I hate you, Danny Ainge!
Source: http://twitter.com/PDcavsinsider/status/3056207147
More info from NBA.com’s David Aldridge in: Cavaliers Are Powe’s First Choice
What’s good in the mainstream:
Winner of the NBAMusings official “I laughed my ass off reading this” Award
* For MLB FanHouse, B. Thompson Stroud hilariously gets to the heart of the matter in: The Dugout: Manny, Papi, Whatever
Someone, put him in a box… for the love of Drake
* For ESPN.com, Scoop Jackson discusses the curious case of Stephon Marbury in: Someone save Stephon Marbury
* For The Baseline, Bethlehem Shoals offers his perspective in: Stephon Marbury: ‘Yeah I’m Still Crazy; I Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere’
* TMZ’s usual highbrow coverage: Stephon Marbury — I Ate Vaseline Because…
Lamar is staying? Keep those candy shelves stocked L.A. Chop chop!
* On ESPN.com, the Candyman is quoted saying, “…to now get an opportunity to play with Ron Artest, a guy I’ve known 16 years, it means a lot. I told Ron Ron a few weeks ago I couldn’t walk away. I still had to fight. Every time negotiations didn’t go the way I thought, I just took a step back, like them pulling the offer off the table, I just knew I had to fight.” in: Source: Odom, Lakers agree on deal
What’s good in the blogsphere:
There was news yesterday involving a Red Sox player?
* Kelly from don’t quit, don’t even quit ponders Papi, steroids, and yesterday’s homer in: magic
Simulated hoops is better than nothing, eh?
* mookie from A Stern Warning talks about Danilo Gallinari shilling the newest Wii game in: Danilo Gallinari: Wii Sports Resort fan
I still miss the braids. Damn you, J-Rich!
* Rey-Rey and his SoCal posse from The No-Look Pass interview Boston College’s own, Jared Dudley in: Chronicles Of Crotty #24: Steal My Sunshine (Int. W/Jared Dudley)
You mean it’s not ok to tweet about my coach getting fired before the team announces it?
* On Hardcore Sports Radio, Steve Nash discusses athletes and social media: Steve Nash: Many Scenarios Will Play Out With Digital Platforms by Tas Melas
Ok *now* things are getting weird…
* Apparently, at some point in time when I wasn’t watching (which believe it or not is most of the time) Steph apparently invited a guy named Daniel from the Starbury TV chat room whose mother recently died to come work for him and stay at the house. He flew him in and TMZ filmed the whole thing at the airport and apparently while driving home, they were involved in a minor fender bender (which is up on YouTube). Also at some point today, Steph’s sister flew in unannounced from Washington D.C. because she, “heard he was buggin’.” Then later, the behind-the-scenes camera showed Mooncricket (the Justin.tv camera guy who has been helping Steph with the streaming since the beginning) and the new kid Daniel sitting in the movie theater in Steph’s house. Steph came into the room and handed Daniel a cell phone and told him that he’s going to pay him to answer it.
Here’s this phone and I’m going to pay you… but you have to answer it!
Later on, Steph sent out a tweet giving out the number as some kind of hotline.
Just to see what would happen, I called the number. It went straight to voice mail and said the box is full. Steph is supposed to be coming on later tonight with this kid Daniel around 11:30pm est.
I have to work tomorrow (and also may be too busy getting love advice on Ustream from Chad Ocho Cinco) so I don’t think I’m going to watch… We’ll see though. 
Update #1: Yeah, ok… I stayed up and watched. Well actually I was watching Chad (who also gave out his phone number tonight — what’s up with these guys?) and someone on Twitter said Steph was on so I checked it out. He came on at 11:25pm and started taking calls from fans on the cell phone mentioned above. Then announced that this 24/7 thing was going to be his life from now on. Blamed ESPN for making him look crazy. Danced around to Diamond Girl. Rinse. Repeat. I guess the big announcement was fans being able to reach him now. I think I’ll stick with Chad and his love advice. If I have to listen to any more Drake or that damn Diamond Girl song, I’m going to go apeshit.
