If it proves to be true Joe Philbin, and/or members of his Dolphins coaching staff instructed Richie Incognito to “toughen up” Jonathan Martin, then the NFL’s black eye just got blacker, and Philbin may wish he was incognito.
It would mean the people who should know better, the people entrusted to keep the workplace safe, the keepers of Roger Goodell’s shield, helped foster this X-rated One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest firestorm.
Giving a character risk such as Incognito a place at the table of the leadership council is one thing, but enabling and encouraging the unleashing of his inner demons is quite another. It is tantamount to waving a piece of raw meat in front of a frothing pit bull. It is reckless and irresponsible, and calls into serious question Philbin’s ability to lead. The buck stops with him.
It would be wrong to imply the NFL has been the $9 billion ostrich on the matter of safety in the workplace. Every team has a player development program of some sort, and there are annual rookie symposiums and a commissioner who has made player conduct a forever platform.
But clearly, the NFL has to try harder and do better.
The implementation of a league-wide hazing policy with zero tolerance rules and regulations would be a good place to start, now that we know it might not be such a good idea to assume all teams can police themselves in a responsible way.
Bullygate comes on the heels of a growing debate over the future of the game, and the likelihood concerned parents will forbid their sons from playing football. Hall of Fame Giants linebacker Harry Carson, for example, was on Showtime last week saying he would not want his son playing the game that made him a champion. It comes at a time when Goodell is tackling the player-safety issue head on and trying to head off additional future concussion-related lawsuits from retired players. It comes at a time when Aaron Hernandez sits in jail awaiting trial for murder.
Rookie hazing, particularly in training camp, has been a rite of passage in the NFL. Singing fight songs, paying a reasonable bill at a veterans’ dinner, carrying elders’ shoulder pads, a dump in a cold tub, a taping to a goalpost, all in the name of team building, and mostly harmless and good-natured. But Incognito’s abuse of power has revealed a rite carried too far is so wrong when it is no longer boys-will-be-boys innocent.
The line between hazing and bullying is a thin one, and somehow, some way, it became blurred inside a Dolphins operation shamefully short on good common sense.
The last thing the NFL needs is this type of public relations nightmare, where we wonder whether there exist other dirty little secrets inside the testosterone-fueled workplace, where so many of the men are still boys playing a kid’s game.
This machismo-inspired treachery is not exclusive to the NFL, of course.
A Yankees outfielder named Mel Hall bullied a young Bernie Williams relentlessly, even reduced him once to tears, despite repeated warnings from manager Stump Merrill. Hall called the mild-mannered Williams “Bambi” and mocked his base-running instincts, among other cruelties. Buck Showalter, who replaced Merrill, recognized Williams would have no chance to realize his potential. He got rid of Hall.
As a rookie, Mets righty Matt Harvey was doused with ice water while taking a nap by 6-foot-11 reliever Jon Rauch. Harvey’s response was to challenge Rauch to a fight, which he declined.
We know now Martin, forced into seclusion by Incognito’s hateful and vile bullying, is not wired the way Harvey is, or the way Antrel Rolle is, or the way Redskins linebacker Brian Orakpo is.
“I would have busted him [Incognito] in his mouth,” Orakpo said Tuesday. Not everyone, even in the NFL, has the stomach for frontier justice.
For better or for worse, and too often for worse, professional athletes are viewed as role models for our youth. But hazing mimicked by rambunctious college and high-school athletes is too often carried too far and therefore more dangerous.
Hank Nuwer, an anti-hazing journalist and author, was once quoted as saying: “All this hazing will end when a high-priced rookie suffers a career-ending injury and a smart lawyer for the rookie-plaintiff goes after the league commissioner, coaches and team management, as well as the perpetrators.”
Stand up to the bullying, NFL.