The NBA has adopted a dress code for its players. More specific details of the plan came out today. We know a number of players have already voiced displeasure over the plan and some have even gone so far as to imply they would need a stipend to cover the cost of all those tailor made suits. What the opposition to the dress code doesn't understand is that their rhetoric is precisely why David Stern tossed this idea into the collective bargaining agreement in the first place.
Having multi-millionaires complain about a dress code when everyone from CEOs of Fortune 500 companies to the fry guy at McDonald's have to adhere to some form of dress code only makes the players look bad.
When guys who make an average of four million dollars a year hint that they might need some extra cash to pay for the upgraded threads, it makes them all look like Latrell Sprewell complaining about not being able to feed his kids. It makes them look shallow, spoiled and out of touch.
I understand the players not liking someone, especially Stern, telling them what to wear. It does seem kind of un-American, at best. Unconstitutional, at worst. However, as we all know, it's neither. (Well, maybe it is sort of un-American.) The opposition to the NBA dress code would argue that they are being told what to wear after work, as opposed to the majority of us who are only confined by such guidelines during the work day. This notion is off-base.
The players are on company time, in some fashion or another, far more often than they probably care to consider. Going to work tonight? That's company time, at least once you are on the team's premises. Going to the airport to take a team paid for plane ride to your next game? Sounds to me like you are representing your company on a trip. How is that not company time? Were you going to go to Sacramento if the league didn't have a game there? Nope? Then that's company time.
Are you staying in a team booked and paid for hotel? That sounds like something your employer might have something to do with. Again, that's company time. Practice? Well we are all well aware of many of the players' distaste for such repetition, but, again, that's a team mandated appearance like any charity event they force you to attend. If they can make you show up, they can probably decide a minimum attire standard, too.
In light of last year's fight at The Palace and Kobe Bryant's continuing soap opera, is it surprising that Stern decided to take some action to clean up the league's appearance? The fact the NBAPA went along for the ride on this issue leads me to believe that some in the players association might agree with Stern's perspective, as well.
In the end, it's hard for the average fan, especially those making less than four million a season and finding themselves subjected to a company mandated dress code, to feel much sympathy for the players on this one. Welcome to a small portion of the real world, fellas.
Ed. Note: For a very good analysis of the dress code check out C.Y. Ellis of HoopsVibe.com.
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