Why change NBA's dress code now?

0 Comments | USA TODAY, October, 2005

I have reservations as to the reasons why the NBA decided to enforce a dress code ("Drugs, bling and tears," Editorial, Friday). Why now?

Many ballplayers come from the hip-hop generation and follow hip-hop in their style of dress. Whether a player wears a suit does not have any bearing on his character. He could still be a jerk who, it so happens, dresses well.

Personally, I don't have any problems with the clothing that NBA players have been wearing.

As a black man, I cannot help but also wonder about the NBA's reasons for banning items more commonly worn by the African-American players, such as flashy neck jewelry. The new rules seem racist.

And to threaten a guy's career with a dress code rule is just over the top.

You can take a trash...