I always knew that Stephon Marbury was a little off, but he is officially in Amy Winehouse territory. I have never liked Marbury so I am loving every second of his recent breakdown. I am sure that any die hard Knicks fan such as myself feels the same way. The fan base that Marbury built over his time in the league is quickly deteriorating and rightfully so. He is just a crybaby who thinks he is better than he actually is. He even went as far to say that he is the best point guard in the league. I’m sure that a guy named Chris Paul has something to say about that. Statements like that are why I am not surprised by his latest buffoonery.
For starters, let’s talk about the head tattoo. He branded his Starbury logo on his head. There are better ways to market his so called brand than making himself a walking billboard. Maybe he should just sell his stuff in a store that people have actually heard of for exposure. That’s what normal shoe companies do. There’s nothing wrong with putting an affordable sneaker on the market. I commend him for that, but why sell it at Steve & Barry’s. He’s really screwed now since Steve & Barry’s has declared bankruptcy. Now that he has gone out of the way to ruin his own career the shoe will probably be taken off of the market all together, leaving him with a permanent reminder of his failure on his left temple.
Now let’s get to these videos. For the entire summer of 09, Starbury had a camera crew from Justin.tv follow him around 24/7 and document his offseason as a free agent. This footage is some of the most bizarre stuff that you will ever see a person who is knowingly being filmed do. There are several clips of Marbury dancing in front of the camera. People dance and do silly things in the comfort of their own home. I get that. But two instances are kind of out of the norm.
In the first clip he is standing in front of a mirror with a facial cleanser covering his face dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Working Day & Night.” In the latter he is shirtless dancing to “Barbie Girl” in a very interesting fashion. He’s moving like an unskilled female exotic dancer with a chemical imbalance. Some people may not find that strange, but it seems like a person who knows that they’re on camera would tone down some of the things that they do when not on camera. If that isn’t enough evidence for you to believe that the man is losing it, don’t worry because I have plenty of ammunition.
There is a video of Stephon looking into his computer crying to Kirk Franklin’s “Lean on Me.” His “friends” are in the background egging him on, but it seems to me that they know he has lost his mind too. He is just too far gone to realize that they are taking advantage of him for their own amusement. The sad thing about it is there is a video online where his sister tells him that he needs help, but he won’t listen to her. He thinks that the clowns he is surrounding himself with care more about him than his sister.
The craziest and most notorious of the videos starts with Marbury sitting on his bed talking about a bunch of nonsense with a slurred speech pattern. For reasons unknown to me he then eats a glob of Vaseline off of his fingertip. He eats Vaseline. Vaseline. You have hit rock bottom when you are eating items from out of your medicine cabinet. He goes on to explain how eating Vaseline has kept him healthy and in game shape, so this wasn’t a one time thing. He just goes around eating Vaseline on a regular basis. When the video began to circulate he started to receive a heavy dose of criticism. When asked about the Vaseline incident he responded, “If you had cameras following you around 24/7, you don’t know what they may see you doing.” I’m pretty sure that I speak for most people when I say that I would never be seen eating Vaseline regardless of how many cameras were following me. Even if I were a casual Vaseline eater I think I would make a valid effort not to do it on film.
Since he is the self proclaimed best point guard in the league you’d think that his offseason would be spent in the gym, but instead he’s smoking weed, freestyling in his living room, and talking trash to Jay-Z and Lebron on camera. I don’t know what Stephon is going through right now, but he needs to do some serious soul searching. He’s always been a tad bit strange, but he is getting ridiculous. I believe that it’s a cry for help to all of the NBA. I think he finally realizes that he messed up so he wants to stir up some sympathy to get a second chance. The only problem with that is that he has already had a second chance. New York was that chance for him to prove that he wasn’t just a selfish, shoot first, money hungry, arrogant, playground guard, but he blew it.
The worst career move that he could’ve made was refusing to suit up for the Knicks when they were shorthanded. It’s tough to admit as a fan, but we all know that the Knicks aren’t the most desirable team. Starbury is responsible for that along with management, coaches, and the acquisition of other non-character guys such as Eddy Curry (I‘m not even going to get into his story). So I understand why someone wouldn’t want to be seen in a Knicks uniform, but at the same time, when he signed that hundred million dollar contract, he agreed to play regardless of the circumstances. If I were a GM I wouldn’t even joke about signing Marbury after that. Refusing to play was like getting “I ONLY CARE ABOUT ME” tattooed on his forehead (I wouldn’t put it past him). It was career suicide.
He has been playing with fire for a while now, but this time he stepped in some dog crap that he couldn’t just wipe off his foot. Things are only going to get worse until he realizes that there is something wrong with him and re-evaluates himself. He has proven himself to be everything that he came to the Knicks to prove that he wasn’t. Unless that changes in the very near future, his career is over.
