EvanTH posted:

Here's a pair of Calvin Klein underwear that JR Smith wore, enjoy the greatest player on the planet Cleveland fans

Boosh! posted:

It was only a matter of time: http://www.slamonline.com/nba/star-weekend-feature-nbas-first-fashion-show/


I wanna see Wade get bounced in the 1st round. Capris? for Spring/Summer 2016? You're out.

edit: Round 1 is "the Boardroom." How many cigars as an accessory will we see out of the 8 competitors?

Papercut posted:

Would you guys like me to post the paper I wrote in college on dandyism in the NBA? Even if you say no I will still post it.

It relied heavily on Bill Simmons quotes because back then he was still fresh and new.

straight up brolic posted:

Absolutely yes

Quandary posted:

My day might actually be ruined if I don't get to read that

Papercut posted:

I just realized my only copy is on my desktop, so you're going to have to wait for Corsair to send me a working power supply.

Spoeank posted:

"A deck of cards mated with a kaleidoscope and gave birth to Dwight Howard's suit"

R.D. Mangles posted:

Ludicrous Speed

Spoeank posted:

"A deck of cards mated with a kaleidoscope and gave birth to Dwight Howard's suit"

CharlieFoxtrot posted:

"Downtown at MADE Fashion Week at Milk, Carmelo Anthony is highlighting the latest wearable tech with Intel, Accenture, Moondial, and Pigalle designer Stéphane Ashpool."

The first digital athlete

quote:

The merger between the American Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association that occurred in 1976 represented more than just the expansion of professional basketball. With the merger the ABA, known for its invention of the three-point line and the slam dunk contest, its flashy red, white, and blue ball, and the even flashier “afros” of many of its players, brought African-American culture to the courts of some of the biggest markets in the country. Players like Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Artis “The A-Train” Gilmore, and George “The Iceman” Gervin not only brought incredible talent to the basketball floor, they brought outlandish clothing and hairstyles and a style of play that no one had ever imagined. These players laid the foundation for a dandyism that not only has become more common within the NBA, but also has actually served to greatly increase the popularity of basketball in general. With their emphasis on surface appearance over depth, their unflappable confidence in public situations, and their dichotomous existence in society, today’s NBA players are truly dandiacal characters.

The national media serves as the principal means through which NBA players emphasize their surface appearance, regardless of their actual values or beliefs. One of the prominent ways that players become popular figures is through marketing and product placement. Former player Michael Jordan has had the most success endorsing products by far, and in many ways he defined the way companies use athletes to advertise their products. Patrick Hruby, a sports analyst for the hugely popular ESPN sports network, writes,

quote:

Forget the myth. Never mind the man. What I’ll remember most about Michael Jordan – besides his inexplicable, maddening absence from the original [Super Nintendo video game] “NBA Jam” – is the sheer amount of buy-it-today stuff: the megabuck sneakers, the plump ‘n’ juicy frankfurters, the signature, limited edition Palm Pilot. In short, the merchandise. (Hruby)

The fact that a sports writer would claim that Jordan, who is widely regarded as the most talented player ever, made more of an impact with his commercials than with his game testifies to the importance image has in the NBA. Jordan successfully sold everything from AA batteries to cologne not because of his basketball prowess, but because of the image he sculpted.

The ability to sell almost anything underscores the ways in which NBA players mold their own images. Working with their sponsors, a player can create a version of themselves that can be anywhere from thug (e.g. Allen Iverson) to spick-and-span wholesome (e.g. Yao Ming). ESPN.com columnist Jim Caple, describing his most prominent impression of Jordan, writes,

quote:

He was the first international superstar in the era of 24-hour sports, and he showed every future international superstar how to craft an image without allowing anything remotely human to get in the way. (Caple)

Caple highlights the characteristic that made Jordan’s image so successful: its utter lack of human limitations. Many athletes lose their marketability by getting into legal troubles or establishing bad reputations, thereby revealing their humanity. But Jordan managed to create an image outside of basketball that was entirely free from human failings or shortcomings; he was “elusive to the point of transparency” (Caple).

But the fact that players attempt to elevate their image above human shortcomings does not imply that their images are free from personality. Darren Rovell writes, “Even in an era in which sports’ most marketable athletes seem a colorless shade of black, conformity is out and individuality reigns in today’s NBA arenas” (Rovell). Just a few years ago, the NBA attempted to suppress certain forms of expression in its players, like tattoos and baggy shorts. But because of the popularity of players like Iverson, the NBA today insists on accurate representations of its players. Rovell writes,

quote:

The league wants an accurate portrayal of its players, down to the style of their hair. A video version of Ben Wallace, the Detroit Pistons center who has an endorsement deal with Sega’s 2K3 video game, not only has a Big Ben clock tower [tattoo] on his right arm but has variable hair styles that go from ‘fro to cornrow. And Iverson’s body art is in its full glory on the cover of the Sega game’s box.

