Writing Feature Articles - Step 1 - Lesson 1 | Page 64

Intermediate

Writing Feature Articles - Lesson
Writing Feature Articles - Handout . a

Name: ________________________________________ Date: ___________________

. a: Feature Articles Packet

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NBA Star Sells $15 Sneakers
New York Knicks guard Stephon Marbury makes sneakers affordable
by Mike Celizic, Today Show, April 5, 2007
As a kid growing up with six siblings, Stephon Marbury couldn’t understand why his parents couldn’t
scrape together $150 to buy him the hot sneakers his heroes wore in the NBA.
When he grew up and understood how much money that was and how little his parents had, he decided
to do something about it.
His solution? A $15 quality basketball
shoe worn in games by the star point
guard of the New York Knicks, Stephon
Marbury.
“Anybody who grew up in a household
with a lot of brothers and sisters, they
know how it is as far as, you know,
everybody wearin’ the same sneakers
– hand-me-downs,” he told TODAY
correspondent Kevin Corke.
The shoe, which comes in a variety
of styles and fabrics, is called the
“Starbury.” It’s made by Steve & Barry's
University Sportswear, and, while it is
inexpensive, it’s not cheap or shoddy.
Marbury introduced them last August and has just introduced the Starbury II, still at the same affordable
price.
Mark Cuban, the outspoken billionaire owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, called the product "the
biggest business story of the year."
Steve & Barry’s has given no sales ?gures, but it has been reported elsewhere that in little more than
half a year, some three million pairs of Starburys have been sold. That’s been enough to inspire Chicago
Bulls star center Ben Wallace to join Marbury in wearing the shoes for the remainder of this year. Next
year, Wallace will have his own Steve & Barry’s line —the Big Ben.

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