NBA Commissioner David Stern decided last season to require a dress code for players to abide by while traveling, entering arenas, and sitting on the sidelines. This effort was an attempt to bring a level of professionalism to his sport, despite the fact it was not well received by some of its premier players. This year, Stern has continued on his newly found power trip by issuing a “whining rule”, disallowing players to remove their warm-up apparel while checking into the ballgame, and eliminating popular tights, armbands, and other extraneous fashion symbols worn by its players. Despite his desire to return the image of the league to the wholesome, pass-first, short-shorts, jump-shooting era of the 1960s, Stern must realize that some of these trends he is trying to destroy are the primary reason for the recent surge of the league that’s captured more fans in the past decade than ever before. All of Stern’s new rules are aimed at making the league appear more respectful and professional since many of today’s youth emulate what they see in the realm of the NBA. His vision is to create an atmosphere of talented athletes dressed in suits on the sidelines, cheering for their teammates while they remove their warm-ups when sitting on the bench, to reveal their league-issued regulation uniforms, while remaining calm and respectful to the officials on the court. His goal is to ensure that tomorrow’s stars of the game grow up with the respect and uniformity that he was privy to while watching as a boy back in the early days of the league. However, this environment he is trying to create is not the reason that has made the fans come back to the arenas following the lockout and shortened season of 1998-99. The newest Napoleon has instituted a new “whining rule” which issues quick technical fouls and fines for players who throw their arms up in the air, use profanities, argue back or make gestures that illustrate disgust with the officials. This is an effort to clean the game of post-whistle displays of disrespect and disregard for the rules. Although this seems like Stern’s latest attempt to make the game cleaner, it is already evidenced after the first week of the season that it is merely frustrating the players more, slowing down the games, causing the fans to jeer at the officials while their favorite players are ejected from the ballgame. There have been thirty-seven technical fouls and four ejections in the season’s first seventeen games, eighty-four technicals and six ejections in the season’s first thirty-nine games, and now one-hundred-four technicals and seven ejections in the first fifty-one games. Only seven games of the first fifty-one games thus far have had no technical fouls, and all seven teams to lose a player to ejection have lost, including three of the NBA’s marquee teams, the Detroit Pistons , Denver Nuggets , and Sacramento Kings , who lost when their respective star players, Rasheed Wallace, Carmelo Anthony, and Mike Bibby were ejected too early into the game. The most technical fouls issued in one of the league’s first fifty-one games was five, which saw Antonio McDyess, Rasheed Wallace, Nazr Mohammad, Brian Cardinal, and Jake Tsakalidis all T-ed up during the Memphis Grizzlies vs. Detroit Pistons game at the Palace of Auburn Hills. An average of more than two technical fouls per game along with eighteen of fifty-one games having three or more technicals is merely restricting the passion and emotion displayed that normally brings the fans to their feet. Perhaps the most bizarre of Stern’s latest decrees is the restriction of a player’s allowance to remove a warm-up shirt or tear-away pants at the scorer’s table. This rule makes no logical sense for its implementation, and in extreme cases can possibly result in a player being hurt due to insufficient time to remain warm before entering the court. Many of today’s high school basketball players have taken a strong liking to this trend, and can be seen by the tearing away of their pants or the shedding of their shirts on the way onto the court after being summoned by their coaches. It is this style that has elevated the demand and sales for authentic NBA warm-up apparel around the world. Eliminating this fashion statement only restricts the NBA from profiting off their biggest stars tearing away their warm-ups on the way into the game. Similar to the undressing limitations, the power mogul has eliminated tights, armbands, and other superfluous fashion articles that last year were forming a strong trend in the NBA. This also is a threat to the profitability of today’s game-breaking athletes, as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James were the originators of the tight-wearing phenomenon of 2005-06. Now, medical specialists have deemed them advantageous to those wearing them, and fans are no longer able to follow their favorite team’s win-loss record while their star player is donning tights. Never before have players flaunted so many extra wristbands, bicep bands, knee bands, high socks, and other extra objects of personal style. If you ask the fans of Chicago what they think, they are wondering why they purchased the same red or white bicep bands Ben Wallace wore into every Pistons game over the past six years, while he is forced to remove them before his Bulls debut this season. Stern’s recent megalomania has not only limited the fun for the fans watching their favorite players select a progressive style, but also limited the marketability of the league’s most recognizable stars. His deployment of retrograde mandates have threatened the growth of the league’s profitability and made fans feel used for purchasing items that are no longer permitted in play on or off the courts. The increase in technical fouls will limit the players’ ability to patent their own post-basket celebrations and post-foul antics that drive up the decibels in arenas across the nation. Perhaps it’s time Stern recognized that his league is at an all-time high in popularity, and listening to the age-old adage “Don’t rock the boat”, would be appropriate with the enterprising game play of today. I totally agree with this assessment. http//www.realgm.com/src_goaltending/112/20061109/is_stern_on_a_power_trip/
Well, he IS the league commissioner, so I think he's allowed a power trip or two. The NBA isn't a democracy. If the players don't like it, they can either have some of his power taken away in the next collective barganing session (unlikely) or play in Europe. Secondly, there is a board of governers, and Stern has to answer to that board. People act like Stern is this omnipotent, god like figure that snaps his fingers and institutes a rule. I'm pretty sure he consults with more than a few people before making a decision. There is always an adjustment period when new rules and regulations are implemented. There will certainly be less technicals and ejections as the game goes on and the players adjust to the new technical foul rules. As for the warmups, that's simply a money issue. Stern figures that the more time a player is seen in his jersey, the more that player's jersey will sell, even if only for a couple extra seconds. Jerseys are more profitable than warmups. It's the same thing with the ball. The traditional leather ball is practically impossible to sell in stores because of the production costs, but now the league can put the "authentic NBA ball" on the box now, which means millions of extra dollars. I'm not completely sold on the new ball simply due to the overwhelming resistance to it by the players, but unless they can provide some hard data showing that the ball is hurting their ability to play, I think it's here to stay. The only thing that I'm really confused about is the long stockings and arm bands. My only guess is that the NBA probably wants its fans spending money on more expensive items like jerseys. I'm sure that if the NBA worked out a marketing deal and got a big Nike swoosh on the arm bands and stockings, they would be back in a second. There is the issue that wearing these items means fewer injuries, but like before, the players need some hard data that correlates arm bands and stockings with injuries. However, the players are making more money than ever before, so I don't see any reason they should excessively complain. The players' salaries are directly linked to the NBA's total revenue, so anything that makes more money for the league can only have a positive impact on the players.
