Doin' It For The Kids

New York Knicks point guard, Stephon Marbury, self-proclaimed best point guard in the world, has gotten it very wrong, with these new $14.98 Starbury 1's. They're the very shoes he says he will wear this season, but they're so sensational, really, the mistake was hooking up with Steve & Barry's clothing chain. If he's gone with Old Navy, these things would be massive.

Steve & Barry's is not nearly so ubiquitous. I had to drive for an hour to the Block in Orange County to find my nearest retailer. But boy was it worth it.

As I write, I think they've sold something approaching three quarters of a million items from the Starbury line. There are the signature shoes, pictured above, at $14.98. These come in black or white with a variety of colored trim.  If you want your BB shoes to make a loud remark, these are in no way less out there than the new D.Wade's from Nike that somehow remind me of those old fashioned metal toe cap boots. There is a second pair of Starbury hi-tops at $9.98 and a variety of low tops. There's clothing too, and nothing costs more than $14.98, many items are so much less, at some point, it's like this isn't even money any more.

I had some house guests from the UK who were just stocking up on footwear when visiting here, and I think they took away about 5 pairs between them. This on top of the D.Wade's, Kevin Garnett's and a countless other Nike, Puma, Adidas and k-Swiss, each costing 5-10 times as much that they'd already had to freight home.

I saw Wade's Miami Heat recently and it was kind of mortifying to see that their guard Jason Williams was wearing Wade's shoes. Williams. He's been shameless since he came into the NBA. But it's good to see Wade's largesse, sharing his shoes with a team mate. Meanwhile, Stephon Marbury kitted out 162 New York kids teams with Starbury 1's. That's 3000 pairs. Marbury's credo is, he's doin' for the kids. It was tough, he recalls, to afford cool kicks when he was a kid. It's as exciting and innovative as any move I've seen him do on the courts, and while Nike's air hasn't been deflated by this, it does seem that an affordable basketball shoe is something many in the basketball business would rather not talk about.

Can't wait to see him Stephon the All-Star game in the Starbury 1's.

Check the website out here: Starbury.com