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Clothes Don't Make the Person

You have to wonder. How did NBA Commissioner David Stern come up with his latest idea to spiff up the NBA’s image? Did it come to him in a vision? Did he watch the “Queer Eye For The Straight Guy” episode where the Fab 5 cleaned up and dressed up some of the Boston Red Sox and said, “Hey, I want all our players to look like these guys.” Or, was he jealous he couldn’t wear Allan Iverson’s bling bling and baggy pants, so he was going to make Iverson, and all the players, wear his sports jackets, color coordinated pants? The Commish’s wardrobe might look okay on the hand full of suburban raised white boys playing in the NBA, but it just doesn’t work for the rest of the league, which is predominately black. Yo David! Nice try, but you blew this lay-up.

Everything in sports has dollar signs attached to it. So, I’m sure Stern, still smarting from the public relations bruising he took from the Pacers-Pistons-fans brawl, decided that if he dressed up his royal subjects (the players) in better clothes, then the public, fans, sponsors, corporations and media would see the league and players as more mainstream, and more conforming to society’s standards. And, if they did, then they’d pay more money for everything NBA associated. You can take this to the bank: if the NBA had had a hip-hop clothing line that paid them millions of dollars, Stern would never have come up with this ridiculous “dress code” and probably would have personally donned knee length, baggy pants, a hip-hop sleeveless shirt, gotten his ear pierced and had “NBA Rocks” tattooed on his right forearm.

Now that we’ve made fun of the Commissioner and his silly “dress code” edict, let’s look at the real reasons it’s a bad decision.

The NBA is a reflection of the players, and the age they represent. Allen Iverson, Amare Stoudemire, Stephen Jackson, Jason Richardson, and all the others like them, ARE the hip-hop generation. They grew up playing basketball in an urban, playground environment, and reflect all that’s symbolic of that environment. That includes wearing baggy pants, listening to rap music while you’re warming up, having pierced body parts and tattoos honoring your posse. That’s basketball today. That’s today’s NBA player. And, that’s what the NBA is all about. For Stern to ignore and try to change that reality is hypocritical, insensitive and wrong.

Player reaction to the new “dress code” has generally been laughter and ridicule. Indiana guard Stephen Jackson says the ban on bling bling is racially motivated and “the new rule about jewelry targets young black males because chains are associated with hip-hop culture and the league is afraid of becoming too hip-hop.” I agree with Jackson. Stern and the NBA are trying to homogenize the league and its players. In trying to do so, they’re removing individuality, through dress, and showing a lack of understanding and insensitivity toward the black culture that makes up a majority of those who play in the NBA. In addition, they’re creating a whole new level of NBA bureaucracy, The NBA Fashion Police. Jon Stewart, Jay Leno, David Lettermen and Saturday Night Live have to be salivating over this NBA announcement.

The best perspective put forth is by the Warrior’s Jason Richardson. Stern and the NBA may want to clean up the league and players’ images, but Richardson hits the nail on the head when he says nicer clothes aren’t necessarily the best way to determine the character of the players. Richardson says, "You still wear a suit, you still could be a crook. You see all that happened with Enron and Martha Stewart. Just because you dress a certain way doesn’t mean you’re that way. Hey, a guy could come in with baggy jeans, a do-rag and have a Ph.D., and a person who comes in with a suit could be a three-time felon. So, it’s not what you wear, it’s how you present yourself.” Leave it to a guy who wears baggy pants and bling bling to be smarter than Stern on this one.

The bottom line on all of this is, the league is what the league is. It’s entertainment. It’s made up of young, wealthy, mostly black, inner city kids who learned to play the game on the playground. They learned and played the game not wearing the latest socially accepted, well-coordinated fashions, but clothing that reflects the environment, times, music and social attitude they live in. So, David Stern, embrace it and figure out a way make more money off it. The last time I looked the NBA was setting attendance records. The league was making a ton of money from television. The league was adored by kids worldwide. Corporate sponsors are lined up to be involved with the NBA and its players. And, everyone was making a lot of money.

So, lighten up David and go with the flow. Geez, you sound like my out of date parents who hated my music and what I was wearing every time I stepped out of the house. They may not have liked what I was wearing, but they didn’t sick the Fashion Police on me, and I turned out pretty well.

I’m Ron Barr.

Ron Barr is an Emmy award winning writer and the host of the nationally and internationally syndicated sports talk show, Sports Byline USA.

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