Boo hoo. If it bothered him so much he should have stood up for himself and slugged somebody
I completely disagee--Martin was the only person who actually handled anything regarding this situation in a responsible fashion. If he fights back and punches his teammates--then he's the one that gets categorized as the problem. I've never played professional sports--but I've played a ton of competitive amateur sports in my upbringing--- and there is no room for what the Dolphins and what their players did here. There is a vast difference between constructive criticism, and slight ribbing designed to enhance performance and production on a field versus outright bullying. This 300lb monster of a dude had the emotional maturity to drive himself to a hospital and not go on a rampage and injure others even when he was in the middle of having an emotional meltdown. He should be applauded and frankly--he's biggest man in this situation. Shame on the other players involved and shame on the Dolphins for allowing this to happen right under their noses.
I appreciate your post and your POV. I think we are taking things we know in our own World and trying to apply it to what happens in the NFL, that's a big leap IMO. We don't know what happened, I heard a rumor Martin got the krabs and this was how the team handled it, by making a joke and not wanting to sit near him.
Let's take a step back and give credence to the story as we heard it in the cafeteria. If Martin was being bullied on a regular basis then why would he go sit with the folks who are doing the bullying? I've worked in companies where the people all around me were not the best of folks, I didn't eat lunch with them and went about my business. Now I'm sure the NFL is a lot different however Martin felt comfortable enough to sit with them and then they played a joke and all got up from the table. And I can see how that might be the "krabs" rumor. "Oh don't sit near me I don't want the krabs" and then I can understand how that might trigger Martin because STDs aren't funny but certainly in a locker room it becomes comical banter for some.
Did you know Charles Haley used to master-bate in front of his team? That sounds like sexual harassment but there weren't many Dallas players running away from the team. Haley did a lot of other really uncomfortable things as well if you read the rumors about him on the internet verified by several teammates. Steve Young has a story about him he won't even talk about.
This is all conjecture so take some of it with a grain of salt, it doesn't diminish anything you posted which again I want to reiterate that I R-E-S-P-E-C-T your POV. But if he overreacted to a joke, I've played football, obviously not at the NFL level but we used to rip each other all the time. I've taken a lot of heat on the FBG boards at times, but usually I feel if people are joking with you they tend to like you. If I like someone I joke with them, if I don't like someone I don't say two words to them. The fact they were interacting with Martin, I don't think for a second his teammates disliked him or had it in for him.
Martin has a problem, not his teammates. Think about our good men and women stationed abroad? Do you think guys make crude jokes in the military, you bet your ### they do. These are HIGH STRESS outfits and to apply what happens at our desk jockey jobs to what these men and women are put thru both in the military and professional sports is not the same and you can't expect people to act the same.
You are trying to turn Martin into a poster child for abuse and I don't share in that sentiment.