Reply #10: I'm against dress codes on principle [View All]

[Chovexani]

Even though I HATE hip-hop fashion I would be a hypocrite if I supported this, so I don't. As much money as they pull into the league, they should be allowed to wear full on Dennis Rodman drag if they want to.

The thing is, I can understand where the NBA is coming from. The dress is only a symptom of a larger problem and I don't think this rule will do anything to change it. I used to be a big basketball fan growing up, but I haven't really watched it in years...some of it is just being a long-suffering Knicks fan who got tired of watching the freefall, but a lot of it is just because it's not fun anymore. There's no respect for the game anymore, you've got a bunch of spoiled millionaires showboating so they can get on highlight reels, promoting their rap albums, etc. It's about everything except love of the game. I think the real problem is the influx of players coming out of the league from high school, and that's a rule that needs to be changed IMO. These guys don't know the fundimentals anymore because they don't go to college, they learned on the playground and that's how they play when they get in the NBA. It's horseshit, I can go up the street and watch playground ball for free.

What is really bugging me about this conversation though is the implicit assumption that this is racist because hip-hop fashion is "dressing black". Newsflash, there is no such thing as "dressing" a certain race, hip hop fashion and culture transcends race. People all over the world dress like that, it's not just black people and please for fuck's sake not all black people dress like that. I don't and neither do most people I know. Most of the hip-hop kids I went to school with were Asians.