Jocks are dumb.
This is pretty universally accepted. It might be unfair, but sometimes the evidence is overwhelming. Or maybe it's just a Dolphins thing?
Either way.
With the 19th-overall pick, the Miami Dolphins selected yet another offensive tackle in Tennessee OT Ja'Wuan James.
Not long after, center Mike Pouncey showed just how much self-awareness he (and quite possibly a lot of his teammates) has by tweeting out a message that had some rookie hazing connotations. And in just about any other team's locker room that would be all right.
But the Dolphins -- and Pouncey in particular -- just spent an entire season and offseason being the face of an embarrassing bullying scandal with another offensive lineman.
See also: Richie Incognito Harassed and Bullied Teammates, Ted Wells Report Concludes
After the James selection was made, Pouncey went and tweeted this:
On the surface, it's mostly harmless.
Veteran players have traditionally made rookies buy them expensive gifts with money from their first big NFL paycheck. As Neanderthalic as it might seem, it's always been a part of player hazing.
However, the Dolphins are pretty much the one team not allowed to do this kind of thing, coming off the Richie Incognito-Jonathan Martin scandal that saw, among other things, Dolphins players bullying Martin into paying for expensive dinners.
Moreover, Pouncey was specifically named in the NFL's independent report as one of the other main bullying culprits.
The investigator's 148-page report says Pouncey was one of three players involved in not only bullying Martin but also another offensive lineman as well as an assistant trainer. There were homophobic slurs, name-calling, improper physical contact, and taunting.
The Dolphins promised to clean up the mess and went so far as to hire an ex-FBI agent to make sure this kind of behavior no longer surfaced.
Apparently J. Edgar Hoover over there didn't address Twitter as a main source of concern for stupid.
Hall of Fame defensive tackle Warren Sapp weighed in on the whole thing with a brief and succinct tweet:
Some folks been dumb a long time! pic.twitter.com/Z17T1kOg5T
— Warren Sapp (@WarrenSapp) May 9, 2014
You would think Pouncey would have more sense.
But it's quite shocking indeed that a guy who once wore a FREE HERNANDEZ cap in public to show support for a guy on trial for murder would do something so foolhardy.
Update 2: Pouncey has deleted his Twitter account
Update: Looks like the Dolphins' brass addressed the issue with Pouncey Friday afternoon:
Hickey says he spoke to Pouncey about his gifts comments.Calls it light hearted comment but players need to watch themselves on social media
— Andrew Abramson (@AbramsonPBP) May 9, 2014
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