The Culture of Coaching

At the risk of becoming one dimensional, we're going to talk about uniforms again. But this is new and different, I promise.

Uniforms! Coaching Edition!

The thought occurs to me as I was watching a segment comparing the Belichek Hoodie to the Josh McDaniels Hoodie. Most everyone finds it a little silly that these grown leaders of men are walking around in sweats, but if you look around the NFL, it is a culture of crappy clothing.

Now I understand they're required to wear team apparel, but I'm not sure the kids are dressing up in Broncos gear so they can look like McDaniels. No, I think they're there for the players.

Which led me to my next thought. How is it that sports uniform culture became what it is?

A brief synopsis:
NFL Coaching Attire - Team clothing. Essentially anything that says your organization on it *

NBA/College Basketball - Suit. Or jacket and tie at the least

Soccer - Suit. Or jacket and tie again, but also with the caveat that when its cold they wear those long wool jackets.

Baseball - player uniforms.

Hockey - suits.

Cricket - who cares.

Now because Soccer and Hockey realms are the second tier of sports in America , with Basketball being essentially a 1A, it seems that we focus on the two sports that have silliest traditions of uniforms. Let's start with baseball.

Lou Piniella for example.
He exemplifies everything wrong with baseball coaching uniforms. Baseball uniforms are not flattering pieces of clothing, and putting them on some semi-overweight guys who tend to stand like Captain Morgan in the bench, chewing some gum and wearing gruesome grimaces is right up there with some of the NFL throwbacks.

Here's another thought. Baseball managers are notorious for their temper tantrums on the field. It's really their only opportunity to get their uniform dirty. Yet imagine what wearing suits to do this. (Here's a visual aid...and another...and another).It would be ten times as humorous for the fans watching, and certainly it would occur with less frequency. No one wants to mess up a $300 suit unless they're super pissed off, which means umpires would know they'd really blown a call. It could help the sport dramatically now that they've refused to open up the instant replay possibility.

Call me new age. Generation Y or X or Z... whichever we're on now, but the idea of hoodies and sweats and jerseys seems a little childish at this point. You don't see Barack Obama come out in a USA t-shirt for his press conferences, do you? There's something classier about a suited head coach. NFL teams might not have the same problem with respect for their coaches. There's even a tradition of it in the great Vince Lombardi, and he was one of the most respected coaches in NFL history.

At some point baseball and football need to grow up and join the modern world. Leave the dress up for the fans.

Lakers got Ladies

Being a Laker has its advantages. The city of Los Angeles is known for its sun and presence of celebrities. The Lakers are no exception. In addition to their team emerging as one of the greatest in the league (they won the NBA title last year in case you forgot) their players seem to always be in the spotlight. As of lately, it has been the significant others of the Lakers players that have made the news.
Lamar Odum Odom married reality TV personality Khloe Kardashian in late September. In fact, three million people tuned into the two hour wedding special on E. Two weeks later she announced on The View that she was changing her name to Khloe Kardashian Odom, dropping her original middle name and changing her maiden name to her new middle name. Now whether this means the wedding was that good or three million people need to get a life, I will leave up to you.
Sasha Vujacic on the other hand has recently been seen with tennis star Maria Sharapova. Although Vujacic has "danced" around the subject in interviews, sources have confirmed the relationship is legit. They were seen together at a U2 concert in the Rose Bowl recently. Sharapova was also seen at a recent Lakers game sitting across from the Lakers bench.
Kobe has been married since 22 to Vanessa Laine and Luke Walton is rumored to be dating Bre Ladd, a volleyball player from the University of Arizona.
Being a Laker certainly has its perks.

Celebrities at the World Series

With the number of celebrities at this years World Series, it might have well been the Grammy’s. Why is it that most celebrities think the cool thing to do is to only to go high profiled sports games? Jay z, Kate Hudson, Billy crystal, Donald Trump, Spike Lee, Bloomberg, Former mayor Giuliani, Michelle Obama, Joe Biden and his wife, Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves could all be seen at this years World Series, and most of them in New York. Most of those women don’t even understand baseball, much less want to go see a game.
At one point when Spike Lee was congratulating Phil Coke, there were more cameras on him than on the game. Every chance the network had they would put the face of a celebrity in the middle of the screen. Are we supposed to be impressed that famous people are at the World Series? Should we care?
These celebrities see these games as an event to be seen at. They dress up, they doll themselves all to be seen at a professional baseball game. It is a gentle reminder of how intertwined professional sports are with popular culture. In this day and age, sports stars are celebrities. Having Demi Moore show up at a game is like Jeter going to the Grammy’s.
The elites of society “roll” together, and sports is no exception. They like to go big or go home, all the time. The World Series is one of the biggest events in American Sports, it is only fitting that there would be an entourage of celebrities to go along with it.
As long as sports continues to be as high profile as it is, celebrities will be sure to be there.