What's in a tweet? A lot if you're Michael Beasley's mom

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – For those of you who have some background knowledge of former Kansas State basketball star and current NBA player Michael Beasley, you know his mother, Fatima Smith, is usually one of the first in line to trumpet her son.

Her last tweet says so many things.

When the sports world was clamoring for news on Beasley, looking for reasons why the Miami Heat’s 2008 first-round pick and second-overall pick’s life has “suddenly” gone haywire, Smith’s twitter account, normally a bustling place, has gone silent. 

Early Tuesday morning it read, “Mother of 5 Shining StarZ & a niece.” 

The time stamp said the update was posted nearly 23 hours ago, which meant it was there before news spread of her son’s checking into a drug rehabilitation center in Houston and the entire American sports world hesitantly slid into either the “I always thought there was a problem with him…” or “How can a rich kid have that kind of problem?” camps.

People were reluctant to box up Beasley that way because it doesn’t seem like either one of those ideas really fits the situation.

I think it is because as the story unfolded bits at a time on Monday, as it moved past the crazy images of Beasley’s new tattoos and the mysterious baggies on a table, and people tried to apply meaning to Beasley’s own tweets (that said, and I’m paraphrasing, the world was out to get him and he didn’t see the point in going on) the word “depression” soon followed.

And, in today’s economic and social climate, that word hits home for people more than it ever has.

The general public can’t relate to Beasley’s money, his fame, or quite frankly, 99 percent of his problems.  He made $3.5 million last year as a rookie professional basketball player.  He is slated to make $3.8 this season, and two team option years follow that would pay $4.1 and $5.2 million.

Most of the general public can’t or won’t try to understand his affinity for artwork all over his body, or his pot habit that was there even in his K-State days.  Nobody really gets his love for SpongeBob Squarepants, which is weird no doubt, but more a quirky trademark of his youthful immaturity than a testament to a much larger issue now at hand.

Beasley is depressed, and no matter a person’s situation, anybody who has dealt with that monster knows what it’s like.

Many people, both fans of Beasley and those who aren’t, heard that news yesterday, and they sympathized not for the basketball player Michael Beasley, but for the young person.

A person doesn’t choose to be depressed.  It chooses them.  Are there factors that can help propel a person toward it?  Yes.  Physically, mentally, socially, chemically, depression uses any of the four, and usually a combination, to mix up a binding, isolating fog that one day, almost instantaneously, settles over a person.

Depression makes you forget your friends.  It makes you forget your life.  It makes you forget a bulging bank account.

It makes you forget who you are, let alone any dreams or future plans you might have had.  It is absolutely crippling.

And only time, sometimes a lot of time, and consistent support from a tight circle of people can help a person lift out of the fog.

Fatima Smith’s tweet suggests she knows her family is the only thing that is important right now.  The Beasley camp has shut down contact for the time being.  Michael won’t be available for at least the next 30 days according to reports out of Houston – where he is staying.

The difficult part for those who support Beasley will be the lack of timetable for his return to “B-Eazy.” There is no timetable for depression.  As quickly as it comes, it will suddenly lift, and he will be back to the smiling, happy basketball player that he was.  The tricky part will be handling it in the future.

Smith’s tweet suggested, to me anyways, that the family has the right approach to seeing Beasley through this. 

I, for one, am pulling for him.


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