Jonathan Martin Alleges Player Misconduct, Dolphins ask for NFL Review | Page 4 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Jonathan Martin Alleges Player Misconduct, Dolphins ask for NFL Review

laxcoach said:
I hate to admit this, but my dad is a lawyer.

This feels like the prelude to a career ending lawsuit. They will allege workplace violence (ha) and, if he is gay, discrimination. They will sue and claim that his long term earning potential has been lost due to the publicity, and try to recover lost future earnings.

It will change locker rooms forever. It will turn them into corporate culture HR aware workplaces.

I'm not sure that is a bad thing.

With that said, there needs to be definitive proof in the form of witnesses, and hard knocks tape. I had a situation where an underling pulled a knife on me. He got a raise to shut him up after he accused me of falsely accusing him. I had 1 witness and that was not enough. HR "had to protect his rights" too.

If I'm the dolphins, I ask for a number right now to sign away any rights to sue the team and the nfl. Otherwise, we could be hearing about depositions and testimony for years.
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Good insight.

Both Martin's parents are Harvard educated lawyers, if I'm not mistaken. You have to think they will go for the jugular.
 
If there is any silver lining in all this, maybe it will force the end for this regime and we can finally get some people in here with a clue.
 
SkapePhin said:
If there is any silver lining in all this, maybe it will force the end for this regime and we can finally get some people in here with a clue.
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There is no silver lining in this except that it might put an end to some of the ridiculous rookie hazing and pranks that go on in the NFL. There is no silver lining for the Miami Dolphins. Just another round of bad publicity and distractions for the team.
 
If there is any lawsuit, how will the new texts from Martin to Incognito play out? In the texts, Martin claims it wasn't about Incognito or buying. Are they going to paint that as he was afraid of retaliation, so he sent those texts?
 
If Martin can prove that he went to management and nothing happened the organization is screwed. It's not about tough guy football persona locker room hazing etc. Laws say it can't happen and last time I checked the National Labor Law doesn't exclude the NFL.
 
Did anybody else catch the ESPN pregame this morning? It was said by Tom Jackson, and then reiterated once or twice more by Cris Carter that there was "alleged criminal conduct" the details of which have not been released to the general public. They made a point of saying that they are privy to details that have not been released, and that it goes beyond any kind of hazing.

I'm interested to see what the real story is.
 
TheWalrus said:
Good insight.

Both Martin's parents are Harvard educated lawyers, if I'm not mistaken. You have to think they will go for the jugular.
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Absolutely -- not only Harvard educated lawyers, they are well connected Harvard educated lawyers. Roger Goodell is most likely having NFL attorneys advising the Dolphins on how to proceed as we speak...
 
I will say that the financial hazing of the rookies is obscene. If one good thing comes out if this, it would be to put in place guidelines or rules. Buying doughnuts is one thing but making the rookies fund a $30 k meal, even if split, goes too far. Maybe the league can allow something like a limit of $1,000 per player cumulatively.

A veteran like Odrick or Incognito will be a multi-millionaire. A rookie like Don Jones will make a burst of money in the six figures but then likely will end up with his life's work wondering where the stereotype of his NFL money went. That's not reasonable.
 
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Why did the team release the earlier statement today? Was there really some need to rush, like the decision to sign Reshad Jones? Did they actually believe this was a mirage and would merely go away, because they wanted it to?

I read a couple of others threads with amusement. The ones in which Incognito's word was accepted, and calls for a lawsuit against the media. Am I allowed to take the reporters word against Richie Incognito? That has to be a positive expectancy. It certainly wouldn't be the lowest percentage investment I've ever made. For one thing, there are multiple stories, not slightly altered versions of the same tale. That lends itself to credibility.

Professional organizations have all types of back room excess. I've heard numerous stories from college buddies. At USC in my era one of the popular majors was SPIN, or Sports Information. Guys who wanted to stay in sports and work for high level college athletic departments or with pro franchises loved that major. I took a couple of the courses as electives. One friend who now is a bigshot in Pittsburgh sports media got an intern role with the California Angels, while still in college. Within months he told me a disgusting story about the manager of the Angels. A female reporter was assigned to cover the team for a local paper, one of the midlevel cities in the Los Angeles area. She was surprised but happy when the manager quickly invited her into his office. She assumed it was a welcome to the role greeting.

Not exactly. The manager pulled down his pants and started to masturbate in front of her. He wanted her gone, to demonstrate that women weren't welcome in that society and any means would be taken to make them uncomfortable. He guessed correctly that the story would not be reported. You haven't heard it in the media, have you? I later verified from multiple sources that it was true, and that the manager openly bragged about it within the organization, including her facial reaction.

These days something like that would be quickly reported, and the manager's career impacted. But the excess still applies to boys-will-be-boys material. Teams are determined to look away, if not applaud it as part of the process. Martin would be well aware of how it went down in college, and he's got numerous teammates to swap stories with, guys who went to other teams. Stanford has had many recent high picks. It couldn't have been normal, or barely outside acceptable. If we had audio and video of the actual incidents I'd love to bet the same posters who are attacking Martin would be shocked at how far Incognito and others took it, and how the Dolphins were content to pretend nothing was out of place.
 
Two more thoughts...

1) Isn't the timing of this interesting? He goes from starting LT, I highly paid position to RT and now this all blows up? I wonder if he will accuse the dolphins of "demoting" him as punishment for bringing these issues up. I need to find his comments after moving to RT about 2ways to handle the situation.

2) if the veterans are pressuring young guys to pay for crazy things, the fins need to get in front of it. Find out who and how much $. Adjust their contracts and reimburse them, with an agreement that they will go to financial management counseling. I know that no one could "make me" spend money. Maybe they need to learn the same thing. Be a first class organization and make it right.
 
SkapePhin said:
If there is any lawsuit, how will the new texts from Martin to Incognito play out? In the texts, Martin claims it wasn't about Incognito or buying. Are they going to paint that as he was afraid of retaliation, so he sent those texts?
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Martin will say that he was instructed by his attorneys to post the new texts as a means of misdirection while his attorneys were preparing the legal claims as a means to prevent the players, the Dolphins and the NFL from destroying evidence.
 
The writing is on the wall. He knows his NFL career is over. His parents are Harvard lawyers. Did anyone really think he wouldn't claim something?

When have lawyers ever let what actually took place guide them???
 
I'm not into meathead culture, but if I were on a football team or on a police force, or in the military, I would expect to face an element of that. Are drill sergeants still allowed to completely degrade and break down recruits? Because isn't that where this hazing/pranks thing comes from? A way to "toughen up" recruits (rookies) so they can endure the real tough **** on the battlefield?

I'm just confused how a guy gets to the NFL level and is suddenly surprised by the agro/meathead culture that persists in the locker room.
 
If he NEVER reported harassment to his employer AND the team can show he was involved in hazing...he is ****ed.
 
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