NBA Dress Code?

[charliekilothree]

Problems are more an issue of character than clothing

The secret has been closely held for many years, but the truth is finally out. David Stern's favorite NBA team is the Blazers.

In a move that makes you wonder just how desperate he's getting to retain the league's high-end fan base, the commissioner recently announced he will impose a "dress code'' on the league's players this season. This was confusing to me because I thought they already had a dress code. When they go to work they all wear shorts with matching tank tops, sneakers with high socks and ear rings the size of golf balls. That is the NBA's version of "business attire,'' if you ask me.

The court, after all, is an NBA player's workplace. They cannot just show up there like you and I do on a Saturday morning with the only clean T-shirt he has left, swim trunks and mismatched socks stuffed inside a long-ago diminished pair of Air Jordans. They've got to wear the UNIFORM, man. Just like corporate attorneys, and MBAs and kids at Burger King. You go to work you wear what they tell you. You wear the uniform of your profession.

But nobody tells you what to wear on the way to work, do they?

But this week a very nervous David Stern said he would require all NBA players to wear "business casual'' attire this year to team functions, arrivals and departures, on flights and at public appearances. Well, "business casual'' depends on what business you're in.

If you drive a cement truck it means steel-toed boots, a flannel shirt and jeans. If you drive a limo, it's a black suit and silly looking hat. If you're in the back of the limo it could be a $1,500 suit, unless you're part of a rap group, in which case "business casual'' is not unlike what Allen Iverson wears to NBA arenas.

Blazers, collared shirts, suits and NO JEANS. No jeans? The things cost about $150 a pair now don't they? One wonders if Stern's dress code will also exclude the $100 sneakers that fuel so much of his league with their advertising dollars?

Not surprisingly, many players are already up in arms. Iverson says it's "a bad message to kids'' although it's difficult to understand where that's coming from. When did wearing a sportcoat become a bad message to kids? It is, however, a bad message about the erosion of personal freedom in the pursuit of corporate dollars.

Stern was quoted in the Boston Globe as claiming the dress code is "a small thing that contributes to a sense of professionalism. It's what the job entails.''

Actually, no, it isn't.
What the job entails is draining jump shots, or cleaning the glass, or rejecting an Iverson drive in the paint. The job entails playing basketball at a highly proficient level while wearing the uniform dress code of the league — which is to say the uniform of your team. After that, who cares what a guy wears while walking out to his Bentley?
What Stern is trying to do, it seems, is bring his product more in line with its customers, meaning the corporate slugs who can afford NBA tickets on a regular basis.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9679068/



I agree with the commentary.

[Tinkertoy]

Now first of all I don't want to offend anyone on here; I know how some folks wait in the bushes for folks to say thing they don't agree with and then pounce all over it. So if you are a member of the baggy pants wearing, do rag in public wearing, oversided clothes wearing, and Mr. "T" jewelry wearing crowd, ... right up front, no offence.

That said, I think a dress code of some sort is needed, in part because we are talking about young men who are really "kids" they do not know the way of the world, they only know basketball. Basketball is a business first, and their livlihood, and they should treat it as such. Many of the "kids' just don't know any better because they have not been exposed to the real world outside of basketball. The reason for the dress code is to project a better image for the league, albeit in the minds of David Stearn and the others who run the league. The need for a better image is because many of the basketball fans are like me, i.e., my age and of my thinking.

You have probably heard this before, but when I was coming up the "do rag" was something the guys put on to get ready to go out; then they went out with a Stetson hat, or a fasionable cap on (not a baseball cap). The folks who wore baseball caps sideways and backwards were the "village idiots"; you knew they didn't have all of their marbles and were halfway crazy. Folks who wore clothes a size or two too big were the poor folks who could not do any better. mammas back then would not dare let their kids go out looking ragged, oversided clothes and pants hanging down.

Now, all you young folks will said, "you don't know how it is 'ol man", and I say, "true" and I don't wanna know how you think it is. I prefer seeing folks dressed like they want to impress, rather than ragged. I prefer to see a few really good pieces of jewelry, vs the whole store hanging around the neck.

Back to the point. Stern is trying to please a whole lot of folks like me, my age and younger who don't care for the "hip-hop" culture, .... whatever that is. I confess I don't know.

So I say to the players, dress smart casual, or whatever the term was/is. for the trips to the games and practice. Then afterwards, when you wit your homies, let it all hang out. There is a time and a place for each, just be smart enough to know that there is and do it right!! If you want to protest, go all out "hip-hop" after work!!.

[Corals]

Lee: NBA dress code not ‘racist’

by Roland S. Martin
October 24, 2005

NBA Commissioner David Stern has caught some heat from some of his most high-profile players over a proposed dress code, but one of his biggest fans - New York Knick season ticket holder Spike Lee - says he supports it 100 percent.

Speaking at a book signing Saturday at Border's Bookstore, Lee said the NBA should be concerned about its image.

"If I was employed by an NBA team, I would have on a suit and tie," said Lee, dressed in a New York Yankees hat, orange Nike fleece top, jeans and tennis shoes. "When you work in corporate America, you can't come to work with a do-rag, bling-bling, and what not.

"When you watch the NBA Draft…when their name gets called and they come on the stage and they shake David Stern's hand, what are they wearing? Suit and tie. I just think we've got to back to some of the fundamentals."

Stern caused a firestorm of criticism a week ago when he announced that when players are on team or league business, they must dress "business casual." The policy forbids any headgear, athletic shoes, boots, t-shirts, chains, pendants or medallions outside of a shirt, and sunglasses while indoors.

Players like Alan Iverson, Jason Richardson, Stephen Jackson, Paul Pierce and Tim Duncan have blasted the proposal, saying the policy is unnecessary and prohibits them from expressing themselves.
As for the policy being racist - charges made by Jackson and Richardson, who suggested the banned clothing is targeted to the hip-hop culture - Lee scoffed at the notion.

"I don't think it's racist," he said. "Look at them white cats. Do you ever see how Steve Nash dresses?" Lee said of the Phoenix Suns guard who always wears jeans and pull over shirts.

http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/...ArticleID=2715