Many of us were taught as little kids the golden rule: One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.
This guideline was supposed to help us make friends and treat others with respect, but the golden rule is often forgotten in the world of sports through hazing.
We see rookie pitchers having to carry little kid backpacks or making rookies such as Tim Tebow get a funny haircut. Many athletes have experienced some form of hazing and to most, it is seen as a simple, fun tradition, but hazing can be taken too far.
In the case of Jonathan Martin and Richie Incognito, who were formerly Miami Dolphins teammates, hazing was taken too far when Incognito left a racist message on Martin’s phone. That’s an example of something that should never be used in an offensive matter especially for grown men such as Incognito.
However, a locker room is a very different place than what we would like to believe.
This is where the team connects and debriefs off the field. Incognito’s harassment to Martin was awful and should not be tolerated, but it could have been the normal way he and the Martin interacted. This is where the media rushed to produce a story without knowing everything first.
No matter what reports of the truth eventually come out, the public is unable to see how the two behaved in the locker room day-in and day-out. Now should this harsh behavior be tolerated? If both parties agreed to the actions, sure, but we shouldn’t judge the way people interact, as long as it is mutual.
Incognito’s comments crossed lines, but the stories coming out have made him appear like a bully and Martin as weak. I’d be astonished if Incognito was the only player to use that offensive language, but aside from the hazing, Martin and Incognito were teammates and according to reports, the two were close friends.
It does not seem fitting to think that Incognito’s hazing was Martin’s reason to leave, especially because he returned for a second season with the Dolphins. Could Martin have disliked the Dolphins’ organization? Maybe he was just unhappy on that team and if he moved to another one he would feel better and perform better.
Freshmen and rookies traditionally go through hazing, or at least that’s what my brothers, friends, and I all went through.
In a strange, twisted sort of way, hazing is part of sports, but the public doesn’t truly understand what actually happened in the locker room and who Martin and Incognito truly are as people.
ph553412@ohiou.edu
@PaulHolden33