Update #2: Later on, he got in a fight with his sister (and it’s already been posted on Youtube). In the morning, his stream window was black but music could be heard playing. He spent the morning talking to fans in the chat application and at one point indicated that he would like to play basketball overseas in Italy [Broadcaster starburytv: yes they did say that i was crazy for saying that i was going to go over seas which 99 percent of me is going to italy to play. i cant wait either. man its going to be great.]
…and is there a 12-step program for attention addiction?
* Just when I find myself able to slowly back away from the addictive crack that is Starbury TV, Chad Ocho Cinco has to come along and create a channel on Ustream. Noooooo! I watched a little of “The Ocho Cinco Show” earlier tonight just to see what it was all about. I figured there would be a lot of haterade in the chat room and Chad would be screaming at people to show him their number 1s and refrain from boxing him up UPS-style. It ended up being surprisingly tame, with him brushing most negative comments off and showing off his cigar collection. He did say one startling thing though. He had to leave for dinner and said that when he comes back, he’ll stay up all night and answer questions. Uh oh! I’ve read this script before and it ends with a lot of Drake, crying and petroleum jelly. Not good, not good. Either way folks, just remember… narcissists who crave attention are people too.
Chad shows off his favorite cigars…
You think I didn’t check on Steph? You been eatin’ Vaseline?
* Of course, when I got home from work tonight, I had to check in on my boy Steph on Starbury TV. I watched for a few minutes while he danced frenetically to the now ubiquitous, Diamond Girl, until he started unbuckling his pants and threatened to pull them down. Um yeah, no thank you. I honestly am hoping that some night soon, I’m going to check and that page on Justin.tv will be gone. As “entertaining” as this has been during what might have been a very long and dull off-season, I’d like to see him get some professional help. J.A. Adande wrote a nice piece on the subject that I’ve linked to below.
They tried to put me in a box…
What’s good around the blogosphere:
Off-season? What Off-season?
* Nat from Heels on Hardwood breaks down all the latest “off-season” goings-on: The NBA – Where 365 Days Of Entertainment Happens
Step by Step? Bitch, please
* On his Both Teams Played Hard blog, Jared Wade uncovers an alarming lack of sitcom theme song awareness in Orlando in: Not a Lot of Dave Coulier Fans in Orlando
Hmmm, turtles doing the boinky boink or a tribute post to Paul Pierce? Tough call
* My favorite Red’s Army post to date. A very nice tribute to Paul Pierce and his legacy as a Celtic in: Paul Pierce: The last great Celtic
Speaking of Red’s Army…
* Graham Brunell from Celtics 17 interviewed the guys who run the Red’s Army blog in: Interview With John Karalis and Chuck McKenney Of Red’s Army
What’s good around the mainstream:
Love is love, Daddy!
* In a piece for ESPN, J.A. Adande weighs in on Starbury TV in: Streaming Steph is a sad, sad show
Around 9:15pm EST or so, Stephon Marbury came back from a business meeting to his live stream on StarburyTV and said, “Basketball is a wrap.” Then he ranted and raved, held up a jar of vaseline, lectured some haters… Sigh, same shtick as usual. Anyway, I figured I should at least share the (presumed) announcement about being done with basketball. I know that will make some Celtics fans breathe a little easier. Actually, for all I know, he meant that basketball was a sandwich hummus wrap. Hard to tell what the hell he’s talking about these days. Anyway, he said it twice. Take it for what it’s worth.
“I don’t play basketball no more, I’m an entertainer.” -Stephon Marbury, 7/28/09
Perk is betrothed
* Perk married his baby mama! From Boston.com:
The Celtics center got hitched in Houston over the weekend to his longtime girlfriend Vanity. Wedding guests included teammates Rajon Rondo and Leon Powe, and former men in green Ricky Davis and Patrick O’Bryant.
