Richie & Jonathan

I can't believe the attention this incident is getting in the press.

Sports and otherwise.

Richie Incognito verbally bullied Jonathan Martin. I hate the term bullied - it is yet one more word that is overused in our society.

 Bullying this, bullying that.

It is hard to even imagine the concept of bullying in the NFL - these are The Kings of Testosterone. They are all overflowing with the stuff, it is leaking out their ears. And if there is any question about an adequate testosterone level, they keep buckets of the stuff in NFL locker rooms.

A bucket with a ladle. If a guy has any foreign thoughts at all, like sensitivity or empathy, he just serves himself up a ladle full of team approved testosterone (logo on the bucket) and whammo he is a renewed and refreshed man.

It is just that simple.

Let's deal with the facts.

The NFL is a brutal league with neanderthal opinions of what it is to be a man. Verbal abuse is commonplace at a very high level. I'm sure it happens every second of every day on every team.

This is why it is so disingenuous to hear football players try to take Martin's side or attempt, feebly, to defend him.

They don't mean it.

They are all laughing at the man. Current players and coaches, former players and coaches, anybody at all who is involved with the league.

They are all laughing at the man.

I have heard more support for Incognito than for Martin. This is because this is the accepted culture in the league and everybody accepts it.

Everybody celebrates it.

99% of the arguments defending Martin sound tortured to me, like guys saying what they think they are supposed to say.

There is a rumor that Incognito was encouraged by team management to torment Martin to make him more of a man.

This is completely believable to me. Not even close to being outside the realm of believability.

Now team management rushes to vilify Incognito's actions and say things like "everything we do we do in the best interest of the players."

This from a league that considers the players as "product". A league that does not hesitate to gamble with players' health, a league that is cold and soul-less in denying the link between repeated head hits and later life dementia.

Apparently it is also impossible to imagine a man who is physically tough enough and talented enough to play in the NFL who is also sensitive.

This is just the way it is. It is a tough league with a marketing driven definition of toughness that is promoted throughout the league and then denied whenever the truth surfaces in embarrassing ways.

It cracks me up that the NFL is trying so hard to deny this vicious, tough guy image when this is really what they are all about.

I guarantee you they are all laughing behind closed doors, calling Jonathan Martin a fag and toasting Richie Incognito.

One of the ironic interpretations of the NFL is the "no fun league."

It may be true.