Personal style is as important in today’s NBA as it is in the music or fashion industries. When a player is injured he sits on the bench in street clothes instead of his uniform, and rarely will you see a player without a few diamonds showing. And no one in the arena is free from scrutiny, even the announcers. In a recent post-game interview, a commentator asked Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett how his team felt being huge underdogs coming into the game, which they had won. Garnett told the commentator, who was wearing a bright yellow suit with an orange shirt, “We felt just like you, wearing that suit. We had so much confidence, we didn’t care what people thought” (from TNT’s April 23rd broadcast of Minnesota/Los Angeles game). ESPN columnist Eric Neel describes NBA players as “men unafraid to let their freak flags fly” (Neel, “Glory Days”).

The fact that players rely heavily on their marketing image and appearance to communicate with fans does not mean that their on-court demeanor is indistinguishable from others. On the contrary, players like Jordan and Iverson use the court as the ultimate stage for their own self-expression, as a way to establish their uniqueness from other players. In “The Painter of Modern Life,” Charles Baudelaire claims that dandyism expresses “the burning need to create an originality for oneself within the limits of decorum” (Baudelaire, PAGE NUMBER). Basketball players have the same need, and largely attempt to establish that originality through the style of basketball they play. Larry Platt, Allen Iverson’s biographer, in an interview with Eric Neel, says,

quote:

As with most prodigies, there is something unknowable about [Iverson]. I think the best way to decode him is to watch his game. And it’s not just a game to him, it’s an art … He’s all about self-expression, which is why attempts by coaches to make him do a three-man weave or whatever are just not getting him. It’s not that he’s not team-oriented, the is team-oriented, but you have to also play to his need to create on the court. (Neel, “Iverson’s World”)

Basketball players rely on a physical form of expression just as dandies do, shaping the game of basketball just as people like Beau Brummel shaped their clothing. In front of twenty thousand people and millions of TV viewers, basketball players attempt to outwit their opponents, try to humiliate their defender with unbelievable moves.

By far the most expressive way to humiliate an opponent on the court is through the slam-dunk. A dunk scores the same number of points as a jump shot, but it brings the crowd to its feet and gives your team an emotional charge, challenging the other team just to try and stop you. Eric Neel writes,

quote:

You know what a dunk is? A dunk is like Armstrong on the moon – testimony to what we’re capable of, some fantastic glimpse of what our earth-bound frames can do. Every dunk ennobles. You know what else a dunk is? It’s a riff, a solo; it’s like Louis Armstrong out in front of the Hot Sevens, it’s one man expressing himself and laying it down against the backbeat of the game. And in this way, every dunk inspires. (Neel, “Glory Days”)

By far the greatest dunker, and thus most expressive player, in the history of the game was Jordan, and this is reflected in the way people described and wrote about him. Neel writes, “Michael Jordan made the world these other mugs are playing in, ushered in an era and a style, invented it when it didn’t exist, played a game with which we were not familiar” (Neel, “Logo”). Bill Walton, a sports commentator and NBA Hall of Famer, writes to Jordan, “Thank you for dressing with great style and playing with even greater style” (Walton). And Sports Illustrated writer Ralph Wiley writes, “In a word, describe Color. Music. Michael Jordan” (Wiley). Just as Beau Brummel turned a seemingly trivial activity like getting dressed into an art form, Michael Jordan transformed a trivial game into a means of expression as legitimate as painting or music, simply because of the personal style he put on display.

Clearly in their existence as public figures and in the way they use their bodies as an art medium, NBA players parallel dandies. But the connection extends deeper than this: like dandies, NBA players’ very existences are dichotomous, transcending ordinary society but at the same time reliant upon it. The relationship NBA superstars have with fans serves as a perfect example of this dichotomy. The true superstars of the NBA become deified or “extraterrestrial,” and this transcendence affects all fans, regardless of the team for which they route. Neel describes the players as “guys capable of throwing bolts like Zeus” (Neel, “Electric Avenue”). While describing the Philadelphia 76ers’ Julius “Dr. J” Erving and the way he dismantled the Lakers in the 1980 NBA Finals, he writes, “I hated those Sixers and loved those Lakers. It didn’t matter. The Doctor singed my nose hairs with that move, had me swooning” (Neel, “Electric Avenue”). In this way NBA superstars induce conflicting emotions in people: opposing fans hate them for defeating the home team, but cannot help but love them for the way they play the game. Bill Simmons writes about Michael Jordan, “he managed to remain compelling at all times, simply because he was MJ” (Simmons). These descriptions of Erving and Jordan closely parallel Baudelaire’s description of the dandy, about whom he wrote, “His expression, his bearing, his gestures, the way he carried his head, everything proclaimed him … as a chosen spirit” (Baudelaire).

