Jonathan Martin

Christ, I go back and forth on this thing.

The concept of bullying in the NFL seems kind of silly. I am not happy with the word bullying anyway. Bullying suggests schoolyard stuff.

Adults are much more crafty, much more cruel, much more vicious. What adults do to each other goes way beyond bullying.

Football is a tough sport and the NFL represents the toughest of the tough. I have said it before and I will say it again - I believe a part of the bravado the players project comes directly from fear.

Check out a running back's eyes when he breaks a long one. Check out how wildly wide his eyes are as he continuously looks over his shoulder and to the sides. Could be about seeing the field. I think a healthy portion of that look comes from fear.

These guys live on the brink of career ending injuries on every play of every game. Even the unsuspecting stuff like  a lineman having his legs rolled over by a teammate. Somebody who tripped or got pushed into the line. Never mind receivers who sky high to grab a pass knowing full well they will get hit and maybe come down on their head. Or neck. Or spine. Running backs who get pounded every time they touch the ball. The average career of a running back in the NFL is 3 to 5 years.

Quarterbacks who get blind sided and driven into the turf.

There is a lot of fear out there. A lot of fear that is buried under braggadocio.

Lawrence Taylor on Jonathan Martin: "If you are that sensitive and weak minded, find another profession."

I get it. You go into football knowing how tough the sport is and learning how tough the locker room can be.

The issue is that a hell of a lot of people roll into careers that they are not emotionally able to handle. Or intellectually. Or physically.

The majority of people in the world despise their jobs.  They can't just find another profession. Can't just change jobs.

Maybe they don't want to. Maybe they are doing something they like but something that has elements about it that just eats them up inside. Maybe they are being destroyed as humans as they continue to cash paychecks.

They have to suck it up every day just to survive.

But are they really sucking it up? Is it sucking it up when you survive by going home and getting bombed every night? Is it sucking it up when you survive by using drugs to shut down your brain? Is beating your wife sucking it up? Beating your kids? Kicking the dog? Just generally being cruel to everybody around you?

If you are going to suck it up, then you have to do it 24/7.

The majority of people who tell you to suck it up are full of shit. They will throw bravado in your face while they get eaten up inside. The majority of people who tell you to suck it up are weak.

If Jonathan Martin can compete in the NFL then he is enormously talented. He probably loves the game, has loved it all his life. Should he walk away from it because he cannot handle the psychological torment inflicted by TEAMMATES?

Or should football culture change?

For the record, I don't ever expect the culture to change.

The way the NFL is going, the crises the league is currently dealing with may destroy it. If that ever happens I'll be tormenting you with words written in Arizona as my lovely wife prepares dinner. Because I could never endure winter without football.

But that is a story for another place and time.

I gotta come down on the side of humanity. Hundreds of millions of people suffer every day because they have made the wrong job choice or career choice, or because they are trapped in a job that torments them.

It even happens in the NFL, only on a public stage with a warped code of conduct. There are other guys in the NFL who feel as Jonathan Martin feels, but they will never come forward to support him. Because they will be ostracized as he is being ostracized.

And they will never do anything to help themselves.

In full disclosure I have to admit I am uncomfortable defending the sensitivity of an NFL player. It just doesn't sound right and I know I am in the minority. I love the sport and the violence is a part of what I love. The bravado.

Because I don't get to do that in my life. I don't get to hit people or to express my aggression in a way that is condoned and accepted.

I am uncomfortable defending the sensitivity of an NFL player because it doesn't sound right to me.

But it feels right.

And that is all I give a damn about.