Posted on 10/21/2005 2:03:17 PM PDT by Crackingham
American basketball players have attacked as racist a new dress code imposed by national league officials that bans "bling" jewellery and baggy clothes. The National Basketball Association requires players to wear "business-casual" attire when involved in all activities relating to their team or the league. The chunky chains, pendants and medallions beloved by many are banned, as are sunglasses worn indoors, headphones, flip flops and "headgear of any kind". Players can wear "neat" warm-up wear on flights to games, but T-shirts, vintage team jerseys, shorts and trainers are out.
Stephen Jackson, a young black player for the Indiana Pacers, staged a visible protest by arriving for an exhibition game against San Antonio, Texas, dripping with four hefty chains. Jackson, who was suspended for 30 games for his role in a brawl with Detroit Pistons fans last November, said the jewellery rule targeted young black men because chains were associated with hip-hop culture. He said the league was afraid of becoming "too hip-hop".
"I have no problem dressing up because I know I'm a nice-looking guy," Jackson told the Indianapolis Star. "But as far as chains, I definitely feel that's a racial statement. Almost 100 per cent of the guys in the league who are young and black wear big chains. So I definitely don't agree with that at all."
Paul Pierce, who plays for the Boston Celtics, agreed. "When I saw the rule about, you can't wear chains (outside of a shirt), you know, I think that's just part of our culture. We wear the chains and the hip-hop gear and the throwback [vintage] jerseys," he said. "The NBA is young black males."
The dress code, announced on Monday, is an attempt to clean up the NBA's image, tarnished in recent years by incidents such as the Kobe Bryant rape trial (charges were subsequently dropped) and last season's melee in Detroit where players raced into the stands to fight fans.
"I feel like if they want us to dress a certain way, they should pay for our clothes," said Philadelphia's Allen Iverson, known for his tattoos and throwback jerseys. He echoed Richardson's view: "Just because you put a guy in a tuxedo, it doesn't mean he's a good guy"
But Phil Jackson, the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, welcomed the move. He has referred to the dress of some players as "prison garb". "All the stuff that goes on, it's like gangster, thuggery stuff."
And I thought I'd read something about him stating that he's cutting back as well (I think it was something to do with concern over poverty in the world or some such...if so, good for him).
Need your Aw Geez photo.
Did that other thread get pulled?
Well...it's kind of like requiring UNIFORMS for school kids.....maybe they'll rise up to the challenge? And act older than jr hi kids? We can hope.
I got a suggestion. Don't show them getting off the busses at all. Let them wear what they want going into the stadium. Only show them when they are on the court. If they are hurt and can't play and are sitting on the bench then it changes. Either they wear a suit or some kind of nice dress clothes. If they don't want to wear that they will be given the option of wearing the team warmup suits.
Well...that would be nice....I've seen certain women of a certain race wearing sweat pants that have the word BLING in large letters across their backsides.....NOT impressive. (And, Yes, I think the same of young girls who happen to be white with certain words plastered across their backsides, too.)
I keep the memory of Larry Bird's Celtics and Larry Johnson's Lakers, and to think we thought Bill Lambeer of Detroit was a thug.
Was being a little sarcastic in terms of management's options.
Yup. They all carry the race card in their wallets. Then, no matter what, stopped for speedings, whatever, they pull out the ole RACE CARD. Member since 1965.
Nope. Here it is.
If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.
Also, please see The Backside of American History
You'll love this 187 page .pdf (1.99 MB)
People temd to act nicer if they're dressed nicer.
There is a reason why som many companies are getting away from the casual dress code...because employees were goofing off more instead of working.
There actually haven't been too many complaints about it. The most common criticisms have been reasonable:
* enforcing a dress code when the team is on a (long) airplane ride
* enforcing a dress code for someone walking from their car or bus 200 ft into the stadium hours before fans are around
* the chains -- what's considered dressy in one segment of society is considered .... what, ghetto? in another. One player eschewed the 'racist' line and said there was a 'racial component' or something like that.
* the nature of the players' market worth is partially dependent on their status as entertainers, especially wrt endorsements (though that wasn't spelled out) -- as entertainers they should be allowed to be flashy
If someone was paying me a few MILLION DOLLARS for doing something that I do easily and well, I would wear a pink tutu if they wanted. :)
He was.
IMO the Bad Boys started the downward spiral of the NBA, with Jordan masking the trend during part of the 90's.
They outlawed it in the late 60s because of the dominance of UCLA Bruin Lew Alcindor (aka Kareem Abdul Jabbar). Coincidentally the ban was lifted right after the Bruin mega-dynasty ended (in '76).
Can't be the NBA.....
A dress code to do what? To persuade the public that the NBA is a civilized sports organization, that it is not populated by thugs and punks, that it really deserves the revenues it wants, that it is not merely a lawless ghetto-on-hardwood? I think it might be too late for that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.