Tuesday morning on several Miami radio stations, Michael Beasley Sr. did a series of interviews and shared what he believes about his son's situation. In light of the revelation that his son has been admitted to a Houston rehab center and the media fervor surrounding the Twitpic debacle, Beasley Sr. was kind enough to take some time to explain to the media his family's side of what's been going on.It's easy for it to seem like a family member is taking advantage of the situation to gain attention in these instances a lot of the time (especially with Mike Sr. being considered "estranged" by some), but in Beasley Sr.'s case, it just comes off as a concerned father wanting to explain what's been going on, and maybe get people to get off his son's back. And quit making assumptions.
One of the assumptions that he dismissed in the interviews pertained to that infamous Twitpic we discussed on Saturday night. Speaking of the mysterious 'baggies' that we, along with the rest of the known world (not just bloggers, by the way!) thought looked a lot like marijuana receptacles, he said that whatever that was, it wasn't his son's.
From the esteemed Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, quoting Beasley Sr.:
"I talked to some people and Mike wasn't using marijuana," he said. "I think whoever took that picture was using it or had it in their presence and he was just getting a tattoo. From my understanding, he wasn't getting high or he didn't test positive for no drugs or anything."So that's a relevant point. When we, and by we, I mean I, ran the story on Saturday, we weren't sure of where it was or what was in the bags, if they were bags, or if they were Beasley's. But in retrospect we (I) probably should have done a better job making that point clear. See, when the Twitpic came out, the story had an air of whimsy to it. That whimsy is now a deflated whoopee cushion on the floor we're trying to sweep under the rug as we try and give Beasley Jr. the respect he deserves as he tries to deal with whatever is bothering him.
Additionally, Beasley Sr. brings up a good point. If Beasley was using drugs, his mandatory drug testing would have busted him. And that's something, you know, concrete. Unlike a Twitpic featuring two blurry images of a bag-like object next to the 7-Up bottle.
Not that there wasn't anything wrong with Beasley's Twitter action. The whole point I tried to make was that even if that was marijuana, and it was his, and he was using it, there's nothing scandalous about that. But after his history with everything else that has gone on with him, from the rookie symposium debacle to the claims of his emotional immaturity, something like that TwitPic just looks bad. That's the gist of it. And that should really be the story on that whole thing at this point. Not a big deal, but it certainly looks bad. It's just not a positive sign. It would have been much better if there were orphan kittens or something on the floor.
Back to Beasley's father, Mike Sr. never specifically mentioned the word "depression," instead saying that his son was having issues dealing with the stress of the NBA, along with the added pressure of being a father after his daughter was born in May. While that's certainly a lot to handle, I hope that if Beasley is suffering from depression that it's treated, since so many are unwilling to face the realities of that condition in favor of blaming Beasley not finishing college (you know, alongside such well adjusted human beings as "that dude that never went to class because he's always fried" and "the frat guy who got so drunk he climbed a power line pole and electrocuted himself", but again, I digress). However, several sources close the family are reporting that reports of depression are exaggerated.
It's certainly true that all of these sources are ones that would seek to spin in favor of Beasley. And it's pretty clear that the kid is certainly having problems, even if the extent is a series of drastic misunderstandings of the behavior of an immature 20-year-old. Even if the real story isn't what's being reported by those close to him, this is one instance where I'm just glad that Beasley has people like his father to speak on his behalf and to help him through this time. As a society, maybe we should try and emulate that a little more,and emulate vultures a little less.
