Stephon showing his Brooklyn roots. Pampered brats like Lebron shouldn't try to get personal with Coney Island guys. http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/ny-spkside0329,0,7541558.story?coll=ny-sports-mezz
All young prodigies in sports are run by corporations and the dollar. That's how it works. Telfair would be owned as well if he could play a lick of basketball.
Marbury is right on the money.. LBJ is owned by Nike. My position all along has been LBJ cares more about money than winning.
I just lost a lot of respect for LaBron James.. not that I had a lot to begin with. One of my coworkers won a $25.00 Steve and Barry's gift certificate on the radio before Christmas. She's a single mother with two boys with a dead beat dad, so money is tight for her. She got those shoes for him for basketball and he loves them and they are holding up really well. okay stepping off the soapbox!
My respect for Marbury just multiplied, while my respect for Lebron as a person just took a dive. This comment along with various others that Lebron made in the past (i.e. about his goal in life being the first NBA billionaire) only confirms to me even further that Lebron is in it for the money, not for the love of the game. He has every right to do what he wants, but it just reveals his real priorities in life.
While my respect for Lebron didn't go down (because it's pretty low...lower than what I have for Kobe) after reading this, I find it funny that he says Nike has higher standards. Sure their shoes might have a lot of R&D in technology, but when it boils down to it, I am pretty sure the cost of them making a pair of shoes is not much more than what it cost to make a pair of Starburys.
on another note, i never really like lebron. he can't shoot worth a lick.. and that's the basics of basketball... you can run and jump in another sport... if he were a real man, he'd try football... but his passion for basketball to me is 0 until he learns to shoot like an all-star.
Go steph. It is so weird that the most selfish dude on the basketball court is doing something that I consider to be unselfish and smart off of it. It is usually the opposite.
the costs are the same.. probably both from china, where they work workers to death. their profit margins are probably huge.... which implies only the rich people can afford it.. therefore, if you think about it, lebron is saying that rich people have high standards than others.. wow... what an arse. i'll bet he didn't even think about the implications of his words... typical pretentious bastid. and of all rich people to be talking, it's one that was born with the ability and didn't have to work at all .... literally, b/c his shot SUCKS!!!
I don't know if anyone saw this on ABC's 20/20 the other week, but they did a 15-minute story on Marbury and his sneakers. They actually had an expert cut a pair of Starbury's and Air Jordan's in half to compare their structural make up. NO differences whatsover, NONE! The only thing that was different were that Air Jordan's were made out of real leather on the outside, compared to the Starbury's synthetic material. The expert also said that synthetic leather on the Starbury's should last just as long as the leather of the Air Jordan's. So what are consumer's REALLY paying $150-$200 for? Irrelevant bells and whistles like a supposed "mesh venting system" for the foot to breath, even though on the Jordan's the mesh didn't give access to the foot. There was still the inner cushioning in the way of the mesh vent. Consumers are also paying for the name, fancy shoe boxes, and ridiculous salaries of the shoe company. I bought a pair of Starbury's in December and wear them almost everyday, and they are great. I just bought a $12 pair of Dr. Scholl's insoles for added padding for basketball and they're the EXACT same quality as $160 Air Jordan's I bought when I was back in High School.
Dream did it first. Olajuwon, who endorsed a sneaker made by Spalding which retailed for $35, is one of the very few known players in any professional sport to endorse a sneaker not from Nike, Reebok, Adidas, or other high retail brands. As Olajuwon declared: "How can a poor working mother with three boys buy Nikes or Reeboks that cost $120?" he asks. "She can't. So kids steal these shoes from stores and from other kids. Sometimes they kill for them."[31] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakeem_Olajuwon
Much of what people that buy Nikes are paying for is the marketing. For example, the $70MM that they are paying LeBron, who-knows-how-much they pay/paid Jordan, Tiger Woods, etc. They thrive on having all the biggest stars - but people pay for that marketing in the cost of the shoe, and its a pretty big chunk of the total sales price.
