Perspextive - Martin & Hernandez

[Digital]

Often image and perception are more powerful than reality. It is in times like these we all need a little perspective. Consider:

New England
Problem:
They draft a player in Aaron Hernandez who had red flags for drugs and gang connections in college and back through his childhood days in New England. High pick, they obviously knew the risk.

He returns home to New England and continues keeping his connectiins with the same old bad influences. This year he is incarcerated on charges of gun trafficking and multiple murders over the period of time he is a New England Patriot.

No questions of mismanagement, no questions of lack of leadership on the coaching staff. No big deal.

Solution:
Cut the guy and offer a jersey exchange.

Result:
Bellichik is a great coach, Kraft a great owner, the Patriots have a great locker room, and the world is a wonderdul place.

Miami
Problem:
Jonathan Martin gets called names and experiences peer pressure including being pushed to pay $15,000. He voluntarily quits the team.

Solution:
Dolphins immediately and indefinitely suspend the team member insulting and applying peer pressure. Dolphins actively invite the league and players' union to help resolve the issue. Ross tries to do everything within his power to resolve the issues of language and peer pressure.

This likely includes firing the General Manager. This possibly includes firing the coaching staff.

Result:
E-SPiN announcer on Monday Night Football interviews DeMaurice Smith about "the biggest scandal in football this year."

The only thing I can say to that is ... C'mon man!

Salacious journalism is about all there is any more. But seriously, we need a little perspective.

 

[endorPHINS72]

The difference is that Hernandez wasn't told by the New England coaching staff to kill a man, and it didn't involve the team in any way. The same happened when Cecil Collins broke into a woman's house and was arrested in 1999. The Dolphins organization wasn't implicated, because it didn't involve them.

 

[jc4005]

Bullying is just a sensitive issue right now and one the media knows they can stir up into a frenzy. Same with racism. As a society we're pretty desensitized about things like dui's, assault, murders, etc. People can relate more to the bullying issue- especially if they have been bullied in the past or have children going through the school systems and are worried about it.

 

[DullFins]

Bullying is just a sensitive issue right now and one the media knows they can stir up into a frenzy. Same with racism. As a society we're pretty desensitized about things like dui's, assault, murders, etc. People can relate more to the bullying issue- especially if they have been bullied in the past or have children going through the school systems and are worried about it.

That's really not the difference. The Martin issue is team related. The Hernandez issue is not.

 

[Digital]

The "locker room behaviour" that everyone seems to fault the Dolphins for not noticing and correcting happened to a large extent outside of the locker room and outside of team facilities and team communications.

The behaviour that Hernandez did also happened outside of team facilities. The New England players and coaches all said he was a loner and didn't hang around with teammates outside of the facilities. Knowing Hernandez's history and that he was essentially back at his old stomping grounds it would--at a minimum--be reckless to not investigate whether he had fallen back into old habits and old bad influences. It is more likely that they knew and did nothing or didn't want to know at all. Not sure how that is leadership from the coach down and how Philbin handles this GS was so.ehiw a lack of leadership.

Honestly, Boston is a major market, Patriots are a popular team and drive rati GS. Miami is a team enduring lack of NFL success and popularity for a while now. IMHO, that is why we get constantly bashed by the media.

And as Miko Grimes pointed out, if people think a grown 25 year old man can get bullied by his peers in a locker room, how much of a stretch would it be to think he could also be bullied by his parents and an attorney with a vested interest in a law suit?

 

[Namor]

The difference is that the Pats win games...we just suck...end of story.

 

[jfleag61]

well......to another point, it could not be proven that Hernandez used the N word during the shooting. But seriously, between the bully thing, and of course the N word is what gave this story legs. There is no place for the N word in the locker room.....in rap, hip hop, movies etc. fine...just not in a locker room.

 

[Wildbill3]

the difference is, one team has been to 5 superbowls in the last decade, winning 3 of them, has a hall of fame QB, HOF Coach and has proven year after year that a hernandez is an exception to the rule. the other team has been to the playoffs once in 10 years, has been through 6 or 7 head coaches, and has proven that a case like martin just seems to be the norm for this team, not an exception.

 

[walt]

well......to another point, it could not be proven that Hernandez used the N word during the shooting. But seriously, between the bully thing, and of course the N word is what gave this story legs. There is no place for the N word in the locker room.....in rap, hip hop, movies etc. fine...just not in a locker room.

That seems like a rather fine line. It's OK for entertainers to use it, but not football players? I'm not defending it, but if it's not OK, it shouldn't be Ok for anyone.

Personally, I think Richie should not have been suspended until there was an investigation and the context of his behavior was known. He was not accused of a crime, much less convicted of one, he was just accused of being inappropriate. The rush to judgement made the team look foolish, in my view. It should have been treated as primarily a case of Jonathan Martin's mental instability until an investigation shows different. Bullying is a serious issue with kids, should be much less of an issue with grown football players. I also don't believe the ex players saying that they never saw such things, I think they are giving us a politically correct snow job.

 

[Awsi Dooger]

Details will emerge during the Hernandez trial and many of them will be unfavorable to the Patriots organization. That's inevitable.

This is two members of the Miami Dolphins. That's what makes it unique and allows the ongoing scandal. If it had been Martin and an outsider, or Incognito and an outsider, the scrutiny and questions wouldn't be nearly as damning. For example, I still have no idea how the Incognito golf episode has remained so comparatively tame and unexplored. Settlement? Who cares?

 

[MP-Omnis]

Hernandez's actions did not involve the Pats culture. The Miami Dolphins are going through hell right now because the problem involves the culture of the organization.

 

[Digital]

The bottom line is that the Patriots win so they became a media darling. They are a big market with success and a following. Nothing they do will be viewed in as bad of a light as a team without those things. Even at it's worst, a locker room that allows bullying (newsflash ... its all NFL locker rooms) is never as bad as a locker room that allows murder and gun trafficking. Call it lack of leadership, internal, whatever you want, but the fact remains.

Martin got called names and exposed to peer pressure.

Hernandez has been accused of trafficking guns and multiple murders.

Which really demands more oversight? Which really is the bigger scandal? Don't drink the koolaid.

 

[dolpns13]

Actually, New England got plenty of heat for mismanagement of the situation and plenty more for drafting him (I remember hearing it specifically on Sirius and other news outlets) so your statement isnt really true.

I will say however that the negativity and calling out of Kraft and Bellicheck didnt last longer than like a week.

 

[Digital]

Their heat always stopped short of suggesting a coaching change. It was quickly swept to the back page as more newsworthy things came up like a Dolphin quitting the team because he was called names and felt peer pressure.