There are some great pictures at LOY’s Place if you want to check them out. Perk is even smiling, which shocks most everybody but me. I saw him smile huge once talking about his baby boy. I knew he had it in him.
Manny’s bobblehead to reporters: This is my town (until I join the Yankees someday)
* Apparently the Dodgers’ recent “Manny Bobblehead Night” did not go off without a hitch. From MercuryNews.com:
The Dodgers are still the major leagues’ best team and Manny Ramirez is still the star attraction, but this season will continue to contain its odd moments. For instance, Wednesday night. It was Manny bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium. But the initial sponsor, Kaiser Permanente, had to pull out because of that icky little steroid/female fertility thing.
In grand ole Manny fashion though, he got the last word. Despite initially sitting out with injury, he went in to pinch hit and ended up drilling a grand slam home run right to his faithful flock in the Mannywood section. Oh Manny…
Daniels to join the Celtics, someday… I think…
* I realize I have yet to post about Marquis Daniels joining the Celtics. There are a few reasons for this. The main reason is that I have absolutely no idea when/if he’s coming on board. I’m not super interested in players who “might” join the Celtics. Until they actually show up at the presser and hold up their jersey, I’m kind of meh.
Brett Favre, Attention Whore (It’s on the business card)
* This just in… Brett Favre has informed the Minnesota Vikings (and Rachel Nichols, his BFF) that he is going to remain retired. (pause) Except… I just read this tweet from Rich Eisen:
Stop the insanity!
Hmmm, now that I think of it, maybe Starbury’s boy Mooncricket could set up Favre with his own 24/7 Justin.tv channel.
Hey Reggie, call me
* Also recently just in… Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush bit the dust couple-wise. YES! Reggie Bush, back on the market. Be still my heart. Tony Romo apparently also tossed Jessica Simpson into the bedpost notch deadpool – on the eve of her 29th birthday no less. It’s like Logan’s Run! “Umm, Jess… You’re almost 30. An NFL QB like me has a short window of time where he can score the grade A tail. I’ve gotta toss you like a Domino’s pizza, sorry… Oh yeah, and you can’t come over anymore! I’m putting up a sign — persona non grata!”
Show me your number ones! Show me your number ones! Clap seal, clap!
* Speaking of StarburyTV, what kind of shenanigans are going on at Stephon Marbury’s house today? I don’t know… I can’t watch it at work (probably for the best), but when I checked it around 7pm tonight, this random dude was dancing in front of the camera telling the viewers to show him their number 1s. I had to call bullshit on this. It’s bad enough when Steph goes apeshit and demands number 1s like we’re all a bunch of trained f-king seals, but I’ll be damned if any old douchebag gets to jump on his camera and do it. C’mon Steph, we need standards and practices, babe.
Who is this dude?
If you’re interested, be my guest… but be prepared to throw your number 1s, number 2s, numbers 3s or to keep it 100. Love is love, Daddy.
I’ve done a little soul searching into my recent obsession with all things Starbury and I’ve come to a conclusion. I like eccentric people. No wait, I love eccentric people. Generally speaking, I’m around extremely boring people all day long. No offense to them, they kind of have to be that way to stay employed. But, when two of my favorite things converge — NBA and eccentric people — well, pardon me for getting a little too excited about it.
Unfortunately for Steph and Starbury TV, the distance between eccentric and batshit crazy has shrunk to a precariously thin margin. I’m not sure what’s going on. The first broadcast he sounded almost profound, the second – entertainingly quotable, the third – well that’s where the wheels started to come off. It turned into a never ending cycle of reading chat questions and screaming at the viewer to prove their devotion by typing numbers and/or repeating phrases in a perpetual game of Simon Says. Even for the most devoted (ie. me and about 175 other people) it was an exhausting and ultimately unsatisfying way to spend one’s time.
