NBA Dress Code is Nonsense

“The clothes make the man” goes the old lie. Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi and Albert Einstein never shopped at Brooks Brothers, had a suit made in Saville Row nor were mistaken for models in Milan. However, David Stern has decided that the National Basketball Association’s players must wear “business casual” attire when on “team or league business.” Of course, a game is both, but that isn’t what his policy addresses. What he wants, in those PR moments like interviews and post-game interviews, is for everyone look a little less – well, poor and black.

The entire point about uniforms of whatever variety is non-verbal communication. A man in a business suit is saying to the world “I am a responsible member of society who can be trusted with your money.” Men who wear do-rags, work boots and $20,000 worth of gold are saying “I am a thug from the projects who got paid.” That’s all well and good, but often enough, one can lie without words just as surely as with them. Sean Combs a/k/a Puff Daddy, P. Diddy and whatever else he’s chosen this week as his moniker, dresses in a hip hop style derived from LA’s barrios circa 1974. He is also a multi-multi millionaire entrepreneur who attended Mount Saint Michael Academy and Howard University. On the other hand, Andrew Fastow, Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay all wore very nice suits to court – where they were convicted of crimes related to the collapse of Enron. No mention is necessary of John Gotti, a/k/a the Teflon Don and The Dapper Don, who dressed to the nines every day he was out of prison.

So just who are the NBA players? They are men who earn a great deal of money from playing a game children play for free (indeed, in youth programs, one pays to play). They are not engaged in a serious endeavor (although they take their millions very seriously and are beautiful to watch), rather they are entertainers, just as surely as musicians, actors and street mimes. Mimes, of course, have a uniform when they perform, but there is no dress code for a mime on his way to or from a street festival. Musicians, at least in rock and country, stopped dressing alike even when they’re performing a generation ago. And what actors wear en route to wardrobe and make-up couldn’t matter less.

What clearly is bothering the commissioner and his supporters is their belief that a certain style of dress will attract a certain type of fan. As Filip Bondy of New York’s Daily News wrote, “You want to be as liberal as the next white, middle-aged New York Democrat. You've successfully marketed your game for the young, anti-establishment, hip-hop kids. But then there are those corporate sponsors and TV analysts out there, shaking their heads at the sight of Tim Duncan's exposed shirttail, or at a million indecipherable tattoos.”

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban blogged about it as well (scroll down to Oct. 18, 2005, 14th paragraph), “A couple corporate customers of the league . . . were uncomfortable with the appearance of some players. Since the teams couldn't deal with it, they had asked the league to step in and deal with it.” Just curious about these “corporate customers” – did they raise the issue at a shareholders’ meeting and vote on it? Did their board of directors raise the matter? Or are they just some uptight, post-mature white guys with a little power indulging in bigotry to which they’d never admit?

There are some charming restaurants, largely located west of the Mississippi, in which gentlemen are not permitted to wear neckties. The bars are festooned with ties that have been good-naturedly cut off patrons’ necks. Such attire isn’t in keeping with the dining experience. So too with the NBA experience. A compromise is in order – the players will wear business casual, but no suits among the fans (and no “suits” either).


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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