The Complete Lack of Culture within Locker Room Culture
The Richie Incognito story does not help the idea that it’s not impossible to be successful in football without being an awful, racist person.
It really shouldn’t need to be said, but it’s not impossible to be successful in football without being an awful, racist person. And still, chances are that you, like me, were not that surprised when the Miami Dolphins’ Jonathan Martin left the team recently to seek mental health treatment after fellow lineman (and possible long lost O’Doyle) Richie Incognito bullied and tormented him for what appears to be months and months.
It’s not that weird to envision some thick-necked, tribal-tattooed white offensive lineman screaming a bunch of psychotic threats and racial epithets into a phone at an African-American teammate. Just like it was probably not that shocking to you when the Eagles’ stringy-haired receiver Riley Cooper drunkenly challenged “every n*****” in attendance at a Kenny Chesney concert to come at him, bro.
This is because the football community tries so hard to convince us that the world of football is engulfed by this magical bubble where a whole new set of rules apply, simply because of the aggressive nature of the work involved. We have implicitly been told countless times that this bubble allows you to be just a tiny bit racist with a dab of misogyny and a hearty smudge of off-the-field violence – it’s all part of the game.
Ninety percent of “Bullying-Gate” coverage on SportsCenter is an assorted, ever-changing ragtag group of talking heads babbling on about the countless nuances that we pleeeebians will just never comprehend… after all, we are – to take a phrase from 30 Rock’s Jenna Maroney – just a bunch of non-specials.
We get it, guys – corner routes are different than corner offices, defensive backs are different than defense attorneys, yuk yuk yuk. We have all heard the spiels about how the NFL workplace is just as magical as a unicorn, where testosterone rivers flow through the terrain and players bond and communicate through an unwritten language of chest-bumping.
You know what? All jobs are different. Construction workers get to use jackhammers. Bartenders and elementary school teachers have to clean up urine from time to time. And in football, you get to slam your body into other people with the strength of a freight train and scream at your coworkers.
But hey, you know what’s never okay in any of those professions? Leaving a coworker a psychotic threatening voicemail where you call them the N-word and tell them that that you’re going to sh** in their mouth! Doesn’t matter what weird hazing rituals Martin may or may not have participated in, doesn’t matter how many players say it’s usually okay for white dudes to use the N-word in the locker room. It’s just simply not up for debate. It’s not okay to be awful, mean and racist. Anywhere, anytime.
And there are case studies, I assure you. There have absolutely been non-awful people who managed to excel at football.
Even amongst numerous questionable promotion letdowns, the ever polite and composed Tony Dungy won two Super Bowls – both as a player and the first African-American coach to do so. Hines Ward has been involved in anti-bullying charity work for years, and retired as one of the most consistent, hard-working receivers of his time. Even the Lions’ defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, pegged as one of the most physical and dirty players in the league, is known for his respectful demeanor towards fans and the press and is one of the most charitable players in the NFL. Jeff Saturday. Kurt Warner. I swear, I could go on.
Yes, football is a violent game and success requires toughness. But toughness is not a product of violence – nor is it personal insults and racial attacks; that is how violence is born.
And until we stop treating the NFL like this code that no one can crack, the Riley Coopers and Richie Incognitos of the league will continue to rear their nasty heads.
There’s a reason why, although I love this game dearly, I know that a good majority of people who play football are people who I would never want to be around in real life. There’s a reason why Incognito, when a Miami TV crew caught up to him, said flippantly, “I’m just trying to weather the storm…this’ll pass.”
Because just like it did with Riley Cooper, the football community will create an unnecessary debate out of racist tangent from what appears to be another insecure backwoods bully, and in a few weeks, we’ll all forget about it. Well, until the next time when we’re asking ourselves, “Why does this seem so familiar?”
And like always, it’ll be because the phrase “locker room culture” is now synonymous with “complete lack of culture.”