[lbo-talk] Fwd: [edgeofsports] The Starbury Question: Sneakers for Social Justice?

[ylle521 at highstream.net]

This article can be found on the web at 
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061002/southpaw

Sneakers for Social Justice? by Dave Zirin

Stephon Marbury, the wildly talented and widely criticized point 
guard for the New York Knicks, usually carries a Q rating 
commensurate with Kim Jong Il. Making max dollars and being the face 
of the NBA's most dysfunctional franchise will do that. But Marbury 
has been drawing high-profile praise in recent days for promoting a 
new basketball sneaker described as "revolutionary."

What's "revolutionary" about the new Starbury One--a reference to 
Marbury's on-court moniker--is that it doesn't cost as much as a 
plane ticket to Maui. The Starbury Ones are listed at $14.98.That's 
$14.98. Not $149.80. As William Rhoden recently wrote in the New York 
Times, "This is an industry in which star athletes encourage children 
to buy shoes for anywhere from $75 to $200."
...