| NickFasulo: Marbury to Italy |
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| Written by Nick | |
| Wednesday, 18 July 2007 | |
 Marbury To Italy? David Beckham is a mega-star, and when he becomes a full-time midfielder for the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday, he will have a higher Q Rating then the rest of his teammates combined. So in following this trend of jumping the pond to explore new endeavors within their respective sport, Stephon Marbury has announced that when his contract with the New York Knicks is up, he will take his game to Italy and finish his career. Basketball is one of, if not the fastest growing sport on a global level. David Stern has emphasized the importance of marketing the American brand of basketball to Europe and the Far East. Two years ago, when I spent time abroad in Italy, I was amazed at how many basketball fans were in the Old Country. NBA games would be broadcast live, and tape delayed on television, and game highlights were shown just after the uber-important soccer. Is Marbury the USA version of David Beckham? Hardly. But he does have the type of game that Europeans are so interested in. They view him like an Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady or Kevin Garnett---offensive minded players with street cred. Marbury would be widely accepted in Italy, or even a France or Spain, but would initially struggle to accept the different, fundamentally minded, type of game that is played over there. Nonetheless, it would be a good career move. American’s probably won’t lose any sleep over this, but it would surprise you how big Marbury’s arrival could become.         Set as favorite Bookmark Comments
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