04/18/24
June 14, 2007
Suit Yourself, NFL Tells Its Coaches: Faced with fans who will attend the first 49ers game in business attire, Commissioner Roger Goodell has ruled that NFL head coaches can wear suits to all home games this season. But the suits must incorporate team colors, which I'm hoping means a red Velvet Jones look for Nolan and some mac daddy teal on the Jags' Jack Del Rio, the only other coach expressing an interest in dressing up on game days.
The way Parcells looked on the Cowboys sideline reminded me of the Simpsons episode where Homer let himself go and adopted the mumu. But as for Belichick, the "Sporty Unabomber" look works for him and I hope he never changes.
posted by rcade at 10:58 AM on June 14, 2007
I can't imagine any situation where I would campaign for the right to wear a suit. Del Rio, outside in Jacksonville, what is he thinking?
posted by bperk at 11:06 AM on June 14, 2007
Yer new suit's a beauty, eh! 
This message has been approved by The Grand Poobah of Satorial Sports Splendor.
posted by wfrazerjr at 11:23 AM on June 14, 2007
Now is the league going to tell them when they can go to the bathroom and take a leek.. You have got to be kinding...............Next thing the league is going to tell the players they can only wear approved jockstraps color cor/with the teams colors. Give me a freaking break already. The average fans of today want to win games not dress like fashion tren magazine models. Wins and loses are the only things on peoples mind and that is the only thing that is going to sell tickets at the boxoffice..
posted by The Old Man at 11:53 AM on June 14, 2007
I think the box office is the least of the NFL's financial concerns. Merchandising agreements have a much higher profit ceiling. This issue was never about the fans.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 12:00 PM on June 14, 2007
Don Cherry looks like he is ready for the NBA draft (as a potential draftee). Of course, I would love to hear his commentary at the NBA draft as well -- the whole Euros-are-ruining-the-game schtick would transfer right over from hockey.
posted by holden at 12:03 PM on June 14, 2007
the "Sporty Unabomber" look works for him and I hope he never changes. In some strange way it does seem appropriate for Bill, but Nolen's tailored suit was pretty smokin. Can we imagine Tom Landry in a track suit and visor? George Halas? Hank Stram? The point is people should be able to wear what they feel most comfortable in, what suits their style. Performance can be directly related to how you feel about yourself. NFL coaches today dress like junior high kids. How can you project an image of professionalism, confidence, and a leader of men wearing attire most people only wear while mowing the grass? To loosely quote Primetime: look good, play good; play good, pay good; pay good, eat good; eat good, live good....
posted by r8rh8r27 at 12:08 PM on June 14, 2007
I believe it is baseball managers who need a makeover. Though this story reminds me of just how incredibly controlling the NFL is.
posted by rumple at 12:16 PM on June 14, 2007
The NFL mandates what the coaches wear? I wonder could the premiership do that for managers. Imagine Jose without his long coat and scarf. He just wouldn't be the same.
posted by Fence at 12:49 PM on June 14, 2007
I probably sound like a broken record, but this is why Belichick wears those awful-looking sweatshirts: he asked permission to wear a suit a long time ago and was turned down. Hopefully he changes his mind and starts wearing a Captain America/ Apollo Creed inspired get up.
posted by yerfatma at 12:52 PM on June 14, 2007
NFL coaches today dress like junior high kids. How can you project an image of professionalism, confidence, and a leader of men wearing attire most people only wear while mowing the grass? Good question. Maybe Mr. Belichick can help ya out.
posted by jmd82 at 01:26 PM on June 14, 2007
If you allow Jon "Chuckie" Gruden to wear that stupid visor in the middle of a snowstorm, allowing a small snowdrift to accumulate on the top of his head, then I think you have to allow anything. Grass skirts and coconut bras included.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 02:58 PM on June 14, 2007
Good question. Maybe Mr. Belichick can help ya out. Actually, he can't. They all dress like 8th graders on game day. It is mandated they do so. The only difference between Bill's attire and any other coach's is the logo (and occasional bouts with scissors). So you can't use the one coach who has been successful recently as an example that clothes do not matter. Now, if half the head coaches wore suits and half wore t-shirts, and the casual coaches fared as well as the suits, you would have a point. But because they ALL wear the same gear, you don't. Unless you are suggesting dressing like a bum for a world-wide TV audience plays well with young/rich/hip crowd that populates NFL locker rooms?
