The NBA had its opening night on Tuesday with three games on the schedule.  Who won and lost is recorded in the next morning papers' sports pages.  For the rest of the story, just flip over to the fashion section.  It was also the first night of the NBA's new dress code policy.  Good bye sideways cap, hello top hat?  The players didn't go that far, but from the report from Suns—Mavericks game, they didn't go far enough. 

The slide show that accompanies the aboce—linked news story, shows that some of these guys are still in Halloween garb.  Of the nine photos, only one shows a player with his shirt tucked in.  The column relates that some of those interviewed are waiting for a more 'meaningful' game to break out the suit and tie.

So, is this new dress policy racist as some have said?  Was this an attack on the Hip—Hop culture of the inner city?  In my mostly—white suburbia town, Hip—Hop is alive and well.  Just yesterday I noted a few teenagers were wearing the fall collection of their favorite boxer brands.  There were also enough chains to get a full—size family van through a Denver snowstorm.  Racist?  No.

NBA Commissioner David Stern pronounced himself 'amused.'

Chalk it up to not dressing for success, but dressing for your success.  In the 1980's, the New York Football Jets hired their offensive coordinator to be their new head coach.  Many in the sports media suggested that Joe Walton needed to eshew the backwards ball cap he liked to wear under his headphones while roaming the sidelines.  It was suggested he needed to look 'like a head coach'.   If his previous look was offensive, it only became that way when he took the next step on the ladder of success.  Joe Walton is not black.  And he did do away with the backwards cap. 

J. James Estrada   11 03 05