August 25, 2008 – Dr. Dime
The self-proclaimed “Starbury” of the NBA, Stephon Marbury, is upset about not being paid his fair share of the pie in the Starbury movement to provide basketball shoes to kids at an affordable cost. You remember all the hoopla about how Marbury was so distraught about New York inner-city kids not being able to afford a decent pair of shoes, so out of the kindness of his own heart he was creating a shoe that would retail for $14.98 a pair. *Cough, cough* yeah I had a hard time swallowing that b.s. at the time too…
Anyhow, last week Steve and Barry’s, the fashion retailer that carried the Starbury brand went bankrupt, and Stephon Marbury is pissed off. And no, he’s not pissed off that the affordable shoes are no longer going to be available to inner-city kids, the New York Knicks player making roughly $20 million next season is mad that he wasn’t paid $2.19 million dollars in royalties still owed to him in the deal.
So the philanthropist Stephon Marbury is showing his true colors huh? Well its not that I would point the finger at anyone (regardless of how wealthy) for collecting what is owed to them, but its funny how using philanthropy as a guise for trying to make money can backfire and expose your intentions for what they really are. Its also quite funny that Marbury is suing a bankrupt company. Although the filing is not complete, I suspect that if everything plays out as expected Marbury will never actually see a dime of the $2.19 million supposedly still owed to him. Uh oh, how will he feed his family?
Watch this vid for a walk down memory lane, I love his quote “i’m not gettin’ nuttin’ from this” and “this is about them (consumer), not me”:
I’m out like Starbury’s in NYC…
