TL:DR – Professional basketball player Stephon Marbury calls Michael Jordan “greedy,” referencing the high cost of Air Jordan sneakers, in an attempt to promote the resurrection of his low-cost alternative Starbury shoes.
Uh Steph, I know you feel all safe, confident and empowered over in Beijing, China, while Michael Jordan is literally half a planet away in America, but have you forgotten who you’re mouthing off to and publicly criticizing?
Sure, I agree with the facts Marbury presents in his arguments, but I have to say that subsequently criticizing Michael Jordan probably isn’t the smartest idea he’s ever had. Yes, Air Jordans are exorbitantly priced. Yes, people have literally died over Air Jordans over the last three decades. Yes, Michael Jordan himself is a gozillionaire because of Air Jordans.
But to fling stones like “robbing the hood,” and explicitly stating that MJ is greedy is probably going a little too far, when MJ himself takes some to digest this spectacle. Especially when the motive behind this entire debacle is to help promote his own line of once-failed shoes, the Starbury.
Although Marbury probably feels all safe and secure in China, he needs to remember that Michael Jordan is a guy that doesn’t have to play basketball to continue on, owning those who cross his path. He need no look further than guys like Patrick Ewing to see that MJ still takes great strides in order to continue asserting his dominance on humanity, even without basketball.
As a businessman, MJ could very well use his vast sneaker empire and just up and buy whatever company in China is manufacturing Starburys, and just have them shut down (again), just to prove a point to his outspoken sudden rival. This actually is something that I really wouldn’t be surprised if it happened, because frankly so few people get away with fucking with MJ, that I wouldn’t put it past the shrewd and hyper-competitive Jordan to actually do this.
Or, maybe MJ will just hop on a jet, fly to Beijing and join the China Basketball Association, just so he could attempt to school Marbury in his current stomping grounds, where he’s pretty much the biggest star in the league’s history. Even at 52, MJ is still convinced that he’s the greatest player on the planet still, and he probably thinks, and might actually be able to, still school Marbury on the hardwoods.
Either way, I don’t think it’s safe to assume that just because Stephon Marbury is half a world away, and Michael Jordan is old, there will be no repercussions here for Steph mouthing off. Michael Jordan is a veritable force in one way or another, and Stephon Marbury just might rue the day he decided that it was finally safe to challenge the great one.
