Why are we making it a HAZING issue when the Martin/Incognito is a much more serious issue?
The whole issue isn't about Hazing. Martin was sent death threats. That isn't hazing. At least my wife and I heard from two difference sources that Martin reportedly received Death Threats.
Keep in mind this man walked away from a potential star career and money NOT because his feeling got hurt. This guy was playing high school and college football he probably has been AND even done Hazing himself. This guy isn't going to walk away because his feelings are hurt like we heard this is much more than that.
I bring this to the general discussion forum because this is an issue that should be address correctly--THIS WASN'T HAZING this was a potential Racial issue and if nothing else this was BULLYING.
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I don't think many people can even understand the mentality of professional football players. I've known two and they're both, special. They have a switch inside of them that they can turn on that allows them to ignore pain, at will most of the time. All of us have it, but most don't have any idea where it is located nor how to turn it on, willingly.
They're the modern equivalent to the gladiators of Ancient Rome. Every Sunday, Monday and Thursday, America cathartically and vicariously excises much of its stress, its tensions and feelings of anomie and despondency due to a general lack of meaning in their lives via watching these men hurl their bodies at each other with reckless abandon. It brings everything into stark relief, simple and clear as to its goals.
This game stands as a living symbol of our society; tough and unforgiving where when you fall there is only a hard surface to greet you. Just like on Main Street. They sacrifice their bodies for an ideal that the majority of us can't understand, nor are we willing to pay the price of admission. It doesn't make us any lesser nor them more; it just makes them different.
But in all of the hoopla surrounding this issue, the only person I think that speaks to the real point of it all, comes from a strange source in many ways and yet an insightful one: Miami running back, Ricky Williams -- Martin and Incognito's teammate.
Ricky said: ''Maybe he doesn't belong in the NFL'' -
"It's kind of what we're subjected to on a day-to-day basis that most people will never be able to understand. ... What we're required to do physically, mentally and emotionally for the course of a season is astronomical -- it's amazing," Williams added. "And I'm not saying that it's bad. I'm saying it just really speaks to what it takes to be a professional football player. And to me there's no room to play the victim or to be bullied or to even have that discussion when it comes to the NFL. If you're having that discussion, it just means that maybe you don't belong in the NFL."
Williams should know. Nine years ago, he came to his own realization that he didn't belong in the NFL.
"I think I can relate and I can speak on this because I was at a point where I was done with the NFL and I needed to take a break," Williams said. "But unlike Jonathan, I didn't have to find a scapegoat or someone to blame. ... I didn't have to bring anyone else down when I found out that I just couldn't handle what I was going through at the time." MORE
- Most of Incognito's teammates seem to be supporting him. This is why. Hazing? Bullying? Death threats? That's pretty much what these guys do for a living. It's like people saying they go to car races to watch them go around in circles. When in reality we all know that they go for the crashes. I think this whole issues raises more question about us as a society, than it does about Martin or Incognito.