Chris Yuscavage

Where's My Ball

Sports and life - in that order.

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'Bron 'Bron vs. Starbury? Hardly.

Posted 03/30/2007 at 8:02 PM | Comment?

James, who has a $90 million endorsement contract with Nike, took a shot at the quality of Marbury's sneaker/apparel line before Wednesday's Knicks game. The discounted Starbury shoes go for $14.98 and his T-shirts and sweatshirts for $9.99. By comparison, James' Zoom LeBron IV retails for $150 and a James' T-shirt for $55.

"I laughed," Marbury told The Post when he saw the remarks. "I'd rather own than be owned. When he retires, he's not going to own anything.
"I don't think he did his homework," Marbury added. "We're putting out the same stuff he's putting out, just at an affordable price. But I understand that he's got to say that because it's part of the business."

- - -

Sucker. Not LeBron. Not Stephon. You. Well, not you, you. Just the you that’s still giving us the business for trying to jump into the sports lane. Can’t say I blame you. We are still perfecting our sports coverage and often times have to retread over stuff that some diehard sports fans might already know. Just comes with the territory. We’re trying to lay a good foundation. But reading about this little feud between LeBron and Stephon? This is why we cover sports. We have to. Or else we would be the suckers. And what would you be?

“I’d rather own than be owned.”

Now, listen carefully. Check out the photo. I’m not a black guy. So my reaction to this story is probably a little different…Scratch that. My reaction to this story is probably WAY different than a black guy’s reaction. Still, while I could sit back and analyze this how other folks seem to be analyzing it (“Hey, Stephon and LeBron are really going at it!”), I’m not gonna do that, either.

LeBron James and Stephon Marbury are both millionaires. Either way you count it. Right now, they’re going about it in different ways, and who am I to say one is right and one is wrong? However, Marbury has a point. Why do a pair of sneakers cost $150? Or $200? Or $250? And, more importantly, why does LeBron James — arguably the biggest, brightest star in the NBA — have to go through Nike to sell sneakers? Marbury is far from a super-duper superstar and he’s selling sneaks like crazy for $15 a pop.

Maybe it’s a ways off, but there’s gonna come a time when LeBron or O.J. Mayo or someone realizes this. Sneaker companies might say otherwise, but there’s a gang of people who will buy LeBron’s Zoom LeBron X’s just as quickly as they will Nike’s Zoom LeBron’s X’s. Until then, we’ll be bumping Rich Boy. Sucker.

Rich Boy - "Let's Get This Paper"

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