This dichotomous relationship with the fans extends beyond simple admiration. NBA superstars become idolized to the point that teammates are affected, opposing players are affected, and people who would not even call themselves fans are affected. Bill Walton describes Jordan as “set[ting] the standard to which we all aspire,” and he thanks Jordan for “setting such high standards that became the means of comparisons in the public consciousness. ‘He or she is the Michael Jordan of …’” (Walton). Larry Platt similarly describes the idolization of Iverson, saying,

quote:

Say what you want about him, AI is captivating. He’s a touchstone – we see things in him, say things about him, idolize him, judge him, and argue over him … No matter how you see him, on and off the court, you have to watch what he does, you have to wonder how he does it, and sometimes you have to wonder why” (Neel, “Iverson’s World)

People cannot help but watch these players, just as people could not help but be affected by people like Oscar Wilde and Beau Brummel. And again, the way writers describe these figures is strikingly similar. Baudelaire wrote, “[dandyism] is the pleasure of astonishing and the proud satisfaction of never being astonished” (Baudelaire). Jordan had the ultimate composure on the court; he was seemingly unaffected by the biggest pressures in the game, winning games on sheer determination time and again. Describing the way he played, Ralph Wiley writes, “… nothing else for either one of us to say. Speechlessness no option either. Jordan compelled guttural sounds from us all. These were our ultimate, involuntary compliments …” (Wiley).

NBA players and dandies share a number of other dichotomies, simply because of the nature of their art form. For example, both seem tragically doomed by their mortality, fated to lose their athleticism or their beauty, respectively, and thus lose their power over others. Yet despite this existence within time, both seem to escape somehow. Describing Jordan, Jim Caple writes, “The player, inevitably, is done. The image is immortal” (Caple). And Eric Neel writes,

quote:

You would (and you do) pay for the privilege of being close to the possibility that accompanies the chance that surrounds the hope that some wild shot of weird brilliance will flash before your eyes. It’s why you watch, for the chance – in the moments, days, weeks, months and years afterward – to say, “Did you see that?” (Neel, “Electric Avenue”)

Like dandies, NBA player’s affects at first seem to be trapped in a temporary denouement, but in fact they transcend time, exerting permanent control over those around them. And this affect is not limited to a certain social or economic class. Both the dandy and NBA star perform for a universal audience, bringing together every variety of person to enjoy their show. Max Beerbohm writes, “the dandy presents himself to the nation whenever he sallies from his front door. Princes and peasants alike may gaze upon his masterpieces” (Beerbohm). In a similar statement, Neel writes,

quote:

Hoops is in us, in all of us … It looks like we do – black and white and brown and whatever other color or culture you are, rich and poor, book-smart and street-smart, inside and outside, hustling and soaring. (Neel, “NBA Action”)

The NBA players and dandies even seem to perform for the same audience, which for both is every audience. They make no distinctions about who can appreciate their art form, for it is directed at a universal audience, intended to appeal to anyone who in one case has ever jumped and in the other has ever worn clothes.

David Aldridge wrote one of the most colorful descriptions of Michael Jordan, calling him “the living embodiment of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle” (Aldridge). He writes, “His mere presence affected the very experiment he was conducting. His teammates, like so many before them, couldn’t help but stand around and watch at times” (Aldridge). William Hazlitt provided a similar description of the dandy:

quote:

Whatever is going on, he himself is the hero of the scene; the distress (however excruciating) derives its chief claim to attention from the singular circumstance of his being present: and he manages the whole like a piece of private theatricals with an air of almost absolute nonchalance and decorum. (Hazlitt)

NBA players are performers, and as performers they share many qualities with the dandy. With their existence in the media, their self-created image, their self-expression through physicality, their idolization, their dichotomous existence in time, and their appeal to a universal audience, NBA players can only be described as dandies. And players like Jordan and Iverson bring this dandyism to an even larger scale, introducing it into the homes of millions of people around the world. They sit along with music stars and Hollywood celebrities as the most popular dandies of our time, and will certainly be remembered for years to come.

Fast Luck posted:

The code tags are making that post all side-scrolly and hard to read for me

Papercut posted:

quote:

TNT will exclusively televise the first-ever NBA fashion show - NBA All-Star All-Style presented by Samsung Galaxy - a special showcase for the fashion-forward league and some of its marquee players and top personalities tonight, Feb. 14, at 6:30 p.m. ET.