The sad case of Richie Incognito

The story itself is all over the place.  Richie Incognito is out of a job, because he told a teammate he would stalk his family and "s#!t in his mouth".  And this is sad, why?  Because on so many levels, it never should have come to this.

Start with the man himself.  He is nothing but a bully, and from what we've learned about his father's comments about the situation, the nut didn't roll far from the tree.  He was kicked off not one, but two major University football programs.  Neither Nebraska nor Oregon are known for booting players just because they are sociopaths.  Remember Lawrence Phillips?  LaGarrette Blount?  So getting kicked off of either team is quite the accomplishment.

He found a home in the NFL, of course.  Things like this can be overlooked, ask Bill Belechick.  In St. Louis, he quickly became "the dirtiest player in the league" , well known for twisting ankles and biting arms of players unfortunate enough to be in a pile with him.  But then one day on national TV, he threw a punch at a player, and shouted at his head coach when he was thrown out of the game as a result.

The Rams then got smart.  They dumped him.  But up stepped the Miami Dolphins.

And now, a teammate has to get mental help, others have complained about situations that outside of football would have been termed "robbery", "extortion", and "assault".  But Owner Stephen Ross, GM Jeff Ireland, and Coach Joe Philbin say they knew nothing about it.

I say, you didn't WANT to know.

Once upon a time, the Dolphins were built on a foundation of integrity that sprang from owner Joe Robbie and Coach Don Shula.  They were a team of talent, but also of respect.  The stadium they play in was first called Joe Robbie Stadium in honor of the man.  Then came Wayne Huizenga to buy the team; the stadium gets a new sponsor's name about every two years.  That used to piss me off but not now.  Joe Robbie, were he still alive, likely wouldn't want his name on the place now. I'm sure new owner Stephen Ross could give a rat's ass.  I am amazed that Don Shula, still Vice-Chairman, really wants his name on this letterhead.

General Manager Jeff Ireland is a total idiot.  Besides his removal from the team of everyone who can actually catch a ball in the last two seasons (Brandon Marshall, Davonne Bess, Anthony Fasano, Reggie Bush, even... ugh... Tedd Ginn), he is best known for choosing Daunte Culpepper over Drew Brees and asking potential draft choice Dez Bryant what was up with his mom being a hooker.

Coach Philbin says this is against everything he is trying to do.  That the victim, second year player Jonathan Martin, never came to him or the team's "leadership council" about what was going on.  Um, Joe, Incognito was ON the leadership council.  If that was the team's idea of leadership, why WOULD he come to you?

And the team?  Oh, they knew nothing about it, but were going to look into it-  until ESPN's Adam Schefter blew the lid off the story.  That's when Incognito went to twitter and challenged his accusers- and Schefter by name- to "Bring it!"

And then, Martin gave everyone a voice message with Incognito saying all those horrible things, and calling him a "half-nigger"  Apparently Incognito's African American sidekick, Mike Pouncey (You know, one of Aaron Hernandez' former accomplices bosom buddies) found it funny.  Apparently many players on the team are more upset that Martin told on Incognito than what the a-hole did.  Among those are probably not the younger players who have been "donating" so that Incognito, Pouncey, and others can go out on the town.

But Ross, Ireland, and Philbin didn't know this kind of thing was happening.  Is this a football team or the damn White House?  I call BS on each of you.  Except maybe Ireland; he might have been too busy lining up more draft picks that have moms who'll give him a $20 tumble.

IMHO, the NFL should fine heavily the Dolphins for ever spending money on this piece of subhuman trash.  The should suspend everyone from the top down just like they did with New Orleans.  Incognito should be banned period.  In an age where hazing and bullying has been on everyone's minds and tongues, this is a blow to the reputation of the league and the team that SHOULD NOT be ignored.

In case you didn't realize, this is hard for me to write.  I have followed the Dolphins as my #1 team for over 40 years.  I made it through bad coaches like Dave Wannstedt and Cam Cameron.  I made it through Nick Saban's realization that it's a lot less expensive to assemble a good team in the college realm, where you don't have to pay players above the table.  I even made it through starting QB Cleo Lemon, and drafting Ginn with a waste of a tenth overall pick.  But this....

My heart is definitely out of the equation.

I challenge you, Stephen Ross, and Joe Philbin, to tell me WHY I should give a damn about the team when you obviously didn't.

Oh, and Richie?  Schefter OWNED you.  It wasn't hard.  All one needed was a brain.