http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000329872/article/richie-incognito-accepts-help-in-wake-of-severe-mental-stress

The stress over the Dolphins locker room issues have finally gotten to Incognito as he accepts professional help after an incident involving him damaging his own ferrari with a baseball bat. Many news articles have been written about the whole situation, and thats because something new happens with it every week. First it was just a simple he said she said kind of case where nobody knew what was going on. Martins mental health then came into question with many believing that he wasn't in fact bullied, just not mental stable enough for an NFL locker room. Then Ted Wells finally came out with his report on the investigation which showed that Incognito and a couple others had in fact been bullying Martin. Once the stress of the report was to much for Incognito to handle, he toke serval shots at his own ferrari with a baseball bat which made his severe mental problems finally came to light.

"This is not the first time Incognito has dealt with mental health issues. During a lengthy interview with NFL.com in 2013, he discussed a previous rehabilitation process that ultimately allowed him to revitalize his career."

• By Jeff Darlington
• NFL Media reporter

Nobody wants to believe someones a bully because thats who they've always been. We want to believe they became that way because of something that happened to them, and in most cases thats the truth. This does explain why he bullied Martin, how he copped with his mental issues. Can he get help and continue has NFL career like he has done once before? It's possible, but it will be harder a second time around. However if he can stay clean and do the most important thing to a football team which is preform on the field, he may just be able to find a new team after all this is over.

Aaron Hernandez

http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story/_/id/10523143/aaron-hernandez-moved-isolation-unit-fight-sheriff-department-says

Aaron Hernandez had to be moved to isolation after getting into a fight with another inmate. The headlines about the culture of the NFL locker have came into question after the Jonathan Martin situation and the possibility of Micheal Sam being the first openly gay player in the NFL. What all started the questioning of what type of people are in these NFL locker rooms started with Aaron Hernandez however about a year ago. With not only being accused of one murder, but now three in total, everyone started to wonder what kind of people are in the typical locker room. Surely nobody thought he was ever going to be accused of multi-able murders, but there had to be something that tipped someone off that this guy has some issues. 

"Aaron Hernandez has been punished for a physical altercation with another inmate by being relocated to a more isolated part of the Bristol County Jail, where he must spend 23 hours a day and eat meals in his cell, according to a local report."

ESPN

This kinda of behavior just doesn't come out of no where. Somebody must have known that Hernandez had some issues, but he preformed well on the field so it was overlooked. Thats the problem with the NFL culture. It doesn't matter who you are, as long as you stay out of way to much trouble and can preform well on the field your on the team. NFL teams overlook what kind of person a guy is if he can play well. They turn a blind eye. Thats the NFL culture. If Michael Sam can preform then he's going to be fine. If not he could fall into the same trap Jonathan Martin fell into. It's not about whats wrong or right in the NFL, its about the performance. 

U.S. loses to Russia in Medal Count

http://www.sportingnews.com/olympics/story/2014-02-23/us-loses-medal-count-at-sochi-has-fewer-golds-than-canada

Over the last two Olympics (2010, 2012) the U.S. has been number one in overall medals. In Sochi with all the events officially over their run will end as the Russians claim victories in their homeland. The U.S. who are in contention for the overall medal count almost every year had a bit of a drought in key sports like figure skating, hockey, and speed skating in which they normally dominate in leading to second place with 28 medals compared to Russia's 33.

"The speedskaters flopped, and the men's hockey team was blanked when it mattered most. If it wasn't for new sports, the medal count would be paltry."

The Associated Press Sporting News

"Worst Olympics ever," two-time gold medalist Shani Davis said. Only in America are we disappointed with second place in medals. This should Not all was lost however as many young stars emerged like Mikaela Shiffrin and Gracie Gold who will surly be back in 2018 in hopes of reclaiming the medal count.

Live AUDL scrimmage between the Indy AlleyCats and the Cincinnati Revolution 2/22 at 3:30pm EST

A free game of the scrimmage between Indy AlleyCats and the Cincinnati Revolution on Saturday February 22 at 3:30pm EST thanks to LiveStream Media.

