Is Brendan Haywood Really Worried About Starbury's Sexuality or Something Else?

The weirdest part about all those Brendan Haywood/Etan Thomas feuds in the Washington locker room? While Thomas's outspokenness is well, if not over, documented, Haywood too is not afraid to speak his mind about issues around the league. With Etan exiled to OKC, Brendan's left to pick the slack.

And boy, has he ever. Speaking to Hardcore Sports Radio (transcribed by Sports Radio Interviews), Haywood just let it all loose on the subject of Marbury's you-know-what and the Twitter craze:

“At first it was cool, but after a while it just became disturbing. He’s on YouTube crying with no shirt on for no reason, sweating while his boy’s rubbing his shoulders. What’s that about? That’s like gay porn. I don’t understand it. He’s dancing to a song called ‘Barbie Doll’, doing like stripper moves. I have no idea what’s going on with the guy, it’s almost like he’s trying to end his own career. There’s not a GM out there that would touch Marbury right now… Have you seen the ‘Barbie Doll’ clip? Click on YouTube and go to Barbie Doll. There’s no way any other professional athletes would wanna get dressed around this guy, because you gotta think something is a little, he’s swinging from both sides of the fence.”

The key progression there? "At first it was cool . . . after a while it just became disturbing . . . he's swinging from both sides of the fence." So Haywood is for absolute transparency, until the guy starts showing off the deepest recesses of his soul, and once that's crossed, it's time to retreat to old jock standbys like homophobia. Or at least hurtful stereotypes, and the "no team wants a gay in the locker room" sleeping giant. It's like Haywood likes the idea in principle, just not when someone like Marbury actually ends up having some real weirdness to show off.

And herein might lie the fundamental Twitter/new media paradox for athletes. Be yourself, but not the part we won't approve of, or any part we don't expect. Elsewhere in the interview, Haywood turns his nose up at Kevin Love's Twitter-tale-ing. Like dude, what are you doing? Play your position and stop acting like some kind of crusader for the free flow of information or enhanced access to the NBA experience. That's a lot deeper than this is supposed to go!

Not that I think Haywood's really mature comments on Marbury tell us anything about Steph's sexuality (sidenote: wasn't Dennis Rodman admittedly bi when he was winning rings?). But if someone were to be outted by name, or blind item-ed, couldn't it come from a spiteful or frightened teammate? Twitter does have the potential to, however intermittently, turn into a source of prime NBA gossip. Or at least, for Haywood, looking at what's happened to Marbury, why wouldn't these fears be brewing? That Haywood's more worried about others' sexuality than his own doesn't mask the fact that this level of exposure loosens the reins of control in a way that might scare some players.

What if an unhinged Marbury starts dishing dirt on others? What if he outs someone? What if someone had blithely outted the "gay" (or just plain nuts) Marbury before this? For all the eagerness NBA stars have shown to share themselves with the world—perhaps to correct the thug stereotypes and post-Jordan blandness that have both worked to make the league interesting—there's a hell of a lot going on that's yet to get out. But it could, if there's not someone helping these guys manage their message. That, and not confusion over Marbury's supposedly "gay" behavior, might be the anxiety at the root of Haywood's rant.

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