Incognito's Bullying Brought Into Public Eye

By now the news has spread all over the internet that Miami Dolphins guard Richie Incognito has been banned due to the senseless and downright offensive bullying of now former teammate Jonathan Martin. Proof of racial slurs and multiple threats have been presented via social media and TV news and most if not all of us, sports fans or not, are not quite sure which question to ask first:

1. What caused the bullying?

News of Incognito's bullying has dominated headlines

 We've all been through elementary and middle school and we've all heard the preconceived reasons as to why bullying happens. The bully is mistreated at home which translates to aggression towards other or they don't have friends and choose to channel their anger into being mean. The thing about this situation is that Incognito is a grown man and a millionaire at that. He's obviously got a job he loves and the only reason that comes to my mind is that he got a real kick out of being an idiot to a younger teammate. A guy like Incognito strikes me as a guy who would look at this situation and simply say "Oh come on, you guys know I was joking." Joking or not, it doesn't matter. You don't treat an individual like that and you sure as heck don't speak to another individual as he did. There's a fine line to be drawn where joking becomes hurtful and it's not hard to see that Incognito crossed that line. There may not even be a specific reason as to what caused this sudden uproar, but no reason, in my mind, will ever justify the emotional damage Incognito has caused.

2. Where were Martin's teammates?
The threats and racial slurs were mostly made via text and voice mail which obviously means that it would have been a one-on-one interaction between Martin and Incognito. With that being said, Martin clearly felt so affected by what was going on that he left the team. To me that means that he must have at one point or another shown a hint or two that he wasn't doing so well. I may be wrong, maybe he carried himself just as he would if he wasn't being bullied and nobody could tell he was hurting. But if he willingly left the team then that shows that Martin wasn't exactly bottling this up. Where were Martin's teammates? We refer back to those elementary school lessons at this point and ask where was that one person who was willing to stand up for a hurting friend? The professional locker room is not like a junior high or high school locker room. This is a job for these athletes meaning they spend much more time around each other than younger athletes do. SOMEBODY had to know what was going on and yet we haven't heard whether or not any Dolphins' players attempted to step in and end Incognito's actions.

That's not how a team works and honestly I feel as if the teammates that potentially knew about this are guilty as well. Obviously Incognito is the main bully, but everybody (if anybody) who knew what was going on and didn't say anything is just as guilty and clearly doesn't understand what being on a team is about. You're supposed to have each others backs and look out for each other whether you get along or not. Like Denzel Washington says in Remember the Titans: "I don't care if you don't like each other, but you will respect each other." Jonathan Martin left his job because he was being disrespected by a teammate who was verbally abusing him. In my eyes, the guys that stood idly by and didn't help were only contributing to the abuse.

3. Where does "Hazing" go from here?

"Hazing" is something every rookie goes through.

If you've ever been to a Major League Baseball game you've probably seen a rookie pitcher carrying a girly book bag to the  bullpen. I've seen plenty of different examples from Dora the Explorer to Hello Kitty. It's funny and it's something that's become a bit of a tradition. There's even a little "Hazing" that goes on at the high school and college levels as well. More often than not the youngest guys on the team are in charge of the equipment. It's something that comes with the age you're at the paying your dues. Nobody means harm by it, it's simply an expectation that you as a player need to meet until the next wave of guys comes in.

All of that is simply good fun. Never in a million years would I think that professional sports would take away the "Hazing" experience that rookies and new guys go through because, at the end of the day, they're all grown men and women who are expected to be mature and handle themselves professionally. Yet one has to wonder what sports will be like after the news of Incognito's actions. Not only is this heartbreaking, but you're downright foolish if you think that Incognito's the only guy who has acted like this towards a younger player. This kind of thing is probably happening more often than we care to know which is exactly why I think professional sports will be keeping a much closer eye on what goes on. The fun won't be ruined, but I'd be shocked if the leagues didn't crack down on things that may cross the line into bullying.

I've never been bullied. I always had the luxury of being bigger than everybody else so I never felt the pain of being picked on relentlessly. Quite frankly, this story breaks my heart. As a kid, we all look up to these athletes and put them on a pedestal that can't be reached by anyone else. How as a parent do you explain to your son or daughter that their favorite athlete was a bully and verbally abused a teammate? That doesn't set a good example for the youth of this world whether they strive to be athletes or not. I'm all for joking around with a teammate and throwing sarcastic comments in every now and then, but Incognito clearly took this much too far and deserved to be banned. There's never a time or place for bullying. Ever. Here's to putting a stop to bullying not only in sports, but in the everyday world as well.