Jonathan Martin is a 6 foot 5, 312-lb man, and can we be honest here, he decided to take his ball and go home. So the word is bullying, and throughout history in our society, the strength of that word is that an individual decides he is not going to tell anybody about this. NFL players are looked at as tough guys and individuals who overcome obstacles and issues in their lives to succeed. How can they give young kids and young adults advice about bullying? The simple answers use to be tell a friend, tell a teacher, tell a principal, or tell a counselor. Also there was the ever, popular stand up for yourself. Though that scenario should only fall to grown individuals, which just happens to be Jonathan Martin. Who is to say if Jonathan Martin was to stand up to his offender, teammate Pro Bowler Richie Incognito, Incognito would not have back down? Everybody reporting seems to think, based on his past, Incognito would just buck up and get into a physical altercation. Well, why not, if they would have had a physical altercation, their teammates would have known there was tension. Martin’s issue is he decided not to tell anybody, simply put. He decided he was more comfortable running home to his parents, honestly. And his parents happen to be law attorneys. What seems to be funny, is that fact that most people and lumping this issue into the football ritual of rookie hazing, but it isn’t. Jonathan Martin is not a rookie and hazing only happens as a team and unit, not one individual, so all of those people need to kill that noise. Especially the former players who are making statements about wishing they never participated in player hazing. Are you serious? Those allegations only come from the critics who hate the lifestyles and rituals that happen within the locker rooms of sports athletes anyway. Those people hate the fascination of the lives of athletes anyway, why do you think Twitter is so popular. The NFL is currently taken a lot of hits, so the general media will do whatever they can to tie everything to them. Trust me, if Martin doesn’t play again, definitely look for him to bring on some type of lawsuit. Though the culture of football should not be in question here, these guys are crazy anyway, they play a smart that can physically hamper them for life, and you have to be warped in the head. Columnist and writer Dan Le Batard complains Martin only had bad choices to handle this, did he really? First of all, these series on incidents are said to have happened outside the protective fence of the locker room. Le Batard makes the assumption that based on football lure, that if Martin tells somebody he would be looked at as weak, really? Isn’t that the same advice we give kids for bullying, see the beginning of this writing. My question to Le Batard, what if Martin goes to a veteran African-American teammate, like a defensive player or a member of their leadership council, and plays Incognito’s voicemails to them, you still think they wouldn’t do anything to intervene or give advice or, what is considered worse, look at him as weak for coming to them?
Watching Sportscenter the other day, I see former Colts GM Bill Polian commenting on an article on Mike and Mike. The article stated how Incognito is the of player teams want. You know what, it’s true. Incognito has an aggressive mentality on and off the field, he is a pro bowler. Polian went on to state most GM’s want good character guys and he went on the mention the handful of good character guys that succeeded. But Polian did not mention the loads of guy character players that don’t make or succeed. Bill didn’t bat 100 when it came to his draft picks and free agent signings. What about those guys. This situation is simply admittance to the world, that in the NFL, there are good apples and bad apples. Bill’s comments explain how business should be done, but he knows as well as anybody, in a “win now” league, you can’t also stick to that way of thinking. If a guy with a checkered past can make that goaline stop in the fourth or that 30-yard TD catch in the clutch, you think he won’t be on a team? How about this, the ultimate good character guy, Tim Tebow, can’t even get a phone call and despite his lack of abilities, everyone knows Tebow’s intangibles make him very good player in the league, and yes, at the QB position. He is actually being overlooked by his hometown team for a guy who puts up worse QB stats them him, yes it’s true look it up. Don’t like that example, how about Donovan McNabb, an all pro QB with great character. In the twilight of his career, was still better than most of the quarterbacks in the league last season and he didn’t get a call. There are countless others. See what I mean, this notion by Polian that the bad apples get ignored is ridiculous and seems to be his philosophy only. And look it worked for a period of time for him, but other GM’s don’t have that luxury.
In conclusion, you can call Jonathan Martin a bit immature for leaving his job and running home to mommy and daddy or call him a model day hero for just doing nothing. I question, what if this was Martin’s son or someone threatening his family at some point when you leave college or leave home, you have to stand up for yourself or stand for something. That’s the world we live in, welcome to harsh reality people. I would contend that Jonathan Martin is what’s wrong with today’s society. He was a guy who seemed to want to stay to himself and tell no one of his pains and struggles, not even his friends and family. Reportedly, they didn’t know until he left the team. He decided to ignore everything until he just couldn’t take it anymore. Doesn’t that scenario sound familiar. Solitary is never the best option in stressful pressure situations. The only difference is Martin didn’t go home and get a gun and it wasn’t because of his rational or civilized background. I honestly can’t see how he would be looked at as a hero, not for the football lure, but just the simple fact that we tell our kids to open up and tell someone when it comes to harassment and bullying. And all signs say Martin didn’t. I am not one who has sympathy for Martin based on what has been said currently, nor sympathy for Incognito, I have seen and heard too many stories on young people being bullied and harassed and the tragic fallouts following them. A grown man picking on another considered grown man is suppose to be a tragedy in our society? Keep in mind both men are wealthy. We need to prioritized what is a tragedy and what we need to be outraged about.
See link below and see the realness of this:
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