By: Katie Dugan

Earlier this month, ESPN reported that Richie Incognito of the Miami Dolphins was involved in the alleged harassment of teammate Jonathan Martin. Since the allegations surfaced, Incognito has been suspended and Martin left the team to receive mental counseling. The details of the events that unfolded are greatly ambiguous. Former teammate and offensive lineman for the Miami Dolphins Lydon Murtha attempted to clear things up.

Murtha played for the Dolphins from 2009 to the 2012 preseason, when he was released after tearing ligaments in his foot and suffering from a back injury, which both required surgery. Murtha claims that Martin was the odd one out from the beginning when he was drafted in April 2012. He came off as standoffish and timid and he never opened up to the other players. Murtha wrote, “What’s with the wall being put up? I never really figured it out.” He did not seem interested in creating a relationship with his teammates, even balking at the idea of paying for an annual rookie dinner, a tradition for many teams in the NFL.

Murtha claims Incognito took Martin under his wing from the start, as Martin was expected to play left tackle beside Incognito. Martin had the habit of cracking under pressure when he had a difficult time during practices, and Incognito would “lift him up,” and provide him with encouraging words. Although there were some occasions where Martin was not showing much effort and Incognito would give him a hard time. This is where the story gets perplexing. As any passionate player would, Incognito would be rough on the players who were not prepared or were playing poorly. But he never singled out anyone. “The crap he would give Martin was no more than he would give anyone else, including me.” Murtha also pointed out that the other players on the team said the same things to Martin that Incognito said, “so you’d need to suspend the whole team if you suspend Richie.”

Murtha asserts that Martin was never left out or excluded from anything, he was always invited when the team would go for a night out. This is why the coaches allegedly encouraged the leaders to toughen him up and bring him out of his shell.

Clearly that was issue for Incognito, as he took the “razzing” way too far. It was reported on Fox Sports 1 that Incognito would send Martin threatening and racially charged messages. These messages included a reference to tracking down members of Martin’s family and harming them. In April of this year, Incognito had left a voicemail to Martin calling him the n-word along with other demeaning names. When the tape was released to the Dolphins earlier this month, Incognito was immediately suspended.

Two weeks before the harassment accusations came to light, Martin had left team facilities on behalf of “emotional reasons.”

We may never know what actually happened between these two men. And we can only take Murtha’s account of the situation so far, as he left the team a year before the bullying allegation surfaced. I do not believe that Incognito is a racist. However he managed to cause a six-foot-five, 312-pound man (not to mention an offensive tackle), enough stress to check himself into a hospital for emotional help. A full-grown man of that size and stature does not just, “crack under pressure.”

It is difficult to know what to make of this entire story, although it seems to be a case of “he said-he said.” On one hand, I get it. Football is a tough sport. You need to be mentally and physically tough in order to be considered an athlete. I can understand why it would be frustrating to see a member of the team who is not living up to expectations. But any athlete can tell you that knocking a teammate down in order to toughen them up is counterproductive. There is no way to excuse using racial slurs and making threats against a fellow player. A team is as strong as its weakest player, and under these circumstances, Incognito was the weak link. Yes, football teams have their playbooks and their strategies, but at the end of the day, team dynamic is what is going to win the game. A team will simply perform better when the players get along; it is not rocket science. But we are humans. We are not always going to get along with one another. Sometimes to achieve a strong sense of community on team, you have to try team-building exercises. Maybe try the trust-fall tactic, as lame as it may sound. At least that is how we did it in high school.