Jonathan Martin and the Miami Dolphins

The anecdote about having a lifelong fear of circus clowns in a VW cracked me up.

 

About 80 pages into this, a few thoughts:

1. Whether you are on Team Martin or Team Incognito, I'll say this for Martin and Incognito, they both seem factually honest. Their recollections of what happened are virtually identical. Of course, it's the perspective that makes all the difference, but neither seemed to make anything up, and both admitted things they knew wouldn't make them look good.

2. The pro management bias of the author is staggering. In the background section we get a couple of pages of every allegation anyone ever made about Incognito from college to present. In the Jeff Ireland section we get this, "Many of the player personnel choices at issue here....reflect Ireland's judgments". That's about it. Nothing about Jeff Ireland's infamous interview with Dez Bryant. But the report (up to the point I'm at) is glowing with praise about Dolphins coaches/executives, concluding that Philbin didn't know about any of this, the Dolphins were taking positive steps, etc. A little background on some of the important people in management at that time seems only fair if you are considering conclusions about what Philbin, the Dolphins, etc. knew as part of your investigation.

3. The entire section on Philbin not knowing is threadbare. Very little work shown here. The part where the author states that he/she/they were "impressed with Philbin emphasizing integrity and accountability" or some such nonsense is sad. They got snowed by coach-speak.

4. The part about this behavior being against the Dolphins written policies is a pet peeve of mine as a lawyer. How much the place of business cares about what is in the employee handbook matters a lot. What is in the employee handbook matters not a lot. But that's not always how the law sees it.

5. I would love to know what directive, if any, the assistant coaches/trainers got before these interviews. Head trainer Kevin O'Neil apparently just got angry and left. Assistant coach Turner just flat out obviously lied to such an embarrassing degree. (he seems to be the only person in Miami who doesn't know he gave a male blow up doll to a player on the team). Did the team mandate that these guys cooperate? If so, will they be disciplined for not doing so?

 

If Turner has a job in Miami a week from now, I will be stunned.

 

With respect to Jeff Ireland -- isn't the story that right before the infamous question, Dez Bryant said that his father was a pimp and his mother worked for him? If that is true, the question wasn't exactly outrageous.

 

That's the story provided by an anonymous Dolphins official in response to the initial story.

 

Incognito is probably bipolar.

 

Perhaps, but actual cases of bipolar disorder are far more rare than most people realize. There's usually another explanation, even if it is another psychological disorder.

 

I'd love to see Stephen Ross backed against a wall with questions now.
Backed against the wall until he answers them. Yeah, well, as if he could ... or would.

But, still ... Ross deserves a large share of this humiliation pie.
His franchise keeps douchebagging. ... On the other hand: Celebrity Owners!!!

 

I'm often surprised how rarely the Dolphins get called out for being one of the worst franchises in the NFL for the last decade plus. I think they get overshadowed by the Lions, Browns and Raiders, but they're right there with them. I think having a rich history and being a popular landing spot for high profile free agents overshadows what a truly terrible organization this is.

 

Yeah, Miami is such a glamor destination (especially with no L.A. franchise in the league) they can't even help but pick up a couple marquee signings every year.

I think they (and the Raiders) escape total ridicule because they have had stretches of domination in the television era.

The Browns and Lions were big deals in the 50s, but all that remains of that era is blurry newsreel clips. In the memories of anybody not drawing social security, they've pretty much always sucked.

 

Turner was a Marine Corp Infantry Officer for 4 years. Sounds like he has a bit of
Nathan Jessup in him. "You want the truth........."

Be funny if the unnamed Dolphin linemen was Jake Long

 

Anybody here mention Martin's quote about him attending wimpy schools (Harvard Westlake HS and Stanford)?