Every day, with each breaking "disclosure," and my head spinning, my opinion keeps vacillating. However, as usual for me after a good night's sleep, I've awakened with a new perspective I suspect won't change too much short of very specific new information.
IMO, there are no innocent parties in this cluster-fork.. and possibly each of the following 3 parties have contributed equal culpability.
Incognito has become the voracious media's whipping boy, labeled a racist and worse on the basis of an intentionally and timely leaked publicity agenda. Whether he is or isn't IMO is less relevant than the media feeding frenzy exploding. Is he a bully and *******? Did he bring this on himself? Definitely! Is he a racist? Maybe. Is he out of control? Definitely.
However his unacceptable behavior just might be "Richie being Richie," an inappropriate plan to toughen up a soft player, and based on the comments of teammates and players, maybe a little more extreme version of what transpires in most every locker room in the NFL. Maybe Richie is a racist, but then why has this not been reported before? And why did he ask Pouncey to be the Best Man at his upcoming nuptials? What's typical is that the media is indicting him with a broadbrush and little evidence while happy to report Richie Sr's FH posting in the overall narrative but mostly not reporting his assertion that Martin is suicidal and a drug abuser. Why is that? Cause despite the scarcity of evidence all around, Incog is a convenient inviting target, but allegations are potentially "libelous" now that Martin has been painted as a "victim."
(as a sidenote, if he isn't a racist, after watching hypocritical former junkies like Cris Carter and "Me First" at the expense of his teammates Keyshawn Johnson bloviating about what a POS and racist he is, essentially running with an isolated voice mail or two leaping from point A to point C without the validating point B, I hope he gets his "proof" to the otherwise if true, lined up and sues all individual and network azzes for slander and libel for all he can get as there's a good chance that his playing days are prematurely over.) And don’t kid yourself, there are already clever ambulance chasers also queuing up at his door because of ESPN’s deep pockets!
Martin has been depicted as a "victim" in all of this. I beg to differ and hold him and his handlers largely responsible - and intentionally so, for the circus that's ensuing and argue that his histrionics of being pranked the same way he pranked a teammate in the cafeteria 2 weeks before , not to mention participating in worse pranks like stealing teammate’s autos, was planned and theatrically executed for maximum newsworthy effect!
IMO he is knowingly participating in a scorched earth well-orchestrated collusion to extort what they could before opening up a floral shop or whatever abetted by glorified ambulance chasers with $$signs to the amount of 30-40% of the settlement flashing in their eyes from the deep pockets of Mr Ross and the NFL, once he decided trench warfare wasn't for someone like him For a lawyer, the Martin case if handled properly is winning the lottery! It's got all the slam dunk PC ingredients: Bullying, Racism and Willful Ignorance of Abuse.
The Fins Organization may or may not have known about the inexcusable abuse Martin was experiencing, but certainly that squad’s kindergarten teacher, OL coach Jim Turner had to be aware, spending full days with these guys -that's of course unless he was the 2nd coming of Helen Keller unable to pick up on cues and signals.
Further, if Martin , as insider Incog Sr alleges, was truly fearful of Incog, resentful of having his "pleas" unheeded, full of pent-up rage and maybe revenge - fueled by the alleged drug abuse, having a disregard for his life, and possibly others if reports of 3 suicide attempts are accurate, coupled with alleged gun-to-his head posturing, possession of a lethal weapon, then if true and that the organization was well aware of his mental illness, their willfully ignoring a potentially explosive violent workplace environment essentially exposed Martin's co-workers (including Incog) to a potentially dangerous work environment. To that end they were derelict in their duties by not adequately addressing Martin’s cry for help regarding Richie and need for intervention regarding putting all his co-workers in jeopardy of someone with mental issues, a weapon, rage, feelings of futility from an inability to exact physical revenge, all fueled by drug abuse then they significantly contributed to a potential flashpoint of someone with his stresses and excesses resolving his issues by “Going Postal.”
So right now, I’m saying, screw them all; they’ve all likely brought this on themselves. No one should go through the harassment (still seemingly all verbal) Incog subjected Martin to, but if this wasn’t a grab for the gold, I’m sure given the identity of some of his “advisers,” this would have been handled discretely in house as likely many other combustible situations likely have been over time across the league - so truthfully, if there’s neutralizing damaging evidence to the contrary, I wouldn’t mind seeing the NFL and Fins play that card against Martin and let the chips fall where they may.
