Starbury

I dont think many of you know Stephon Marbury. He's an all-star NBA player for the New York Knicks (thats basketball), and for the last 10 years I havent had a whole lot of respect for him as a ball player. He talks himself up endlessly, doesnt provide the goods when it matters on the court, and he plays for the Knicks. (A team thats spends about US$300m on its roster, yet isnt even in the top 20 in the league).

Now, what has Marbury done that makes him worthy of a blog? This: www.starbury.com.

Most of you know, that to buy a decent basketball shoe costs around $200.
Now, that sort of price is all well and good for all of us - but Marbury grew up in Coney Island - IMO, the most famous Ghetto in Brooklyn. (You know from my map that Ive never been to the US - but Ive seen it in a bunch of Movies and TV Shows - stuff like He Got Game and Finding Forrester).
Well, $200 is a bit much of an ask for a lot of the parents in areas like this, and yet the kids play basketball like 8 hours a day (Ok, its the impression I get from movies, obviously not entirely true).

So, Marburys brought out a whole line of top quality (?) shoes for between US$10-$15, and Jerseys for $10. Thats is literally 10% of the price of Nike, and other, products.

In additions to provide affordable shoes, its also (IMO) a big finger up at "Nike etc." and their 1000% profit on every pair of shoes.

So, I just wanted to share my kudos about an NBA Player actually doing something effective to support their community.

ps. Australian basketballer Andrew Gaze (soon to be on Dancing with the Stars, complete with grey hairs) started a similar line of shoes a few years ago, but c'mon these are teenagers we're talking about - how many of them buy shoes from Kmart?