Like most, but later than most level-headed people, I finally had to shut him off. I want to support him, but I’m not willing to watch him have a mental breakdown. Sadly, it feels an awful lot like that’s what coming. I hope I’m wrong. I really hope he’s the mad genius, a la Walt Disney, he seems to think he is. Regardless of what he says, he’s clearly craving support and acceptance. I just wish he could see that he’s turning a great opportunity to connect with the people into a free sideshow instead.
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To lighten things up, here’s a list of some of my other favorite eccentric players in the NBA:
Update 7/26: The feed is off now, so maybe it’s not going to be literally 24/7. Perhaps that’s for the best. Otherwise, it was highly possible my day job would be in jeopardy.
That Marburython (#marburython) was off the hook. I’m still in a daze and trying to sort out what just happened. I started watching at 9am my time and I think I finally shut it down, logged off Twitter and went to bed around 12:45am. Normally, I can stay up all night with the best of them, but after watching him all day long and trying to furiously document all his pearls of wisdom while grabbing and resizing screenshots, I was spent. I knew I was done about the time that he said something innocuous like, “Dinner is great” and in my head I was like, “Dinner is gray… no wait, he didn’t say that. What did he say? Great? Oh yeah, he said dinner is great, that’s right.” Who would think that watching and trying to document someone else’s every move practically non-stop for 15 hours and 45 minutes would render them catatonic? I guess, you never know until you try.
So I got up this morning with a rather large Marbury hangover and could barely function all day. Went shopping with my sister and had trouble finishing sentences. Stood in a stupor staring at the Wii games too. I knew I had been forever starburied though, when I was outside walking my dog and literally said out loud, “They tried to put me in a box… It’s imposssible!” just to re-live the legendary “Steph yells about a box and jumps in the pool” scene from the live stream. How do I really know I have a Marbury addiction though? I am currently (10:24pm est) watching and waiting for Steph to make another live announcement. Yes, that’s right…
That’s right my friends. It’s not over.
http://www.justin.tv/starburytv/
10:48pm:
10:54pm:
11:00pm (more guys has to mean the announcement is imminent, right?):
11:03pm:
11:04pm: (praying before the announcement)
11:06pm:
11:09pm (on Twitter):
11:11pm – The announcement is… that Steph is going to be live streaming 24/7 on Starbury TV here: http://www.justin.tv/starburytv/beta
Yes, that’s all day… all night… never ending. Never ending!
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My announcement is… I’m going to have to pace myself.
You know those things in life that you didn’t know you needed until one day they fell into your lap and after that you just couldn’t get enough? Well, that’s how I feel about Stephon Marbury’s new Ustream “reality show” HAVE AT IT. I’ve been what could only be described as obsessed lately with all things Marbury. Set up my phone to receive his tweets as text messages, endlessly bored my coworkers recapping the first episode, stayed up an extra hour last night waiting for what I thought was going to be the next airing (though it didn’t end up happening)… Sigh. I should probably be embarrassed by my eagerness to join the Starbury cult, but I’m not. I’m enjoying every minute of this bizarre, surreal moment in time. So, set your alarm clocks people, because The man, The myth, The tattoo-domed legend will be coming to you live from 6am Friday to 6am Saturday* in an unprecedented 24-hour live video broadcast on Ustream. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be like Christmas coming twice a year and winning the lottery all rolled into one.
Related links:
*Date/time could change without notice. Follow Steph on Twitter for the most current updates.
This is my favorite excerpt:
SLAM: There is an aura about you. You don’t seem to get too high, too low on the court. Off the court, you are extremely nice and treat everyone with respect. Where does that stem from?
KD: My mom, grandmother, my dad. Everybody that helped me. I have to treat everyone with respect. That is how my mom taught me. I can’t ever be rude to people. That is not me. I have a kind heart. I forgive people easily and I want to do things for people. That’s just the way I am. I like being that way and people respect me for it. I’m glad my parents raised me the way they did. My brother helped with it as well. I have to continue to be that way.
I’m pretty sure Kevin Durant and Leon Powe have to be the two sweetest guys in the league. 
Read the full interview… Baby Ice Q + A
