OT-Full Jonathan Martin/Richie Incognito text message history released.

Submitted by a2_electricboogaloo on

Just a heads up, a lot of these texts are really really vulgar, and some have fairly explicit images (although mostly censored), so you've been warned.

Link

 

My thoughts on it:

  • Honestly, they both come off as total meatheads , particularly Incognito (as these texts more or less chronicle their constant efforts to get laid).
  • They seemed to be really good buddies.
  • Nothing that I read really sounded like bullying to me.  There was a lot of joking around, and giving eachother a hard time, but nothing seemed meanspirited, and even the harsher jokes had lighthearted responses.
  • Those last few pages made me really feel bad for Incognito.

Darker Blue

February 4th, 2014 at 8:27 AM ^

I negged myself here and will leave this up for you to do also. I only read asmall portion of those texts and quickly jumped to the conculsion that Martin was gay. After reading all of the messages I realized that I was stupid, this has nothing to do with his sexuality. I'm sorry and except all the negs. Its a fucking shame that I went there. 

mGrowOld

February 4th, 2014 at 9:28 AM ^

Based on these i have to completely change my ill-advised opinion from "Incognito's a bully" to "Martin massively overreacted and threw his friend under the bus".  My guess would be Martin, in attempting to explain why he stormed out of practice, blamed Incognito rather than admitting he was the one with a problem.  And then the story snowballed massively and he didn't know how to get out of it.  

If you read the very last text's two things seem clear to me.  One - that Incognito genuinelly cared about Martin's well-being and was worried about him first and himself second.  And two - that Martin didnt seem to hold any malice towards Incognito at that time.

I think this is also an example of somebody telling a story so many times (I got bullied) that they start to believe it themselves.  And why on earth didnt Incognito release these earlier?  Clearly that would've completely flipped the narrative.  

mGrowOld

February 4th, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^

That's what I thought too.  As I read it I kept thinking Incognito's not a villan at all here.  As a matter of fact - it looked to me like he was trying to help and even protect Martin.

Just like he said he was.  

jtmc33

February 4th, 2014 at 9:38 AM ^

How the story was that Incognito threatened to "Kill his whole family" and then you see that it was a fricken' gif of a crazy-lady and her dog.... pretty sums up how distorted this whole thing was allowed to get

Sambojangles

February 4th, 2014 at 10:34 AM ^

I'm not saying that either one deserves to lose their multi-million dollar careers over what seems like "normal" banter between friends (note, I didn't read them all), but this basically proves the front page lesson. You should try to avoid doing things that would reflect poorly upon you if put on the front page of the New York Times, or internet, or whatever. They both put themselves in a position to look like dicks, whether it's in or out of context. Kind of like Riley Cooper at the Chesney concert last summer.

Now, I do plenty of bad stuff when I'm in the safety and privacy of my friends, so I don't want to sound preachy. But if something I did like this did come out, I would have no one to blame but myself. 

HollywoodHokeHogan

February 4th, 2014 at 10:49 AM ^

              some homosexual repression going on?  For young, single, rich athletes who talk nonstop about bedding women, they rarely sleep with women.  And they text each other a lot.  A lot. 

smwilliams

February 4th, 2014 at 11:48 AM ^

Yea, it seems like we've reached a general consensus which is that Incognito certainly doesn't seem like a villain here and unless something happened offline, it appears that Martin (or Martin's agent, which Incognito suggests as a possibility) basically threw Incognito under the bus. I know I've sent worst texts and said worse things to my buddies. I saw nothing that crossed the line.

And, how bad does this make the NFL look? They better spin this as an isolated case because what I took from the exchanges was:

 

1. Two separate NFL players checked themselves into mental institutions (Incognito mentioned he'd done this in the past) like it was no big thing.

2. The NFL might have an alcohol/substance abuse problem.

LKLIII

February 4th, 2014 at 12:38 PM ^

I think neither guy comes off smelling like roses here, but consider:

1)  Young, athletic, single, wealthy guys.  Clearly this is not the way true professionals or more mature players would handle themselves.  But partying, going to strip clubs, etc. is (sadly) not shocking or unexpected behavior from wealthy single guys in their 20's who are on the prowl.

 

2)  Incognito definitely seemed to be the alpha-male of the two, with Martin the younger wing-man.  But it's clear that through the bulk of the exchanges, Martin was definitely into the ride as well.  He'd often initiate the social plans as well.  Now, maybe that's becasue he was insecure and wanted to show Incognito that he was an alpha-male too, but at the end of the day, Martin was a willing participant.

 

3)  With Martin coming from a seemingly stable two-parent household, I'm wondering to what degree did his parents become aware of this dynamic and try to put a stop to it.

 

4)  Even still, if Martin finally "saw the light" and realized he was being influenced by the wrong element in the lockeroom, there are FAR more normal ways to part ways from a guy like Incognito.  Now, maybe with Incognito being a meathead, he didn't take well once he realized his sidekick was starting to pull away from him socially.  Perhaps that's where the bullying came in?  

 

5)  Even with that dynamic though, the smart way to back away from a potentially volitile bully is not to make any dramatic changes in behavior or announcements, but to just get interested in other stuff.  Don't become unpleasant, don't tell him off, don't judge the guy for his desire to continue a partying lifestyle.  Maybe still even go out with him on occasion. Just slowly phase the guy out--start going out less & less.  Get into golf.  Get an actual girlfriend.  Flip the switch and get into your career more and adopt a "my body is my temple" attitude to maximize the likelihood of a long and healthy career.  Start up a charity in the local community.  Whatever.  At first Incognito would be pissed that he's losing his little party buddy, but trust me, over time, Incognito would soon find another drinking/party buddy.

 

6)  Unless something truly odd happened outside those text exchanges (like a molestation or something), I just don't see ANY reason why Martin would blow the lid off of this stuff.  The only thing I could think of is Incognito was a convenient villian if Martin was caught doing something bad--either by the team, or even his parents.  He's still a "kid" in his mid 20's after all.  Yes, that is an adult and he should man up and be responsible for his own actions.  But in many close-knit (and sometimes overbearing) families, a 23-25 year old still has tremendously influenced (if not intimidated) by his parents.  If he was a helicopter kid, I could see him blaming Incogninto on "peer pressure" to reduce any blame that he might normally have to take.  

 

Both are pigs, with Incognito the leader of the group.  But in the end, Martin appears to have hadled this whole thing very, very badly.