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David Stern is trying to turn the NBA into some kind of military facility. Dress code. Uniform code. Next up on the agenda will be that players will have to march into the arena during team introduction and learn other drills.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2390599
After ins uting a "business casual" dress code and cracking down on the length of uniform shorts, the NBA has identified its next fashion crusade.
League and team sources have told ESPN.com that the NBA, starting next season, intends to ban the tights sported at various points this season by several players, including three MVP candidates: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
Although NBA officials are not publicly commenting on the issue, sources say that the league simply does not like the look of players wearing visible hose. It's believed that the league office, which already has regulations in place to curtail short lengths, can unilaterally outlaw tights by simply amending its uniform code before the 2006-07 season.
Sources say that the NBA informed its 30 teams at last month's compe ion committee meeting in Houston that tights would be banned immediately after All-Star Weekend. But the league wound up holding off on that ban, perhaps to avoid a new controversy after the initial furor sparked by the off-court dress code faded quickly and quietly.
Players who wish to wear tights are required to send the league a written request from a team doctor detailing a "medical need" for the leggings. That's because the league, according to sources, believes that some players are merely wearing them because they like the look.
Yet there are numerous players who insist that wearing full-length spandex under their uniform shorts keeps limbs warmer and looser than anything seen previously in the NBA. Dallas Mavericks swingman Jerry Stackhouse is widely seen as the pioneer of this practice, relying on a pair of runners' tights throughout last season's playoffs to combat a longstanding groin injury.
"I'm a 100-percent advocate," Stackhouse said.
That's why the 11-year veteran felt compelled to call NBA vice president Stu Jackson directly after learning of the forthcoming ban upon returning from the All-Star break. Stackhouse bristles at the notion that he's merely trying to be fashionable, pointing out that he has worn tights to every behind-closed-doors practice and shootaround until expectedly shedding them in Dallas' past three games.
"I've had a couple groin injuries and they help me get comfortable," Stackhouse said. "I wear thigh sleeves, too, and the tights also help keep them from sliding down my legs. They just hold everything together.
"When I talked to Stu, he was sympathetic. They don't want to be the ones causing guys to get hurt. But I don't know what the end result is going to be. I get the feeling they think it's some fashion statement or culture statement. It's really not. I'm just trying to take every preventative measure that I can."
Said Mavericks team physician T.O Souryal: "The tights provide compression. Compressed muscles fire efficiently, especially if injured. Players with muscle strains benefit from the improved circulation and support."
The sight of tights on an NBA player has inevitably been mocked by some -- Denver's Marcus Camby chastised peers for wearing "pantyhose" -- but became more commonplace this season after Bryant unveiled his leggings in November. James wore them briefly as well in January after injuring his knee, but the Cleveland star hasn't been seen in spandex for more than 25 games ... in part because he grew weary of answering so many questions about them. Bryant has since decided to play tights-free in the Los Angeles Lakers' past five games.
But Wade still wears them in Miami and so does New Jersey's Vince Carter. The team most devoted to the concept is Milwaukee, with five everyday tights-wearers after Joe Smith tried them first: Andrew Bogut, Toni Kukoc, Michael Redd and Maurice Williams in addition to Smith.
Bogut recently told the Associated Press: "I don't like how it looks, but I don't play basketball for looks."
Smith told the AP: "It's something to keep you warm. It keeps my knee from swelling up, keeps some tightness around it so it won't blow up on me when I'm out there. It's meant a lot to me."
More than five percent of the league's players have worn tights at some stage during the season, including five of its top 10 leading scorers. At least eight players that have worn tights this year -- including Bryant, James, Redd and Carter -- are Nike-sponsored athletes, and the shoe giant now sells a "pro basic" pair of tights for $35 and a "pro thermal" pair for $50.
Stackhouse, though, supplies his own tights and has been since he came up with the idea almost a year ago.
"If they ban 'em," Stackhouse said, "I'll find something else."
David Stern is trying to turn the NBA into some kind of military facility. Dress code. Uniform code. Next up on the agenda will be that players will have to march into the arena during team introduction and learn other drills.
I heard a couple months ago that they would be banning long socks and tights. It will be interesting if it actually happens as a lot of players are wearing tights these days.
Thats re ed especially if players wear them for reasons such as those Stackhouse stated.
i hate stern more than any other sport's commissioner
I reckon they should get rid of the tights, there are other alternatives the players can wear like knee sleeves instead of tights.
They look gay in it!
Sternie's power is getting a bit out of hand. Long socks and tights have been trade mark clothing for many players. Who gives a what they were on the court. Apparently sternie has other ideas.
then they all want to talk about the lenght of the shorts....wtf
I was sure when I saw the tights get popular that the NBA would come out with some NBA Leg Enhancers and make a buck off of it.
It's racial. How many white players wear the tights? Think about that.
midget
hey is this real? WTF?
I agree with Sequ in that one.
What will be next? They won't allowe chewing gum cause somebody may choke
This leauge is changeing into kindergarten
Bogut wears them and he's Australian or something....
I dont agree with he rule, but I guess Stern will say something like he is protecting the integrety of the sport. He doesn't want the NBA to become the WWE and sports entertainment, instead of SPORTS... The NFL is doing the same with the new celebration rule...
I hate Selig more, but Stern is up there. Who cares if the NBA gets mocked for this? I don't like the idea of players wearing them because their shoe company is marketing them, but this is like banning knee braces because they clash with the uniforms.
Once again, Nazi Stern is driving me away from the game, not closer to it. The NBA is slowly becoming this showman league where defense is not rewarded and all the players say the exact same things when staring into a camera.
There comes a point when public relations starts to hurt the business' reputation because it's assumed that the business is serving its own interests over the truth. The Pistons were killed in the media in the late 1990s for having "yet another gimmick." Some even questioned Joe D's hire as trying to bank on the Pistons' Bad Boys past rather than putting the best person in position to run the organization.
Stern's working himself into that pitfall where he'll have to earn the consumer-base's trust back.
Again, when I first heard this a few months back, they said it might include knee high socks too. It's ridiculous to me. But look for it to happen.
Knee high socks too???Now thats just getting ridiculous
High socks have been around for years
no doubt, Stern wants to see more whats under the shorts, spandex, and socks...
I used to wear knee-highs to hide some pretty disgusting looking skin problems. Are you telling me there is no room for hiding psoriasis in the NBA now?Knee high socks too???
High socks have been around for years
Players should play in ties
I'm not saying knee socks will happen for sure. I'm just telling everyone that is what has been being discussed this year.Knee high socks too???
High socks have been around for years
Even the discussion of such a thing is mind boggling to me. High socks have been the trade mark clothing for many players for many years. Has Sternie suddently developed a fashion sense he wants the nba to display. wtf. He should stop watching eye for the guy or whatever that show is called.
No mustaches and no afros, no white skin, no black skin, no yellow skin. Everybody will have green skin (painted permanently).
Well, to be honest the NBA is hemmoraging in terms of their reputation in red states (sans Texas which is firmly entrenched with contenders). They brought in a consultant to change their image sometime midway through last season, and the NBA's been pissing me off ever since then.
So everyone get in line and look alike. People will "accept" you that way.
The next thing he's going to do is bleach the skin of every player in the NBA. That's really what this seems to be about.
Trust in Stern I say!
I mean, if he doesn't ban the tights, THIS is the future of the NBA:
if it helps them in medical ways I think it's ridiculous to encourage players not to wear them.
korea and japan wear them too, its not racial hahhahaha!
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