FLOWERY BRANCH—Dolphins offensive lineman Jonathan Martin alleges that his teammates, especially Richie Incognito, bullied and harassed him to the point that he left the team last week. Now Incognito is serving a team suspension and the team, the NFL players’ association and the NFL are looking into the matter.
Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez has seen a lot of ribbing among players in his 17 NFL seasons and said it’s part of the “unique office” of locker rooms. In his view, the hazing issue has been “blown up” in the wake of the Martin story and the league shouldn’t take any special actions to address the matter.
When it comes to teammates teasing one another, Gonzalez said “nothing is out of bounds” and that such banter is part of the tradition and culture of NFL locker rooms.
“I compare it to being in a room with a bunch of comedians,” Gonzalez said. “It’s fun in here. It makes you laugh. But just as comedians (do), sometimes they push the line. They go overboard a little bit and say stuff racially, economically—nothing is out of bounds in this locker room. Any type of insecurity that you have, they are going to play on that. That’s just how it goes.
“But it’s done out of fun. It should be done out of fun. It should never, ever go over a line. I don’t know what happened out there in Miami; I wasn’t in the locker room. But I’ve seen it go over the line before. It happens every once in a while and you try to correct it and get back out there on the field because it’s about playing and having that camaraderie and being a good team each Sunday.”
Check myajc.com later for more on the Falcons’ thoughts on the Martin controversy.
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