RF23 - Perception Is The Key

During the 2013 NFL season a story broke across the nation that a NFL player left his team because he could not take....

Bullying.

That's right, bullying.   According to reports Miami Dolphin Offensive Lineman Jonathan Martin quit the team because he was being bullied by another offensive lineman, Ritchie Incognito.   The news stories took off  like a wildfire with the media almost crying over Martin.  They were looking to make him the national face of the man who would be bullied that he walked away from his NFL contract because there was no one to.

Fight his battle.   That's right, no one stepped up to fight Martin's battle.  So the end result is Martin leaving, Incognito suspended and a coach buying boxes from U-Haul in preparation of being fired for this story.

I may be a little old school, but I remember the days, when a kid was bullied, they either fought back or it persisted.  If they were lucky, they'll have a friend to step to the bully and let the bully know that the person is their friend and if he/she messes with them, well you know.  But not today, today, we are bombarded by radio and TV ads.  We're hearing stories of kids actually committing suicide! because they didn't stand up for themselves or no one fought their battle.  Is it sad?  absolutely.  No one, including me wants to see parents bury a child because of bullying.  However, Jonathan Martin is no child! according to reports he gave as good as he got and when the kitchen got just little hotter. 

He quit.  he quit on his teammates and he quit on his offensive line brothers who are in the trenches.   I never played a down of NCAA or NFL football, but I do know that the fraternity and brotherhood amongst that group is close knit.  "All for one and one for all" if that was the creed.   In my opinion, Martin was for one, him.   The issue of Martin also resulted in finger pointing and accusations towards other teammates such as Mike Pouncey.  Pouncey defended Incognito and was immediately lambasted by black journalists, this is the same Pouncey, who wore a "Free Aaron Hernandez" T-shirt, Hernandez played for the New England Patriots and now sits in jail accused of murder.  Now what does that say about Martin? when a teammate would rather support another player on a different team! accused of murder! than Martin.   It says alot and Pouncey wasn't by himself, out of the 53 men on the Dolphins' roster the majority of them supported Incognito, why? because the locker room knows what going on and some of the players even said so, Mike Wallace said that if Martin was having that much of an issue with Incognito, he should have handled it and we're all grown here, we know what he meant!

Martin chose not to.

Tonight, NBC will air Tony Dungy interviewing Martin and one of the quotes from Martin was that he didn't have tools to handle the situation.

You right about that Jonathan. 

A pair.

RF23 - It's Been A Long Time

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted on this board.  I can't say I've been busy, but there have and are changes going on in my life that I don't want to divulge to the bloggo sphere.  Let's just say for me and the party involved it's a new road and direction that we're both going take by ourselves.   I hate to place blame and try to pin point as to why two people who say they love each other end up just loving, but from separate places.   This is not my first time going through this and I know the different emotions that one will have toward each other.  I'm trying my best, she is trying her best to keep it classy and so far the transition is going well.  

For you the why is not important, only she and I will know and hopefully at this juncture, we're happy with this decision for both.   For my standpoint, this woman, Godzwomyn was my number one fan on this site, put up with the bad grammar, screamed when I used the word "ideal" instead of "idea" and at times got heated when I got just a little controversial, but she rooted for me, when a few of my posts went national and received mention on radio shows.   She was my number one fan and I appreciate her encouragement for 10 years I posted on this site.  Thank You!

Now it's my turn, and although we'll be in different places, I will be her number one fan on the sidelines, rooting for her to obtain her degree and rooting for her in life period.  She has a very heavy yoke to carry and she is going to need the strength to endure whatever curve life gives her from this point and still carry on with her goals for her life.  

I don't know if this will be my last post on this site, but be ensured, I will go on.  Hopefully, down the road there will be new loves in the future for her and I, but as for me, I realize I got to deal with my own issues, rid myself of ghosts of pasts that I often think about and most of all.

Be Happy.