NBA commissioner David Stern has imposed a dress code on all NBA players. If they're on the bench but not in uniform, they must wear a sportcoat and dress shoes. If they're going about league business, they must be at least "business casual", which means dress slacks and a dress shirt and sweater. Oh, and no ball caps, gold chains or do rags. Players are complaining about it, mostly because they think it's unfair to have to dress like that on those rare days that they're not in a courtroom.
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Well, depending on how "league business" is defined, I might complain too.
If it's defined narrowly, it seems a very normal rule very much in keeping with business practices all across the US.
On the other hand, given the fact that the bigger name players (like big name actors) are easily recognizeable as affiliated with the league, it could be very broadly defined.
Whether or not it's whinier than normal players would really come out in the detail.
Morat-
This was intended as a joke, not a real analysis of the policy (which I don't really care about either way). But the rule defines league business as going to and from games, conducting interviews and doing promotional activities. In all of those settings, business casual is required, which means dress slacks and a shirt with a collar and sleeves. And if they're on the bench during a game but not in uniform, as when they're injured, they must have a sportcoat on as well. Doesn't seem terribly stringent to me.
As best I can tell, it isn't. From personal experience, however, dress codes are a pain to push onto a work force not used to them.
I've seen dress codes loosened in a business, but the few times I've seen them attempt to tighten them, it's gone nowhere.
I'd imagine that in professional sports -- where personality and ego play almost as much a part as skill -- this is going to be a tough sell.
I'd imagine they'd enforce it with fines, which out to be fun to watch. More fun than basketball games, anyways.
I'll tell you how I think it's gonna go. After some initial complaining, I think it'll become a competition to see who can dress the best. Shaq is already ahead of the game on this one. Jordan always dressed to the nines, no matter where he was. They'll turn it into an "anything you can do I can do better" thing and players will be hiring fashion consultants to make them look better than the other guy.
It will also come down to pocketbooks. Can Iverson afford to pay fines each time he chooses to "violate" the dress code? Younger, less well-paid players (the guys making only a couple of hundred thousand a season) might have a more difficult time struggling to be "rebels" when they hang with their posses.
Few people know that bowling has been professional sport with the most per capita, percent per income fines for dress code violations. Only in the last few years have bowlers been able to loosen up their collars, grow out their hair, and change the colors of their shirts. For decades the scene was something we might have expected out of 1930's Germany or Russia.
I used to bowl -- BOWLING often seemed a sport out of 1930's Russia.
And I enjoyed it.
I used to bowl -- BOWLING often seemed a sport out of 1930's Russia.
And I enjoyed it. Bowling, I mean. Not the 1930's Russia part. So it's from a fan, so to speak. :)
Now, as for watching it -- pretty boring.
Chill out. This is a marketing issue for the NBA. They apparently want to appear to be more adult. Will it succeed? Let me know.
Quite frankly, it is unlikely that more than a few of them would fit into normal peoples' clothing. And I don't pay attention to basketball or basketball players, anyway, so I don't really care very much.
But it's a marketing issue for the NBA.