It's no secret that Pinoys are the world's biggest basketball fans. Most NBA players who go here are surprised at how huge basketball is in this part of the world. So it's not surprising that when basketball legend Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash (along with his daughter Gianna and 8 others), many Pinoys were sad, and a lot of them paid tribute to the Black Mamba in their own way.





But, as with any tragedy, there are those who used this as an opportunity to jack up prices of sports memorabilia. Here in this sneaker-crazy country of ours, some resellers have started offering ridiculous prices for Kobe shoes. Others pose as buyers appealing to sellers not to jack up prices. This prompted some sneakerheads to lash out at some members of their community.



Nike, who Kobe had a sneaker deal with, started pulling Kobe shoes and other Kobe-related items out from their website. There are reports that Nike has been asking retailers in the US to return Kobe-related items back to Nike HQ. It's not clear why Nike is doing this, but perhaps this is their way to fight back profiteering by others on this tragedy.