RebKell's Junkie Boards

[hyperetic]

Here's an excerpt from an interview with NBA legend Bill Russell on the subject of the dress code on the Tavis Smiley Show from PBS on Oct.21, 2005:

"Tavis: (Laughter) Let me take you back again to something else you said before my time runs out here. You mentioned Allen Iverson earlier in our conversation. You love his skills. I love his game. But he's in the news of late, of course, because when Mr. Stern, the Commissioner of the NBA, announced this new dress code. What he's calling business casual, slacks, a shirt with a collar. AI, I've seen everywhere, is one of the persons in the league complaining about the new dress code. Have you heard about this code? What's your sense of what Mr. Stern has done here?

Russell: Well, you see, what you got to do is -- well, nothing you have to do, but what I would do, I would try to keep things in context. For years and years and then some years at the NBA office dress code, everybody there is shirt and tie and all that stuff. I mean, this is not last year. This is maybe twenty years ago. Always been that way. So now David, who I happen to have an enormous amount of respect for, that's part of his psyche. Also, you can also look at Iverson, that it's a cultural thing. Now anybody that's lived more than three years in this country knows race is important.

Tavis: It doesn't take three years to figure that out, but --

Russell: And there are cultural differences because if I say, a guy my age, like one of the kids I went to college with at USF, if he sees the world the same way I see it, one of us needs to get professional help because they're not wrapped too tight. You see, maybe I've lived too long because I've seen a lot of things. One case that the Jesuits told me when I was a freshman in college was, whenever you encounter anything, consider the source, okay? In other words, when you come into a situation, it exists. It's neither good, bad, right or wrong, black or white or whatever. It is. What makes the difference is, what is your take on it and what are you going to do about it?

Tavis: Well, Stern got his take. AI and others have their take. But Stern has an image problem. NBA, his point is, we got an image problem here and, after this brawl, we got to clean this mess up and it starts at least with you all projecting the right kind of image.

Russell: Well, that may be the case. I'm not so sure I believe that.

Tavis: Well, I'm just saying his point of view.

Russell: You see, I'm in a funny place when it comes to this kind of stuff. I was the first modern professional athlete to wear a beard. So when I got to Boston, I had not started shaving yet, and there were more questions about me were why would I have on a beard than how was I going to play.

Tavis: How's he going to play with a beard?

Russell: You know, it's like, "Well, you shouldn't have a beard." I'd say, "Well, why not?" "Well, you don't look like the rest of the guys." I got a clue for you. In my first championship series, I was the only black player on either team, so there was no way I was going to look like the rest of them (laughter)."

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[Admiral_Needa]

[mikey87]

the dresscode is a bunch of bullshit it sucks and so does david stern these are grown ass men let them wear what they wanna wear , If they want them to dress a certain way then they need to but the damn clothes