Gotta Be The Shoes

Even though the NBA season is long over, Stephon Marbury has been making news a lot lately. The reason? He's partnered with Steve & Barry's, a discount licensed apparel store that started at PENN, to endorse a sneaker that retails for $14.99.

Move that decimal place over one to the right, and you get the typical price for a name-brand, celebrity-endorsed basketball shoe nowadays. And that's the problem, according to Marbury, who grew up in Coney Island and probably hasn't yet forgotten how far $150+ can go when you're poor.

Some say this is just a PR move by Marbury, who has been criticized for his me-first approach to the game and to life. Others wonder whether a shoe priced so low will be purchased by hip kids or just roundly mocked by them.

Me, I'm hopeful this gives poor city kids a way to buy some new kicks without spending two weeks' worth of their family's grocery money. And before you laugh out loud at the prospect of materialistic youth being caught alive in these sneakers, remember that way back when, Timberland boots were made popular in urban culture precisely because they were affordable.