NBA Star Goes From Tweeting To Rehab In 36 Hours

Michael Beasley was enjoying the off-season after his rookie year in the NBA getting tattoos and more, and documenting it all on Twitter.

But after a weekend that included a potentially incriminating Twitpic and some disturbing tweets, he’s now in rehab. What happened?

SportsbyBrooks noticed the Twitpic posted Saturday night, of Beasley showing off his new back tattoo “Super Cool Beas.” But in the right corner of the picture they noticed what looked like a bag of marijuana on the table. Shortly after writing up the story, the account was deleted and Beasley’s Twitter feed was gone.

But Deadspin has more on the tweets coming in after the potentially incriminating picture.

“Y do I feel like the whole world is against me…I can’t win for losin”

“Feelin like it’s not worth livin!!!!!!! I’m done.”

These disturbing tweets, a deleted account – and now rehab in Texas. As ESPN.com’s Henry Abbott writes, the incident shines a light on a troubled young NBA star:

Instead of learning that something goofy has happened with a young athlete and some internet technology, we are apparently learning instead that one of the NBA’s better known players is having a terrible time.

It may not be entirely about the internet technology, but it doesn’t mean the social media part of the story is irrelevant. In a different time, when there was no Twitter or Facebook or even Websites, celebrity life could stay private much more easily. The mystique of an athlete could be kept in tact. Now, the oversharing athletes live publicly, and we see their flaws even when their hoards of publicists and lawyers and managers don’t want us to. As Abbott concludes: “This new world of information comes with its own challenges. I hope Michael Beasley is up to facing them.”

Who knows – maybe a bag of weed for the world to see is the best thing for Beasley: it got him the help he needed.

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