Is it me or do professional sports leagues seem to have a problem keeping their nose out of the player’s and in baseball’s most recent case, owner’s business? It starts with the NFL, called the No Fun League by some, regulating what a player can wear or what ways a player can celebrate. A player cannot wear a towel stuffed in his pants if it hangs longer than the league allows. The NFL would not let Peyton Manning wear black high top cleats in honor of Johnny Unitas the week he died because it violates the league rule on what cleats should look like. Is it really that important? As long as the players wear their team’s uniforms, who cares what kind of socks they wear?
Over the last couple of weeks we have been bombarded with the travesty that is the new NBA mandated dress code. I know some of the players in the NBA are young, but they are not in high school anymore. Most of the league is made up of adults who can make their own decisions.
The NBA after adopting the thuggish hip hop look is now backing away from that. The owners and commissioner of the league are afraid that the way the players dress before and after the game is setting a bad example for kids. Many will want to blame this on race, but it is purely a money issue as are all things such as this. The people who buy these $10,000 luxury boxes are Fortune 500 companies and the NBA is afraid of scaring that money off. Again, as long as you wear your team’s uniforms during the game, whatever you wear after work is your business.
Now we get the latest controversy, if you can call it that. Apparently major league baseball wants the Houston Astros to open the roof on their dome for tonight’s game. I guess the blimp people have paid to much money to sponsor MLB and not get a shot of the field from 6000 feet in the air. The Astros want the dome closed because it gives them a slight advantage and if I recall, home advantage means just that, the home team has an advantage. The Astros believe that with the roof closed the stadium is louder and it is a funner atmosphere.
Now if the Astros think this is an advantage for them then they should be able to do as they please. The only problem is that MLB has the authority to make decisions like this in the postseason and MLB wants the dome open. The Astros will probably have to do as they are told and this is another factor in the White Sox being destined to win the World Series.
I do not understand all these stupid battles that go in professional sports. I guess owners think that they can tell players what to do because they pay them such outrageous salaries. However, players would not make these salaries if owners were not willing to pay them. It all comes down to money, which is the way things are in the world of millionaires fighting billionaires.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
As far as the Astros go, I agree, they should be allowed to do what they want with the roof.
As far as the NBA and NFL, I'm sorry, but you're wrong. These are business entities and in the grand scheme of things these players that are placed on pedastals by all of us are employees.
If the owners of the business decide they can make more money by making athletes dress in suits when they're at work, then by golly, they're wearing suits.
There's nothing outrageous about it. Most Americans deal with the same issues everyday. But since we're not making millions and millions, and since we've been told "No" in our lives, we're used to it and accept it as it is. No big deal.
The NFL players don't make much of a stink because in general football players aren't as glorified as basketball stars.
If you start telling the NFL and NBA that they can't mandate a dresscode then you're a hypocrite and out of line.
When they are "at work" they are playing ball. That is what we as fans and consumers see. We don't see the flights or drives to the arena and most of the time we don't see the post game press conferences.
When I see the NBA, I see many young black men, most of whom come from the "streets." That is how they dress. Most just dress that way for comfort and I'm sure it is a hassle for some to get suits as big as they are.
I do not mind either way, personally. I think that most of them look ridiculous in a suit, if you have seen some past NBA fashion. I just feel that the issue of what a player wears before and after their game is not something that is a big enough deal to have enforced on them.
Your point about we in office work is valid, but we work eight hours a day and the NBA players work 2 and a half hours a day. If we came to a job in which our uniforms were provided, I don't believe we would be forced to wear suits on the drive there and back.
I just believe that even though sports stars are "working" they are still playing a silly game and should be able to have some fun, whether playing or otherwise. I do not of course mean fun as in Portland Trail Blazer fun.
Post a Comment