NFL: Business or Boys Club? Why Hazing Policies Define The Distinction

The latest hazing incident involving the Miami Dolphins is cause to reexamine current policies… or lack thereof.

It’s been over a month since Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Jonathan Martin left the team due to emotional issues related to bullying allegations. Teammate Richie Incognito, also on the offensive line, is allegedly the ring leader in the string of attacks over the course of two years, discovered after threatening voicemails and text messages sent to Martin came to light. The transcript:

“Hey, wassup, you half n——- piece of s—-. I saw you on Twitter, you been training 10 weeks. [I want to] s—- in your f—-ing mouth. [I’m going to] slap your f—-ing mouth. [I’m going to] slap your real mother across the face [laughter]. F—- you, you’re still a rookie. I’ll kill you.” [April 2013, year after Martin was drafted]

While the NFL has opened an investigation on the allegations, and Martin has stayed out of the public eye, Incognito has done much to try and clear his name.

A hard-hitting interview from Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer left Incognito with some ‘splaining to do:

During the controversy, the public, or shall I say other NFL players, opinion is mixed.

Despite a history of violence, and being known as one of the dirtiest players in the NFL, teammates have been quick to have his back. Tyson Clabo said, “They did a lot of stuff together. So if he had a problem with the way he was treating him, he had a funny way of showing it.” New York Giants safety Antrel Rolle said, “At some point and time you need to stand your ground as an individual. Am I saying go attack, go fight him? No . . . we can stand our ground without anything being physical.” But others feel he wasn’t left with many options:

“If you look at it with common sense and being logical, what options did Jonathan Martin have? He could fight . . he could go and tell . . . , or he could remove himself from the situation and let the proper channels take care of itself. [Martin] made the intelligent, smart choice without putting himself or Richie Incognito’s physical abilities in danger,” said Seattle Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin, who played college ball with Martin.

The Dolphins need to decide whether to cut Incognito by tomorrow, Dec. 2; players can be suspended with pay for up to four games. Regardless of whether you feel Martin or Incognito acted right or wrong, herein lies the real issue: there are zero anti-hazing or harassing rules in the NFL. For a league that has rules on everything from coin tosses to shoes, it certainly came as a surprise to me.

Without an anti-hazing policy in place in the NFL, it allows players like Incognito to file a grievance, which is “a dispute between a player and a club or the League concerning his individual contract.” In this case, Incognito is challenging the Dolphins’ decision to suspend him indefinitely. With a harassment policy in place, Incognito probably wouldn’t have grounds for his grievance claim.

The NFL’s considers itself a business. Its rules and regulations are formed to make sure everything within the game and league goes as smoothly as possible. Players are traded like cattle and it can sometimes have nothing to do with their season performance. The NFL asks reporters to ask business-like questions to players and potential draft picks during interviews. My question is this: if the NFL asks society to treat it and its players like a business, why is the NFL not acting like a business? The Martin/Incognito scandal is the latest of many harassment and/or hazing scandals that are currently happening and have long been part of “NFL tradition.” The NFL is stuck between a rock and a hard place; something has to give. Either they The issue with hazing and harassment, which many times starts off with a harmless prank such as dousing a teammate in water or shaving cream, making them pay for a meal, often gets “one-upped.” The new class of players feel they need to outdo their hazing experience and so-on and so-forth until we have a Martin/Incognito case or worse.

Some, like Brian Phillips, are coming out and calling a war on warrior culture. Others like Matt Ufford believe that the NFL has no “manly” excuse for hazing, when even the Marines has a harassment and hazing policy in place to build leadership and teamwork through hard work and not letting the other man down.

If any hint of hazing or harassment occurs in a business, HR is first to jump on the incident. If the NFL wants to completely be recognized as a business, it needs to function internally as such, regardless of tradition. This includes rules and regulations regarding harassment starting from the ground up. Players, coaches and managers need to be held accountable for what happens inside the locker room and on the field. These players are paid millions to play football, not to cause the rookie the most misery. And it’s clear Goodell could use this opportunity to command some respect:

As of now, it seems that it may take a multi-million dollar lawsuit smacking the NFL in the face to put in harassment rules in place. The NFL seems to be in denial that a player could come forward, defying the unsaid rules of taking the “tough love”, and suing the NFL. Or worse, if an injury or death came out of a harassment incident. Such an incident would be a black swan event, otherwise known as an unseen event that changes the course of that industry entirely. The bottom line is that, with 2012’s revenue just north of $9.5 billion and growing each year, the NFL needs to be more proactive about protecting their asses assets.

Sources 1. http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10030404/jonathan-martin-miami-dolphins-second-interview-ted-wells 2. http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9904868/jonathan-martin-miami-dolphins-leaves-team 3. http://www.buzzfeed.com/mrloganrhoades/nfl-player-called-teammate-n-er-in-threatening-voicemail 4. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/dolphins/2013/11/14/richie-incognito-grievance-union-nflpa/3538941/ 5. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2013/11/10/richie-incognito-interview-jonathan-martin/3489073/ 6. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/richie-incognito-troubled-timeline-dates-back-early-college-224648711–nfl.html 7. http://nypost.com/2013/11/09/booze-beefs-and-brawls-incognitos-history-of-violence/ 8. http://sports.nationalpost.com/2013/11/07/miami-dolphins-harrassment-case-players-divided-over-jonathan-martins-response-to-richie-incognitos-alleged-bullying/ 9. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/john_lopez/07/29/hazing/ 10. http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2013/11/nfl-doesnt-have-any-anti-hazing-protocol/71279/ 11. http://www.sbnation.com/2013/11/5/5065834/jonathan-martin-richie-incognito-dolphins-rookie-hazing 12. http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9939308/richie-incognito-jonathan-martin-miami-dolphins-bullying-scandal 13. https://twitter.com/NFLonFOX/statuses/399594065617883136