Addressing Hazing & "Locker-Room Culture" (Some mild language may offend reader)

Richie Incognito

Let me start by saying that this is not a post dedicated strictly to baseball. This is a post pertaining to sports, in particular sports culture, and what I think is so messed up about it.

I love sports, I always have, and I always will. But every now and then something happens in the sports world that shakes my confidence in not one, but all sports and the people who play them. This, of course is an initial reaction. Any betting person would say that the majority of athletes, and people associated with sports in general are nice people. When I step back to think about it for a bit, I realize that's it's just one rotten, crappy apple in the bunch.

Jonathan Martin

This moment recently came to me when I heard news of Miami Dolphins offensive linemen Richie Incognito, and his "less than acceptable" actions that got him suspended from the team. Or as I like to call them, his stupid, dumb, asinine, ignorant, stupid, stupid actions.

For those not familiar with the situation, let me give a brief background. Richie Incognito was suspended from the Dolphins for conduct that was deemed "detrimental to the team." Which is a nice way of saying he was being a bully. What Incognito really did was send text messages, and leave his rookie teammate Jonathan Martin voice-mails that were racist, and threatening.

While I do have a HUGE problem with that, he's just a shitty apple in the bunch. Though, this isn't the first time this year that the NFL has had to deal with racist remarks by one of their players. Before the season even started Philadelphia Eagles receiver Riley Cooper had been caught on film hurling racial slurs at an African-American security guard at a country music concert.

My real problem is with the people defending Incognito's actions. A lot of people who I've talked to have said that there is no other side to this issue, what he did is bad and that's that. I think that's just simplifying a complex issue. Maybe I'm reiterating what the majority of people think, I really hope I am, but from what I've seen on Twitter, there are some people who are throwing out the words "locker-room culture" or saying that Martin himself should share some of the blame. One incredibly ignorant example of that is the New York Giants Antrel Rolle saying that Martin should share the blame because he let it happen, which is the dumbest thing I've heard come from the entire thing. Hey Antrel, not everyone deals with bullying the same way as you do. There's no universal code on how to deal with bullies. Everyone handles it in their own way, and guess what? Sometimes people get upset by it, and it begins to ruin something they love.

I've seen people saying that Martin  is a "big boy" so bullying isn't an issue for him. Really? REALLY?!?! Do they really believe that? I've seen sports fans get into fights because someone else is wearing a different jersey, or because they said their teams sucks. Sometimes sports fans can be so blind and ignorant they don't see the hypocrisy in their own words. If they get so upset about those things, imagine a teammate doing and saying those things, someone who's supposed to support you.

Plain and simple, those are all tiresome and ignorant defenses of bullying in sports. Because no matter what a players status is with any team, be it at the high school level, college level, or the pro level, they deserve to be treated with respect. BECAUSE SPORTS DOES NOT TRANSCEND THE LAWS OF BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIGNITY.

And there's no measure for my hatred of the words "locker-room culture." I've experience this so called "culture", and let me tell you it can be a terrible place sometimes. I've heard words like "fag" tossed around constantly, and yes, even racial slurs sometimes, for no reason at all. Though most of the time these words aren't meant to be hurtful in any way, they are, and they make people feel uncomfortable.

Rookie hazing isn't about hazing at all. Hazing is assault, and it's a crime. Yeah, someone's a rookie, so make them get the towels, make them fill the water bottles, maybe at the pro level they buy dinner from time to time, and if they don't want to do it then there's no way you can force them to, so if they say no, get up and grab your own damn water bottle.

Let's look at an example of Montreal Canadiens rookie Nathan Beaulieu. What the Canadiens did here is a classic NHL rookie prank. They let the rookie lead the team onto the ice, and stop behind him so he skates around by himself for a bit. Every team does it, and no one was physically harmed, no one was threatened, and no one was bullied.

But when you take it a step to far, when you physically or verbally threaten someone with homophobic or racist names and do it on a regular basis, that's bullying. There's no other term to describe the actions of Mr. Incognito. I've seen some things similar to it, and I find it disgusting.

All I can tell you is that if I were a coach and this happened on my team, you can be damn sure that that person would never play for me ever again. In fact, I would go out of my way to ensure that they never play their sport ever again, because people like Richie Incognito don't deserve to play in their sport.

I've always held the opinion that people who use racially offensive terms, whether they mean them seriously or not, are racists. Richie Incognito is a racist person, a disgrace, and he should never play another down of football in the NFL.

There is no logical defense for Incognito's actions, only ignorant one's. I don't care how important Incognito might be to his team, he shouldn't be allowed to play in the NFL ever again. I can only hope that the NFL and the NFL Players Association take the necessary steps to make an example of him, and let other players in the league know that this kind of crap won't be tolerated. There is no place for this in any sport, respect and human dignity DO NOT END AT SPORTS CULTURE. Sports is not exempt from those societal rules.

Though I do think that this is an isolated incident, (and I really really hope it is) I think that the term "locker-room culture" can, and should be re-appropriated. Your teammates should be your friends, they should support you. The locker-room culture should be a culture of promotion and acceptance. Once we start cracking down on, and condemning people like Richie Incognito, maybe we can begin to work towards that.