Yup
Ive seen this film before.
The slow leaking, the public discrediting,....you usually just see this politics. But because, I think, the NFL is dependent on reputation and image, all these tactics are effective.
If there was an EEOC violation, it would have already been stated. If there was a violation against a players rights, the union would have gotten involved. If a law was broken, that would have been pointed out. Instead, there's this he said/he said thing, and inuendos and attacks on reputation, in order to get public support on Martin's side, and in turn pressure the NFL to have a vested interest in Martin's career.
It's also pre-emptive. Because really, with him walking out, and Philbin putting him on an unpaid, non-football-related-issue absence, the white hot spotlight would be on Martin. Naturally, there would be questions as to what's wrong with him, what's he want, why did he walk out on his contract. Simply saying he was bullied, and the locker room was hostile, isn't enough. But naming a player (incognito), makes it more credible and takes the focus off you and onto another person. Releasing transcripts of a voicemail, not the voicemail itself, and omitting the last line, gives life to the narrative. And finally,...throwing out the race card, ensures your complaint is linked to Selma, Alabama, and not The Castro, or someplace else.
I have news to you, we may never know the truth. Because there's something very wrong in a man's life when he doesn't look other grown people in the eye when he talks to them, and looks away instead, as has been reported by firsthand accounts. There's something very wrong when he has to go into therapy, and has no perceived problems other than this locker room. There's certainly much more to this. But it's likely we'll not be told what it is.
