Don Marbury died during the game and was taken from the Garden at halftime to an area hospital, although it was unclear whether he died before or after he left the Garden. Stephon Marbury, who played the second half and finished with 21 points, was not told about his father’s death until after the game.

Posted by Cosmic:

Posted by TMS:

obviously that can be directly interpreted as meaning the Knicks deliberately withheld the information because they valued trying to win the game vs. the Suns that night over informing Marbury his dad had just passed away i suppose

first of all that poster has the facts twisted... the reason that the Knicks have said they didn't inform Marbury of what happened was because family members were still being informed at the time & they didn't want that information to be leaked to the press before they'd had a chance to inform those members personally... so again, no one knows exactly what happened... it's a very infortunate thing that Marbury wasn't able to see his dad on his death bed before he passed, but no way in hell do i believe that was intentionally withheld from him.

[Edited by - TMS on 12-03-2007 07:51 AM]

It was intentionally withheld though and I don't understand the value of doing so. Family members might find out on the 11 o'clock news? Uh, no, they'd find out through frantic phone calls of other relatives that knew of the event right then and there and then during the game.

He was removed from the arena at halftime. Why not go to the Knick lockerroom and get Steph out of there?

No need to hammer people who speculated maybe they did it with intent to try to win the game - everyone's free to speculate in such a manner - I speculated for a number of reasons why it was done I did not flat out accuse the Knicks of such.

One thing is for sure - the manner this was handled was inappropriate and Stephs post-game tirade certainly shows he possibly thought so as well.

I have NEVER heard of such a thing. I've seen people get calls at work, way back in school I'd seen kids get called out of class - to be informed of a family death or emergency.

There is no excusing not informing him. None.

Posted by oohah:

I just reread the entire thread to see what you're talking about. What are you talking about?

Check out Islesfan's response, the second line. It suggests that Marbury contributed to his father's death. It just isn't the time for that. Also, check out some of the other threads about this topic. We have folks talking about how they hope Marbury will sit out or never play again, etc. There are not a lot of comments of this nature, because most of us are sensitive enough to understand a man losing his father is more important than entertainment. But there are some.

oohah

I don't necessarily read those comments to be as heartless as you do. For instance, that line by Islesfan could be read sincerely too (or not). Marbury has been in the eye of the storm since at least the LB season, and it's been peaking since the summer. Surely even you must wonder if that, plus the resultant boos that the father has witnessed, etc, could have been a contributing factor in the matter.

In general I think people are being respectful of Marbury and his family - but we are still knicks fans, and it should be open to discussion as to how this incident and it's reprocussions will affect the team.

Posted by TMS:

did i say i was excusing them? i said it was idiotic to think they'd hide this information from him because they were more concerned about winning a basketball game. i completely empathize w/Steph's reaction here, but i think it stems more out of his frustration that he wasn't able to say goodbye to his father than him thinking the Knicks were more worried about how many points & assists he would get for them during that Suns game.

Hey guys, listening to WFAN online, a family member of Stephon (and nephew of his late father), called in, and apparently, he was very mad about how the Knicks handled the situation.

They said there was no word until after the game, when it had happened earlier. They should've told him he had a heart attack during the game, and he could've had some final moments with his dad before he passed. The caller/nephew was disgusted

Not sure if this was coming straight from Marbury, but the nephew said "This is the last time he's ever playing with them", the family is really disgusted with the Knicks right now, and caller was saying that he was "done with him" It sounded like the mother may have given that quote, but I'm not sure, but you get the picture

Prayers to the Marbury family.

Posted by TMS:

ur right, it's all speculation... none of us should jump to any conclusions until the facts are known... for Marbury & his family obviously no explanation is going to be an acceptable one, & who could blame them?

Posted by oohah:

I don't necessarily read those comments to be as heartless as you do. For instance, that line by Islesfan could be read sincerely too (or not). Marbury has been in the eye of the storm since at least the LB season, and it's been peaking since the summer. Surely even you must wonder if that, plus the resultant boos that the father has witnessed, etc, could have been a contributing factor in the matter.

Reading internet forum posts is very interpretive. But you have to look at the context of previous history to make your judgment about what someone 'means'.

Actually, I didn't wonder about the boos. Maybe they affected him. Who knows? I say give it a minute or two before we start blaming anyone. Let it breathe a little bit and see what happened. Maybe his father was just meant to die yesterday. Maybe he had some other trouble. Who knows?

Posted by oohah:

I don't necessarily read those comments to be as heartless as you do. For instance, that line by Islesfan could be read sincerely too (or not). Marbury has been in the eye of the storm since at least the LB season, and it's been peaking since the summer. Surely even you must wonder if that, plus the resultant boos that the father has witnessed, etc, could have been a contributing factor in the matter.

Reading internet forum posts is very interpretive. But you have to look at the context of previous history to make your judgment about what someone 'means'.

Actually, I didn't wonder about the boos. Maybe they affected him. Who knows? I say give it a minute or two before we start blaming anyone. Let it breathe a little bit and see what happened. Maybe his father was just meant to die yesterday. Maybe he had some other trouble. Who knows?

In general I think people are being respectful of Marbury and his family - but we are still knicks fans, and it should be open to discussion as to how this incident and it's reprocussions will affect the team.

I agree with the first part. About the second part, I agree with you for the most part. But that is different from saying one hopes he never comes back or remarks of that nature. I read at least 2 comments like that, though I think one was deleted, or perhaps I just don't know where it is anymore.

In any case, I am just stating my feelings. I don't really want to debate it. I find this whole thing to be quite tragic. My girlfriend had a better take than I did. She said at least Marbury (presumably) got to see his father and perhaps spend some time with him on the day he died. She also said that the decision to not tell Marbury could very well have been made by a family member who was with Marbury Sr. at the game or by the father himself to try to spare Marbury some public anguish.

The "Marbury should have been told" debate needs to breathe a little bit, and some facts have to come out before we start laying blame as well.

oohah

I don't really want to debate it either. These are dark times for this franchise on too many levels

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by oohah:

What makes you think that you of all people can tell anyone what is and isn't out of line? I think it is safe to assume the worst from your keyboard. Maybe this is a good time for you to apologize to Stephon for your cowardly 'cokehead' comments.

Yeah, because one has something to do with the other. Thanks for proving that your only problem with what I said is that you have an agenda.

Yes, your dragging Mabury and the team's events into this the night his father dies proves that I am the one with an agenda. Now you of all people have accused me and called me out as having an agenda. Goodness sakes.

I'm trying my very best to be respectful of this situation for at least a couple of days, so why don't we just avoid each other?

Take it easy Islesfan.

oohah

Posted by oohah:

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by oohah:

What makes you think that you of all people can tell anyone what is and isn't out of line? I think it is safe to assume the worst from your keyboard. Maybe this is a good time for you to apologize to Stephon for your cowardly 'cokehead' comments.

Yeah, because one has something to do with the other. Thanks for proving that your only problem with what I said is that you have an agenda.

Yes, your dragging Mabury and the team's events into this the night his father dies proves that I am the one with an agenda. Now you of all people have accused me and called me out as having an agenda. Goodness sakes.

I'm trying my very best to be respectful of this situation for at least a couple of days, so why don't we just avoid each other?

Take it easy Islesfan.

oohah

If you really wanted to be respectful, you wouldn't have called me out in the first place over something you agreed was a possibility.

The fact that you agreed with what I said, but still had to use it as an opportunity to call me out for things I have said in the past, that have nothing to do with Mr Marbury's death, just shows how much of an agenda you really have.

You've dragged me into this much farther than I would have liked.

Have a nice day oohah.