NBA won - NO bling, bling

[donsu]

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=19808


Dressing down the NBA
White owners impose no-bling policy on mostly black players


-snip-

The league's new dress code is aimed at making the African-American dominated professional basketball industry more palpable to the button-up corporate crowd.

To put that in language the NBA's elite players and their hip hop fans would easily understand: This ain't Rucker Park. It's all about the money that team owners bring in from mostly white rich folks sitting courtside or in the skyboxes, paying top dollar to see formerly poor black athletes turn the mechanical style of play lauded by purists into an individual form of art and cultural expression.

-snip-

The ultimate anti-hero, Zirin rightly points out, is Philadelphia 76ers superstar Allen Iverson – "the poster child for everything that flies in the face of corporate America's frantic quest to rectify 'values' and retain wealth."

Why does "the Answer" have such street credibility? Again, Zirin is all-net on this one. "When AI was a rookie, he schooled Jordan on a crossover dribble and said afterward (Jordan) is not my hero. None of my heroes wear suits."
-snip-
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you should read the whole article

[glarius]

1. Frankly, I don't see what is wrong with wearing jewellery etc.

I mean if they were going around half clothed or something, there would be something to complain about....It sure smacks of racism...IMO

[gollygee]

2. Why do athletes have to dress up like businessmen anyway?

I've never understood that.

[jobycom]

3. Damn. Perfect. Recommended. Nails the issue not just for basketball

But for white society.

My favorite paragraph is the closing one: So, whether white men can or can't jump doesn't matter. As long as they own the teams, they don't have to jump. In fact, when they say jump, they expect their money-makers to ask, how high?

[donsu]

4. yes, if I could have posted a 5th parag. it would have been that one

nt

[kath]

5. Do what I do re: "paragraphs" - it seems ridiculous to me that in many

stories a "paragraph" is only one sentence long. So I go ahead and group a few sentences together in order to comply with the "4 paragraph" rule. Being allowed to post only 4 sentences seems ridiculous...

[natrat]

6. somehow i don't think this will reverse the ratings slide

[rocktivity]

7. And where do those mostly rich white folks get THEIR money from?

We mostly poor little people who are psychologically bombarded into buying their "ridiculously costly" products!

Aside from that, the NBA's real problem is that is no longer HAS a Michael Jordan, the kind of player whose talent AND personal appeal are so overwhelming they attract even non-sports fans. Golf found their Michael Jordan in Tiger Woods. Tennis's Michael Jordans are the Williams sisters, ice hockey's is Wayne Gretzky, auto racing's is Jeff Gordon. I myself barely knew that there was such a thing as golf before Tiger came along. But more important, I still don't pay attention to golf unless Tiger is playing. I'm sure that a comparison of the TV ratings of the tournaments in which Tiger does and does not participate would bear me out.

The NBA has been unsuccessful in filling Jordan's shoes with Yao Ming and LeBron James, and I admit that I've been watching far less basketball since Jordan retired. The white corporate buddies didn't care bout how the players dressed as long as the money was coming in. But now they're being expected to pay top dollar for a less-than-top-dollar product. The super-duper-superstars aren't there, the marketing personalities aren't there, and now the non-hardcore fans have stopped showing up.

And they think they can solve the problem by putting a suit and and tie on it, and ordering Allen Iverson to be "nice" guy? Lipstick on a pig, NBA--you'll just have to lower your prices and expectations until your next Michael Jordan comes along.

:headbang:
rocknation

[greenbriar]

8. you know what...this is a non issue pay me 10 million I'll wear what ever

you want me to wear.



I actually like this and I don't think its racist.