wells was hired exactly 2 days after this went viral via ESPN getting transcripts of the voicemail.

 

The NFL's press release on the Wednesday stated the mandate was:

 

direct an independent investigation into issues of workplace conduct at the Miami Dolphins and prepare a report for the commissioner, which would 

be made public

 

 

The phrase workplace conduct is what is important there. That is a phrase you don't hear associated with the NFL very often. The NFL has always had it's own rules.

 

The lawyer they hired is a big time trial lawyer with success both prosecuting and defending. Trial lawyers like this are always hired to take a side. He has defended Spitzer and Scooter Libby. Just not the first guy I would think of as independent. There are lots of agencies or groups that could have done this investigation.

 

The report itself does not come across as unbiased in places. Here are the introductions of both Martin and Incognito:

Jonathan Martin is 24 years old and a second-year player in the NFL. Higher education and professional success have long been prized in his family.

Martin also was admitted to Harvard, among other top colleges. Had he chosen to attend Harvard, he would have been the first fourth-generation African-American student in the school’s history. 

 

There have been lawyers in every generation of Martin’s family dating back more than a century. Ms. Howard-Martin has spent her career as an employment 

defense lawyer; Mr. Martin, who also holds a law degree, is a professor and university administrator. 

 

 

 

and fluffy subjective commentary (3 pages later!) such as 

 

At Stanford, Martin majored in Classics and relished his intellectual development.

 

 

 

Page 56 - 59

 

Richard “Richie” Dominick Incognito, Jr. currently is 30 years old. He is Caucasian. The son of Richard and Donna Incognito, he spent his childhood in Northern New Jersey.

 

 

That's all the background you really get before 3 pages of Incognito's behavioural and disciplinary problems. Within the first few sentences we get

 

News accounts state that Incognito had run-ins with bullies as a boy.

 

 

May be reading too much into this but the background information seems to be trying to sway the reader to love Martin and despise Incognito. Background information is supposed to be fair and factual.

 

Finally we get to the main conclusion of the report which is

 

The Mistreatment of Martin Is Consistent with a Case of Workplace Bullying.

 

 

Based on the NFL mandate from November, it is clear to me that Goodell wanted to make this an HR issue. Formalize it into the same type of discipline and rules that say Wells Fargo has. Hazing and bullying and racism and homophobia have been going on for decades and this is the first time I have ever seen it related in terms of the workplace atmosphere. These things have always been accepted as unique the the NFL. 

 

Nobody ever talked about bountygate in terms of the workplace. The love boat incident was not a workplace issue. Favre's willy photos or Ben's escapades had nothing to do with the workplace

 

I think what has happened is people and the media start asking "hey if I did something like that down at IBM i'd be fired and sued." Secondly Goodell knows that there will be openly gay players in the NFL soon and that is a huge hot button issue and he wants the NFL to come out of it cleanly. It may not be coincidence that the report came out shortly after Michael Sam's announcement

 

Goodell has likely been looking for a way to shift the paradigm on how players act in the locker room. So he saw the chance, paid his hired gun to make the conclusions in terms of workplace violence and bullying which had never been done before. Please don't believe the NFL when it states that it will review the report. Goodell had full access to this report before it was released and absolutely nothing was a surprise to him.

 

He has sent the message to teams that they will be held to a different standard going forward and has let players know that they can bring the issues up under various workplace laws as opposed to just the NFL's disciplinary policies.

[TheRumGone]

How are people still saying Incognito is the bad guy in this stupid story? Sure, he and Martin shared some vulgar texts but this whole thing is Martin's fault and he's just letting his friend get destroyed. Like someone else said, I understand why Incognito would be upset at this point. He's worked his entire life to get into the nfl and now his job is in jeopardy over his friend not sticking up for him.

Jonathan Martin might be going through some personal problems but he shouldn't be dragging his friend along with him.

You need to read the 130 page report. I'm on page 55 as I'm typing this. And if you still think they were friends get back to me

[TheRumGone]

I read the report and it is pretty well written and damning for Incognito as well as others including the coach. Incognito is an idiot for tweeting beforehand that it would bury Martin.

There are a few things that smell. I don't think there is any huge conspiracy but I would bet that the NFL helped write it. Question is why?

The Dolphins approached Goodell and turned over the evidence (tweets voicemails) on a Sunday and by Wednesday the NFL had hired Wells and his firm to do an independent investigation. That is is really really fast to get the facts and make the decision and vet law firms. Just deciding on someone who can be independent takes a while. I've been in similar situations where an independent investigation is needed and it just doesn't happen that fast. Also noting that Wells was hired exactly 2 days after this went viral via ESPN getting transcripts of the voicemail.

