In the past week, the situation regarding Jonathan Martin, Richie Incognito, and the Miami Dolphins organization has gone from bad to…just plain weird.
The report came out earlier this week that Dolphins’ offensive lineman, Richie Incognito, had been harassing teammate Jonathan Martin with racist, overtly offensive, and threatening comments. The voicemail read as follows:
“Hey, wassup, you half (racial slur) piece of (expletive). I saw you on Twitter, you been training 10 weeks. I’ll (expletive) in your (expletive) mouth. I’m gonna slap your (expletive) mouth, I’m gonna slap your real mother across the face (laughter). (Expletive) you, you’re still a rookie. I’ll kill you.”
Needless to say, this voicemail that Incognito left Martin caused an incredible amount of outrage, and led to an indefinite suspension for Incognito. However, in the past couple of days, many more details have come out that have made this story much more confusing.
First, there have now been multiple reports that the voicemail has been taken completely out of context, and actually in fact ends with Incognito saying, “Okay, call me back.” This is a phrase of relative compassion that normally ends a conversation on a friendly note.
Secondly, there are multiple reports now that the Dolphins coaching staff actually pulled Incognito aside and asked him to toughen Martin up.
Finally, and probably the most crucial new detail, a large majority of the Dolphins locker room backs Incognito in this situation. In fact, many players on the Dolphins have come out saying that Martin and Incognito actually got along very well and were friends.
Also, NFL analyst Cris Carter, who is a Hall of Fame wide receiver, said that the derogatory term that was used can be used in a locker room sense as a term of brotherhood that transcends races, and that Incognito could have been more in a brotherhood that Martin hadn’t been involved in yet.
This is all speculation of course, but the details of this case have become very odd and intriguing. The NFL has assigned a private investigator to look into the inner workings of the Dolphins organization. Until those details come out, this guy is staying neutral.