Saturday, October 22, 2005

Round Mound Unwound

And speaking sense to the senseless:

Charles Barkley may not want to be your kids' role model, but he could be a role model for NBA players. And not just because he supports the league's new dress code.

...."Young black kids dress like NBA players," he said. "Unfortunately, they don't get paid like NBA players. So when they go out in the real world, what they wear is held against them.

"See, these players make $10 to $15 million a year, so nobody cares how they dress. But regular black kids go out into the real world and how they dress is held against them.

"If a well-dressed white kid and a black kid wearing a do-rag and throwback jersey came to me in a job interview, I'd hire the white kid," he said. "That's reality. That's the No. 1 reason I support the dress code.

"From the NBA perspective, they've got a product to sell. They've got to make it as attractive as possible to fans, viewers and corporate sponsors.

....Barkley, a TNT network basketball analyst, concedes there are racial overtones with the new dress code, but points out there is a dress code in every business in the country.

"It's dictated by the boss," he said.

....He hears that Marcus Camby of the Denver Nuggets wants a stipend to buy clothes to adhere to the dress code, and Barkley cringes.

"Guys like that have lost perspective," he said. "What's he make, $8 million a year? It's like when Latrell Sprewell said he needed more than $14 million a year so that he could feed his family. Give me a break."

Easy to see why he's Rush Limbaugh's friend.

No comments: