Free Dresscodo Pt. III
"You can put a murderer in a suit and he's still a murderer"
--Allen Iverson
Also, Zenmaster disses thuggery and da five elementz, while S-Jax speaks on race: "I think it's a racist statement because a lot of the guys who are wearing chains are my age and are black. I wore all my jewelry today to let it be known that I'm upset with it."This is not over.
And not that we really care, but you can download Darko's posterization of Diop here
(link fixed 9/20/05)
posted by Dr. Lawyer IndianChief @ 10/18/2005 11:13:00 PM
14 comments
14 Comments:
i heard phil's comments live and had no idea what he was trying to say? the league doesn't appeal to people that would go to a rap show? does that mean they don't have to (kind of a good point, but insulting) or the more likely "that's not our audience." was that the worst pr swipe ever by someone we're supposed to think of as honest and intelligent?
what did s-jax say?
there was supposed to be a period after that first sentence. i know that i didn't have any idea what he was trying to say. and i know i could easily find what s-jax said, but not everyone is as motivated as me.
fyi...some people are having trouble with the darko video. i'll try to get a better copy tomorrow.
sjax said that banning chains is racist. zenmaster sounded ignant.
Thank god stephen j is fighting the good fight. Nothing says fighting racism like wearing big ugly platinum/diamond chains over a tall-t.
let me raise some hackles by saying this: i don't think the dress code is racist. at least no less racist than the nfl one that forbids you from wearing a suit on the sidelines (and always team apparel). really, it's a sport of style; if the coach is on the bench looking slick, why can't the players follow suit, so to speak? it's a different style, but style nonetheless.
it's the extending of it to the outside of the arena (are guys going to be lining up to change clothes in the team bus bathroom?) that's retarded. who wants to travel in a suit? and, as camby astutely pointed out, that means you've got to have a different suit on tap every single night--which, especially if you're an nba player inclines to rock the best, adds up pretty fucking fast.
you could argue that wearing them outside reinforces the professionalism players are expected to carry themselves with, but in that case, it should apply only to sheed.
actually, imagine how different certain nba mishaps of recent memory would appear if they involved people wearing suits:
1. the kobe incident. . . in a suit!!!!
2. tony allen orders a hit. . . in a suit!!!!!
3. ruben patterson smacks some chick. . .in a suit!!!!
clearly, that would do more harm than good, legitimating, as it were, all sorts of unseemly behavior.
one interesting irony of all this: you know that, as s-jax said, if players have to dress up at all it's going to be in suits. fuck a business casual!!!!!!!
Two things:
I'm really looking forward to seeing these dudes decked out in suits, specifically S-Jax. Rest assured homeboy is gonna be bloodin' it up in a pimp ass red suit and a red tie with bandana-paisley on it. If not, I'll be sorely disappointed.
Secondly, dude, this IS racist. Not because gold-chains and throwback jerseys are a necessary part of black culture or anything silly like that. It's racist because it's a move to remove the hip-hop "stigma" from NBA and market the NBA away from the hip-hop generation and the urban youth that currently relate to dudes like Iverson. Old white folks don't like the game for precisely the reason that freedarko DOES like the game: it's dominated by a bunch of "athletes" who don't "play the right way" (i.e. BECAUSE it's "a league of style"). While most of us think Allen Iverson is the shit, old white folks, for the most part, don't. Listen to sports talk radio. There's a great deal more disdain for rich, "selfish" basketball players than there is for most other sports and I think it has a lot to do with the "hip-hop" (i.e. racial) dynamics.
We all know that NBA viewership has gone down significantly since the Lakers/Celtics era and the Jordan days. I don't know the exact specs, but rest assured that Stern is not getting the numbers that he wants. For lack of a better word, NBA basketball has gotten "too black" for white America and Stern isn't embracing the change in the game and changing his marketing strategy to reflect the changes (i.e. marketing TO the hip-hop generation), he's attempting to convince old white folks that the game hasn't changed. THAT's why it's racist. Not because the dress-code is pretty solidly based on how a lot of the black players dress, nor because any of the dress is stereotypically "black," but because it's a deliberate effort to NOT market the shit to black folks or anyone who finds themselves aligning with certain elements of "black culture."
Unfortunately for Stern, there is absolutely NOTHING that the NBA can do to make people like my dad think Allen Iverson is playing the type of basketball he wants to watch and so these players have to give up a work-place freedom that they all know is pretty retarded.
I don't doubt that dress has some sort of effect on more professional office environments in terms of productivity, but the NBA is clearly a different beast. I wouldn't be mad at this stupid rule if the dress-code policy was in effect since waaay back in the day. Frankly, when I was younger, I always thought there was a dress-code policy in effect until Iverson came along. Seeing him in all that random gear after the game and during games while on the bench injured was a real shock to me, but it's definitely become the norm over the past 6 or 7 years and I can totally relate with the player's sudden "WTF?" reaction to it. If you're allowed certain freedoms, and then your employer tries to take them away for no real good reason, I think it's completely natural to be like "Fuck that!" Unfortunately for most of us, we aren't afforded the forum to bitch about most rules and usually just do it around the water-cooler while folks like Iverson can bitch to the media and know damn well he's not gonna get canned.
Anyway, that was more than 2 things but you get the point.
-e
if you look at the dress code, the sports jacket rule only applies to sitting on the bench, not traveling.
i actually agree with s-jax. he said he doesn't have a problem with the clothes rules, but he thinks specifically banning medallions and chains worn over the shirt is racist. you can look very classy with a suit and a chain. i mean, *i* wouldn't rock that look, but i see nothing wrong with it. that's so specific that it's obvious what the target is.
yaysports has some pictures up of a couple former tar heels rocking chains and looking classy. come on, stern, that's a good look!
really quick cause i have to get to work, but look, i know this is a hip-hop league, a black league, etc. that's about all i know about the nba, and it's why i found phil's comments so revolting.
but it's not like there's nothing black about wearing a suit. the black man can wear a suit without selling out, and, historically, getting dressed and looking clean has been a central african-american cultural concern, including a great source of pride when little else in american society allowed for it.
it's also not like it's not hip-hop at all. people get dressed up for awards shows. and there has to be some middle ground between formal attire (the awards show) and what you'd wear to the club. maybe stern is trying make the league a little more professional, but i don't think he's doing so at the cost of its near-essental blackness.
and about the sport coat thing. . .if you're cuttino mobley, don't you think you're thinking full-on italian suit or bust if they're imposing a semi-formal dress code?
the chain thing. . yeah, i know they can go just fine with suits. but the question is whether denying the fashion avant-garde (let's face it, medallions with suit is kind of a new look) is the same thing as repressing cultural identity.
I'm getting visions of those prom photos that floated around the internet a few years ago where everyone rocked jersey suits and dresses.
- Ramo
Here's a pretty interesting article by Rich Hoffman that deals with the dress code issue from the white middle-age/income perspective. Does Stern really believe that these people are that gullible or is this a first step in Stern's master plan to re-brand the NBA?
that link is asking me for my username
My bad. I have Bug Me Not up all the time so tend to ignore whether or not a site needs a subscription.
Use:
be82096@coolgoose.com
for the username &
2003md
for the password
If you'r not up on bug me not check out the link above. It has given me access to infinitely more information to peruse online while I should be working.
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