02Ram54

That's bold.

Anyone defending him should read this piece that lays out his history of bullying and entitled behavior.

I think a lot of us have demonstrated our belief that Martin couldn't have stopped Incognito through confrontation, and clearly he couldn't trust the front office if it was common knowledge that they were the ones that sicced Incognito in the first place. Given that, what was Martin supposed to do to keep it in house?

You're right. We're talking about a workforce with disproportionately highly violent behavior, men who are more likely to be a danger to themselves and others.

I grew up going to school at this address. I played football on a team that was mostly black. I have myself used the word in the presence of black peers and all involved found it acceptable, and while I wouldn't as an adult I'm not going to pretend that using it to mean "dude" and "black man" is the same. And yeah, I have been around white dudes who adopted black culture, which is to say more the typically acceptable appropriation of black culture.

Once again, I'm going to return to your words: Is Martin supposed to say to Incognito, "Hey Richie, I really don't like that. Don't be mean to me." Give me a break. You clearly mean that Martin should tell Incognito that if he doesn't shut his mouth he's going to shut it for him, and then we're right back to a fist fight (or worse, as we all know that NFL players are armed to the teeth.)

And how does "half-n-word" piece of crap(sic)" fall under the approved usage guideline?

Let's say that Incognito has the same attitude you do: You're telling me that if Martin had taken a swing on him to get him off his back, Incognito says, "well, that's that?" I don't buy that. Incognito is one of the dirtiest players in the NFL. In a fight he's going to look to hurt Martin and win decisively, if for no other reason than he doesn't want to lose face in a locker room that doesn't respect Martin because he doesn't fit the culture. If Martin wanted to get Incognito to stop bullying him, he'd have to knock Incognito out or worse, and if somehow Martin could do it (and I would wager he can't, I bet Richie's had a few good ol' fashioned bare knuckle brawls in his day) then we're back to a scenario where he's just beaten unconscious a starting veteran on a team trying to make the playoffs, on a team where they already like Incognito because he's one of the guys and dislike Martin because he's not.

Because your livelihood and providing for your family matters to you? If he had assaulted Incognito, it would be Martin that would be out of a job instead of the other way around.

So, if these guys were at a marketing firm instead of football players, your advice to Jonathan from sales would be to whoop up Richie from accounting?

He's a starting guard. I think we've all heard the old saw about where you can pick those up.

Yeah, and clearly this Dolphins locker room would love you, if you assaulted a veteran player bad enough to incapacitate him. Obviously, Martin had enough juice to do that, and everyone would have slapped him on the back and said, "Good for you!"

This is my wife's take on how we'll teach our son to deal with violence. "Stand up to them? Hit them back? What, do you think my son is an animal? No, he won't use his fists--because using his fists is letting them off too easy. He's going to tell the teacher, the adminiatration, and the police that someone assaulted him. He's going to see that kid put in an alternative school, a school where he won't get in to a good high school or probably into college at all. We're going to teach our son that if someone hits you, you don't hit them back--bruises heal. Ruin their life." My wife is mean.

My point is that I tried to have a discussion that was completely on topic, and have tried at several points to steer it back in that direction.

I'm not apologizing. My point about the number of players on the All-SEC teams was germane to the thread.

Wow, those are a lot of first round NIT losses that I don't recall. The reason I brought up the old Big East: they were the first (to my knowlege) to expand their All-Conference selections beyond five per team, because of the size and depth of their league. I thought that would be clear to most of the knowledgeable posters on this board, but apparently not. So, now that I've made my context a little clearer, do you disagree with my point that SIXTEEN first and second team slots is a bit much?

And I'm going to assume that, since you wanted to change the subject without any refutation of my point, we can just mark you down for a surrender on the AAC vs SEC question?

I know Matt is thrilled that they do. It keeps the lights on.

I might think the SEC were stronger if Robert Morris were in the league. Oh wait, no I wouldn't. I understand the desire to bring up UCF beating Louisville in football--after all, it was the biggest night for UK athletics since April 2012--but as this is the basketball board...

3>2...

Trollin' aint easy.

I agree with Cris Carter: If someone in the NFL says he's going to kill you, you should take that seriously.

Still stronger than the SEC.

I agree with Deuce's take. Talent wasn't the problem...

Wait, the SEC does EIGHT first team players? They went from 12 teams to 14 and had to add three slots? The Big East used to do SIX, for a (much stronger) 16-team league.