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COSSUCKS
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Joined: 6/15/2007
Member: #1569
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'NEW' MARBURY SAYS SCANDAL'S OLD NEWS
By MARC BERMAN
October 4, 2007 -- CHARLESTON, S.C. - Stephon Marbury wished Anucha Browne Sanders "luck" after her $11.6 million score, and said he should not be judged for events that happened nearly three years ago that surfaced during the Isiah Thomas sexual harassment trial.
"Good luck to her," Marbury said yesterday during a wide-ranging interview with The Post following practice at the College of Charleston.
Marbury said he is not bitter at those who have portrayed him as a monster, as it's not in his personality. He became a born-again Christian on June 29, he said.
Marbury's been ridiculed for his extramarital truck tryst with a Knicks intern. Marbury also had a contentious relationship with Sanders, whom he once called a nasty name.
"One, it happened three years ago," Marbury said. "It's my personal business. People shouldn't snoop around your porch when they need to snoop around theirs. Everybody has skeletons in their closet. No one sin is greater than the other. So nobody can judge me and I can't judge anybody else. I can't get mad at how you feel about me. That's how you feel. How can I get mad at that?"
Marbury added, "Nobody's perfect and I'm not the same person I was three years ago. I can't try to convince anyone of that when people are writing things about you and they don't even know you.
"I'm never going to control how someone feels. You have to continue to try to live a righteous life, try to be as positive as you can and not live in a negative state of mind."
Marbury received strong reviews in early summer after a commendable season while his $14.98 sneaker line became a national sensation.
"People had their own views about me before [the sneakers]," Marbury said. "When I did that, they said, 'Oh, that's a good thing.' They saw me in a different light. Then something like this happens, something that happened three years ago. Doing what I did [with sneakers], that was all part of me changing who I was as a person."
Marbury also made a $4 million donation to Mayor Bloomberg's 9/11 memorial. But Marbury's image took a massive hit when he made remarks about forgiving Michael Vick that appeared as if he was defending dogfighting as a legitimate sport. Owner James Dolan asked him to release a statement to clarify the remarks in which he condemned dogfighting. Marbury also angered the organization by telling The Post he was off for Italy when his contract expires.
"I'm a born-again Christian," Marbury said. "I've been reborn. I've awakened from the dead. My body and my mind were asleep. I was sleepwalking. I basically was laying in a coffin dead. Then when I became reborn, I was able to open my eyes and see myself."
Marbury says another intern incident could never happen now. He often text-messages friends now with the phrase, "Life is sweet."
"My spirit is clean," Marbury said.
Marbury even talked some basketball. He entered training camp in much better shape than last October, one of the early camp stars, according to a Knick scout.
"Only two times in my career, I didn't come in tip-top shape like I normally would," Marbury said, noting last October and 2001 when he got traded to Phoenix. "I wasn't in the best shape of my career [last October]. I wasn't in the shape like I am right now."
He knows it likely led to a poor November. "We got to get out of the block quick," he said.
marc.berman@nypost.com
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10/4/2007 12:56 PM