IMO, there are no innocent parties in this cluster-fork.. and possibly each of the following 3 parties have contributed equal culpability.
Incognito has become the voracious media's whipping boy, labeled a racist and worse on the basis of an intentionally and timely leaked publicity agenda. Whether he is or isn't IMO is less relevant than the media feeding frenzy exploding. Is he a bully and *******? Did he bring this on himself? Definitely! Is he a racist? Maybe. Is he out of control? Definitely.
However his unacceptable behavior just might be "Richie being Richie," an inappropriate plan to toughen up a soft player, and based on the comments of teammates and players, maybe a little more extreme version of what transpires in most every locker room in the NFL. Maybe Richie is a racist, but then why has this not been reported before? And why did he ask Pouncey to be the Best Man at his upcoming nuptials? What's typical is that the media is indicting him with a broadbrush and little evidence while happy to report Richie Sr's FH posting in the overall narrative but mostly not reporting his assertion that Martin is suicidal and a drug abuser. Why is that? Cause despite the scarcity of evidence all around, Incog is a convenient inviting target, but allegations are potentially "libelous" now that Martin has been painted as a "victim."
(as a sidenote, if he isn't a racist, after watching hypocritical former junkies like Cris Carter and "Me First" at the expense of his teammates Keyshawn Johnson bloviating about what a POS and racist he is, essentially running with an isolated voice mail or two leaping from point A to point C without the validating point B, I hope he gets his "proof" to the otherwise if true, lined up and sues all individual and network azzes for slander and libel for all he can get as there's a good chance that his playing days are prematurely over.) And don’t kid yourself, there are already clever ambulance chasers also queuing up at his door because of ESPN’s deep pockets!
Martin has been depicted as a "victim" in all of this. I beg to differ and hold him and his handlers largely responsible - and intentionally so, for the circus that's ensuing and argue that his histrionics of being pranked the same way he pranked a teammate in the cafeteria 2 weeks before , not to mention participating in worse pranks like stealing teammate’s autos, was planned and theatrically executed for maximum newsworthy effect!
IMO he is knowingly participating in a scorched earth well-orchestrated collusion to extort what they could before opening up a floral shop or whatever abetted by glorified ambulance chasers with $$signs to the amount of 30-40% of the settlement flashing in their eyes from the deep pockets of Mr Ross and the NFL, once he decided trench warfare wasn't for someone like him For a lawyer, the Martin case if handled properly is winning the lottery! It's got all the slam dunk PC ingredients: Bullying, Racism and Willful Ignorance of Abuse.
The Fins Organization may or may not have known about the inexcusable abuse Martin was experiencing, but certainly that squad’s kindergarten teacher, OL coach Jim Turner had to be aware, spending full days with these guys -that's of course unless he was the 2nd coming of Helen Keller unable to pick up on cues and signals.
Further, if Martin , as insider Incog Sr alleges, was truly fearful of Incog, resentful of having his "pleas" unheeded, full of pent-up rage and maybe revenge - fueled by the alleged drug abuse, having a disregard for his life, and possibly others if reports of 3 suicide attempts are accurate, coupled with alleged gun-to-his head posturing, possession of a lethal weapon, then if true and that the organization was well aware of his mental illness, their willfully ignoring a potentially explosive violent workplace environment essentially exposed Martin's co-workers (including Incog) to a potentially dangerous work environment. To that end they were derelict in their duties by not adequately addressing Martin’s cry for help regarding Richie and need for intervention regarding putting all his co-workers in jeopardy of someone with mental issues, a weapon, rage, feelings of futility from an inability to exact physical revenge, all fueled by drug abuse then they significantly contributed to a potential flashpoint of someone with his stresses and excesses resolving his issues by “Going Postal.”
So right now, I’m saying, screw them all; they’ve all likely brought this on themselves. No one should go through the harassment (still seemingly all verbal) Incog subjected Martin to, but if this wasn’t a grab for the gold, I’m sure given the identity of some of his “advisers,” this would have been handled discretely in house as likely many other combustible situations likely have been over time across the league - so truthfully, if there’s neutralizing damaging evidence to the contrary, I wouldn’t mind seeing the NFL and Fins play that card against Martin and let the chips fall where they may.