The NFL's press release on the Wednesday stated the mandate was:

The phrase workplace conduct is what is important there. That is a phrase you don't hear associated with the NFL very often. The NFL has always had it's own rules.

The lawyer they hired is a big time trial lawyer with success both prosecuting and defending. Trial lawyers like this are always hired to take a side. He has defended Spitzer and Scooter Libby. Just not the first guy I would think of as independent. There are lots of agencies or groups that could have done this investigation.

The report itself does not come across as unbiased in places. Here are the introductions of both Martin and Incognito:

and fluffy subjective commentary (3 pages later!) such as

Page 56 - 59

That's all the background you really get before 3 pages of Incognito's behavioural and disciplinary problems. Within the first few sentences we get

May be reading too much into this but the background information seems to be trying to sway the reader to love Martin and despise Incognito. Background information is supposed to be fair and factual.

Finally we get to the main conclusion of the report which is

Based on the NFL mandate from November, it is clear to me that Goodell wanted to make this an HR issue. Formalize it into the same type of discipline and rules that say Wells Fargo has. Hazing and bullying and racism and homophobia have been going on for decades and this is the first time I have ever seen it related in terms of the workplace atmosphere. These things have always been accepted as unique the the NFL.

Nobody ever talked about bountygate in terms of the workplace. The love boat incident was not a workplace issue. Favre's willy photos or Ben's escapades had nothing to do with the workplace

I think what has happened is people and the media start asking "hey if I did something like that down at IBM i'd be fired and sued." Secondly Goodell knows that there will be openly gay players in the NFL soon and that is a huge hot button issue and he wants the NFL to come out of it cleanly. It may not be coincidence that the report came out shortly after Michael Sam's announcement

Goodell has likely been looking for a way to shift the paradigm on how players act in the locker room. So he saw the chance, paid his hired gun to make the conclusions in terms of workplace violence and bullying which had never been done before. Please don't believe the NFL when it states that it will review the report. Goodell had full access to this report before it was released and absolutely nothing was a surprise to him.

He has sent the message to teams that they will be held to a different standard going forward and has let players know that they can bring the issues up under various workplace laws as opposed to just the NFL's disciplinary policies.

I really looked at the texts and the letters Martin wrote to his parents. There are certain ppl you don't fug with like that. It was pretty clear Martin was one of those people by his interactions with teammates. That said I haven't finished reading but those were my thoughts through the first 50 pages

[TheRumGone]

The really fuged up part is Martin will always be viewed as a pussy by some. Shame that people don't realize there are all different kinds of folks in this world

[Panthers8969]

I don't understand how any one can call Martin a pussy or incognito a douche bag when we don't know what really happened. Everyone is just speculating. If what incognito is saying is true then he has every right to be mad at Martin and then Martin would be a bitch. If what society(not Martin) is saying is true then incognito is a bully and should face consequences. I really don't get why everyone is acting like they were there and know everything that happened. Bc u don't. Wait for the truth to come out and then call people names

[Happy Panther]

I don't understand how any one can call Martin a pussy or incognito a douche bag when we don't know what really happened. Everyone is just speculating. If what incognito is saying is true then he has every right to be mad at Martin and then Martin would be a bitch. If what society(not Martin) is saying is true then incognito is a bully and should face consequences. I really don't get why everyone is acting like they were there and know everything that happened. Bc u don't. Wait for the truth to come out and then call people names

 

You are aware of the Wells report that came out this week?

 

http://i.usatoday.net/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins-ted-workplace-conduct-report.pdf

[ckad79]

You are aware of the Wells report that came out this week?

 

http://i.usatoday.net/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins-ted-workplace-conduct-report.pdf

 

It's like people are refusing to believe that Richie could have gone this. His story is one we hear too often about a child with emotional issues who turned into a grown child with emotional issues. That baggage is what made Richie a superstar, but it's also what destroyed all of it.

[caatfan]

The really fuged up part is Martin will always be viewed as a pussy by some. Shame that people don't realize there are all different kinds of folks in this world

Yep, and relationships can be complicated. I'm not sure that anyone involved in this behind the scenes mess handled things properly, but now people are trying to view the whole deal as black or white, right or wrong, and ignore the shades of gray that are almost always there.

 

Now that it comes out that two other players were following Incognito's lead and another player and a trainer were additional victims, it's clear to me that some were ignoring actions that were anti-team. Team dissension is like a spot of rust. You can't ignore it. It just gets worse.

[Panthers8969]

You are aware of the Wells report that came out this week?

http://i.usatoday.net/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins-ted-workplace-conduct-report.pdf

You are aware that we still do not know what really happened? That's like saying you believe oj Simpson is not guilty bc the court rules that way.