No shirts, no shoes, no shots
For a few days now, I've been wanting to post something about the recently-announced NBA dress code, and a few of the colossally moronic responses to it. My personal fave was a particular player, who makes more in a year than I may in my entire career, suggesting that it wasn't "fair" unless all of the players received clothing stipends on top of their salaries...
And then I read Mark Cuban's post on the subject. At the risk of sounding like I'm fawning, if there is someone out there who honestly doesn't believe that Cuban is good for the NBA and good for pro sports in general, that person needs to read this entry.
You don't have to agree with everything he does, but the one thing that you should take away is that Cuban treats his players (a) like adults, (b) like professionals, and (c) like they have a stake in more than just wins and losses when it comes to the team. In other words, he treats his players in exactly the way that many fans wish that players would behave. In other words, he gives them the respect that he expects in return. And what do you know? It works.
More power to him.
Comments
Dress code aside, a model for communication and decision making within the hierarchy of an organization (or department). Too rare.
Posted by: Robert Danberg | October 20, 2005 12:07 PM
Is it petty of me to want Cuban to run spellcheck and use apostrophes? He's talking about cultivating an image, but not doing so with his writing.
Posted by: b | October 25, 2005 12:24 PM