Monday, November 25, 2013

Jonathan Martin and NFL Bullying

What is, at first blush, puzzling about the whole Jonathan Martin/Richie Incognito "bullying" issue is that, if there was really bullying going on, why do almost all  the Miami Dolphin players support Incognito? And most say the two were actually best friends. This is confirmed by the friendly text message Martin sent to Incognito after his decision to leave the team.

Some careful thought reveals the most likely scenario about how this whole mess came about. Consider this scenario: Martin reveals to his agent that he is thinking about leaving the Dolphins, because he  is fed up with the NFL football scene. His agent says, "Wait a minute, Jonathan; if you leave you will have to repay a good portion of your signing bonus." (Just like Barry Sanders had to return a pro-rated portion of his signing bonus when he left the Detroit Lions in the middle of his long-term contract.)

So, the two of them hatched a scheme whereby Martin would claim he was forced to leave by incessant "bullying". If he was forced to leave by a hostile workplace, then, the agent's theory goes, Martin would not have to repay the signing bonus because he was not leaving of his own volition.

The fact that the NFL investigator is planning to meet a second time with Martin indicates that there are serious discrepancies between the version of events related by Martin and by his teammates. The investigator has interviewed every single Dolphins player, and I am confident that the truth will come out, and Martin will be revealed for the charlatan he obviously is.

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