The game can be found for free here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytbsck-Bj7c

Professional Ultimate

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022933555_ultimatefrisbeexml.html

Most people don't understand what professional ultimate is. LiveStream Media explains it well in this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3JwqEpXBng

The fact that there's a professional ultimate team right here in Indianapolis shocks some people. Not to many people know what ultimate is or that it was even a sport to begin with. The number of fans of the sport is growing. Once people becomes fans however then they have to choose what side they want to be on because not only is there one professional ultimate league, but two. These two leagues bring something that other professional leagues don't bring. There's an extra level of competition because there are two leagues which can create an exciting element in some cites. Not only are you a fan of your local team, but of the league they represent. Then theres cites like Seattle who are going to have one team from each league in 2014 season.

"They’re trying out the Rainmakers, who are in Major League Ultimate (MLU). (“Frisbee” is not used in describing the sport, as it is copyrighted by the Wham-O company, which popularized the flying disc in the 1960s.)

And this year, they’ll be joined by a second pro team here, the Seattle Raptors, who are in a competing league, the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL). Besides Seattle, the two newly formed leagues go head-to-head in five other cities."

                                                                  Erik Lacitis

Seattle Times staff reporter

After last season many saw the MLU as winning the battle between the two leagues in the marketing department. As stated these two leagues are going head to in 5 cites this year however. The AUDL are the ones who are invading he MLU cites with the most to gain. With an extra year of being a league and 18 teams compared to the MLU's eight, the AUDL is trying to get rid of the bug before it has a chance to grow. The AUDL can loss some of the battles in those 5 cites, but all they have to do is win a couple of them to severely hurt the MLU. If the MLU lose two or three of there teams thats between 25 percent to 33 percent of their team. If the AUDL losses two or three teams thats only 11 percent to 16 percent of their teams not counting around four teams confirmed to be creating teams for the 2015 season. If a couple cites goes the AUDL's way, they can begin to take a lead on the MLU.

Bullying in the NFL.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000325899/article/summary-of-ted-wells-report-on-miami-dolphins

The culture of the NFL has taken a huge hit in the past couple weeks. With Michele Sam becoming the first openly gay NFL player next month everyone wanted to know how the culture of the NFL would take it. If Ted Well's report on bullying in the Miami Dolphins locker room is any indication of how the true culture of the NFL locker room is, then there might be some issues.

"The most concise summary of the harassment: "We find that the Assistant Trainer repeatedly was targeted with racial slurs and other racially derogatory language. Player A frequently was subjected to homophobic name-calling and improper physical touching. Martin was taunted on a persistent basis with sexually explicit remarks about his sister and his mother and at times ridiculed with racial insults and other offensive comments.""

• Gregg Rosenthal
• Around The League Editor

According to the report the issues were with only three players and one coach out of about 60 people in the locker room however. The acts of a few don't define the culture of the NFL, but has the ability to corrupt some teams. No workplace is perfect as people have different views. Every NFL team will have its problems, but just like how a few can corrupt a locker room, good leadership can prevent these types of stuff from happening in the first place. Believe it or not this incident could set the path for the future of the NFL culture in a good way. With this being exposed players will think twice before harassing other players and putting their career in jeopardy.

Issues In Sports

As a Sports Administration Major I have chosen my topic to be Issues In Sports. MY first post is about Michele Sam and how he recently announced he was gay.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/10/opinion/wire-michael-sam/

A week ago Michele Sam wasn't a household name. He was just another football player looking to make his NFL dreams come true. Another story to sweep under the rug. That was in till he thrust himself into the spotlight in order to stand up for so much more. Michele will soon become the first openly gay football player in the NFL, something thats never been done. 

"Never before has there been an openly gay player active on a roster in the three biggest professional sports leagues -- NFL, MLB and NBA. With his decision to come out publicly as he begins his professional football career, Michael Sam will forever be seen as an iconic figure to professional athletes and the LGBT community. He is a bold spirit who has just accelerated the process of acceptance of homosexuals in professional sports." 

 "Coy Wire, a nine-year NFL veteran, is a sports analyst and commentator for Fox Sports."

This is new territory for the NFL and all eyes will be watching to see how it plays out. Football is the biggest sport in America and has a lot of influence over the millions of people who watch it. A war is about to begin, and right now Michele Sam stands alone. If everything goes well with how the NFL accepts Michael however, its very possible that more soldiers will gain their courage in this war and might just change the culture of the NFL and possibly so much more. It's also possible Michael will be rejected by the current NFL culture. A lot will be decided in the next few months to how the NFL will shape itself.