Jeff Ireland Harassed By Dolphins Fans
Aug 29, 2013; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Miami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland looks on prior to a game against the New Orleans Saints at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
In the past twenty four hours, an image of Jeff Ireland’s business card appeared on Twitter. This has been tweeted and retweeted, and shared amongst Twitter followers. YouTube videos showed up online with individuals leaving harassing voicemails, bitter songs and more on Jeff Ireland’s office voicemail. This is shameful behavior at a time when the team needs the support of it’s fan base, and the majority of these voicemails will most likely not be heard by Ireland himself.
Keep in mind that Jeff Ireland, as most executives do, will most likely have a secretary that has to listen to and/or delete these messages. At a time when the Dolphins General Manager has his hands full WITH a harassment scandal, as well as trying to fix this team and help right the ship. This is not something that can do anything but hurt the team. Anyone who has had to deal with a full inbox or voicemail will know that emails or voicemails can get lost amidst the normal day to day clutter, let alone with a ridiculous amount of harassing messages.
It is not likely to happen, but what if Jonathan Martin were to reach out to Ireland via email or voicemail with a critical message exonerating Richie Incognito? What if some key piece of the puzzle or information is missed, simply because too many fans have called in to harass Ireland at a time when the team is going through a national scandal AROUND harassment? These are only a couple of possibilities that could take place, and the blame would lie squarely at the feet of the fans. It isn’t funny, and it’s detrimental to the team. It serves no purpose other than for folks to be able to “show off” that they left a voicemail or email for Jeff Ireland that likely won’t be heard or seen by the man himself. If he is forced to change his phone number, email and other items? Well, this could also result in critical messages being lost that may indeed help the franchise.
As a lifetime Dolphins fan, this behavior is more shameful to me than what happened on the field Monday night. I would urge anyone reading this to leave the man alone, and let him do our job. It might just be our best hope for saving any shred of dignity we have left this season, especially at a critical stage such as this. If you want to show your support to the man, leave him alone and let him do his job – I’m sure the few positive messages being sent would help clog his inbox and voicemail as well.
Note: I did not include the business card, any tweets relating to it nor any videos as I do not condone the behavior and will not publicize it on behalf of the individuals.