Marbury Backpedals
After writing about (and being rather harsh on) Stephon Marbury yesterday following his unfortunate comments to the camera concerning Vick, I feel it's only fair to touch on his explanation of said comment today. Marbury gave the New York Post an interview today in order to clear up what he felt were misinterpretations of his words, so let's examine it.
Now, the intent of this isn't to come down on Marbury. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that what he said was not what he meant, and that in the spontaneous moment in front of the cameras, his words didn't quite come out properly. I've had that moment, so has everyone else (albeit not on worldwide TV) so I can look past that. This just serves as an example of why celebrities, especially athletes, should not make random comments on the spot to reporters regarding controversy.
But Stephon, you have to stop blaming the media for "spinning" your words. The comments that were made, in the form they were made in, were very simple and succinct and not open to much interpretation. Taken from the Post interview:
"I never said dogfighting was a sport," he insisted today. "I said 'From what I hear, dogfighting was a sport.' They're editing me on TV."
We know that's what you said, Stephon. How do we know that's what you said? Because we saw the entire exchange a million times ... unedited ... on TV. We know that you said "from what I hear" ... the problem is, that doesn't change the core meaning of the sentence at all.
If someone, anyone on the street said that entire sentence to me, I would assume that they agreed and considered dogfighting a sport. Editing would have nothing to do with it.
Again, I do believe Marbury when he says that his intent was different than how he sounded. Two words of advice, though: Don't make impromptu speeches in front of cameras regarding controversy, and don't blame the media when you misspeak. Both are very, very cliche and tiresome in the sports world.
