A Thirty Year Old Wiseman

I was just watching SportsCenter after returning home from work and saw something as good as what one could find on Comedy Central.

You may or may not have heard, but David Stern, the NBA commish, has implemented a dress code for all basketball players and staff while either on team trips, home games, or conducting any other type of team 'business.' The dress code is nothing more than business casual. In other words, pants and a tucked-in shirt; no jeans, no gold bling bling chains hanging down to your knees, no sleeveless shirts, etc... To anyone in the real world this sounds perfectly acceptable. (With all those oversized 'threads' how do they always manage to show off their underwear?)

Alan Iverson seems to disagree with Mr. Stern. He says the new dress code is just "not fair" and that since he is thirty years old he should be able to "wear what I want." I can only imagine what my workplace would think if one of us showed up in his type of attire. They'd probably send the individual home with a piece of paper, that's pink. The fact that Mr. Iverson is apparently wise beyond his years at the ripe old age of thirty is a shame. Maybe he's right. Maybe he shouldn't have to dress respectably. Maybe Warren Buffett will be caught stealing his nephew Jimmy's clothes and wearing them on Wall Street. Right.

Players claim Mr. Stern is attacking the "hip-hop culture." What the hell is that supposed to mean? Am I to think my culture is being attacked because I can't go to work bare-footed and overall-clad? Grow up! You're thirty, remember?

If Mr. Iverson wants to talk about what is 'fair' he need not look any further than the sixty-five year old janitor working everyday in blue pants and a shirt with his name ironed onto his chest who is putting his children through college with loans he can't hope to pay off anytime in the near future, ten-hour days cleaning up other people's trash - with no offseason. Fair? Is that damn garage full of eight cars worth a million dollars fair? Those cars could have paid for that kid's future.

I'll stop ranting, but I must pose the question of whether or not we are losing sight of what is and what ought not to be. Why is it that it isn't 'fair' for these glorified P.E. teachers to be requested to adhere to a dress code when even the most successful and amazing minds of all time have and are being asked (a societal norm) to do the same without even questioning it? I'll stop short of giving an endless list of examples of those who dress nicely and shouldn't have to do anything, ever, for the rest of their lives, for what they've accomlished.

Is the commissioner asking too much by trying to have his basketball players appear professional? Apparently.