posted by r8rh8r27 at 03:09 PM on June 14, 2007
Maybe it's because I'm not a guy, but how do you "kinding" while taking a "leek"? Is this some urinal terminology?
posted by jerseygirl at 03:25 PM on June 14, 2007
So I tied a leek to my belt, which was the style at the time, and headed into the bathroom. Back then, each bathroom had a special area with a gramaphone that all the kids in the know called a kinding. "Johnny still in the crapper?," they'd say. "No he's just sitting in the kinding listening to show tunes." Now where was I?
posted by holden at 03:34 PM on June 14, 2007
I like coaches and managers who wear sports attire on the sidelines.Bob Knight looks better than most coaches in an Armani.(At least until he spouts off).A leader should look like he could go in if necessary.
posted by sickleguy at 03:45 PM on June 14, 2007
Man, do you know how much it costs to get that Gatorade odor out of an Armani suit? I do. Not cheap.
posted by Joey Michaels at 04:29 PM on June 14, 2007
You damn punk kids! Back in the old days, we just invented the English language as we went along! When somebody said somethng outlandish, if you didn't feel like saying "You gotta be kidding me," you just made some shit up! Now, you got your fancy verbs, and nouns, and dangling participles and whatnot. Nobody appreciates authentic frontier gibberish anymore! Man, do you know how much it costs to get that Gatorade odor out of an Armani suit? Can't be any worse than trying to get that stank-ass locker room smell out. Hell of a suit on the Cherr-man of the Board!
posted by The_Black_Hand at 04:56 PM on June 14, 2007
I think that the obvious solution would be for Brooks Brothers to start selling track suits and hoodies. Perhaps a nice line of Golden Fleece Sweatbands
posted by kyrilmitch_76 at 04:56 PM on June 14, 2007
First of all, holden, nice one. There's always time for a Grampa Simpson moment in my world. More to the point. When I saw Del Rio and Nolan wearing suits last year my immediate reaction was all positive. I had no idea at the time they had to get special dispensations from the NFL to wear them! So Roger Goodell wants his league to present itself as a (no "the") consummate professional sports organization, and coaches have to get permission to wear a suit?! It seems to me that professionalism starts at the top. If the league wants its players to dress and act professionally, shouldn't their coaches be required to do so? To have to file petitions, beg, plead, and cajole the top brass to even be allowed to do so is a crazy marketing demand. Maybe the NFL should allow coaches to wear a suit of the designer of their choosing. If they choose no to wear a suit, then go back to requiring the outfit to be a Reebok design. The dull tie in team colors seems even to be a bit much to demand, but if the coaches are o.k. with it, what the hell (hate to have any personalities, a la Roger Nielson, on those sidelines.)
posted by tahoemoj at 06:45 PM on June 14, 2007
Maybe Armani should put up some bucks to the NFL brass...
posted by bobfoot at 09:42 PM on June 14, 2007
The people in the league office definitely have diagnosable apparel issues. They let motormouth Chad Johnson put whatever the hell he wants on the back of his jersey, they squeeze cheerleaders into cheezy outfits brimming with "southern exposure", they require coaches to ask for permission to wear a suit on Sunday, and they claim it's an accident when Justin Timberlake opens the wrong window on Janet Jackson's advent calendar. NFL players and coaches: if you don't like having to seek approval to wear certain types of clothing in public, wait until you're out of the league, drawing benefits, and have to seek approval to get career-related medical treatment.
posted by beaverboard at 10:09 PM on June 14, 2007
Justin Timberlake opens the wrong window on Janet Jackson's advent calendar. HAH! That's my new fave!
posted by bobfoot at 10:32 PM on June 14, 2007
Hooo boy. What's next, business suits on the athletes while they're playing? I've heard of professional athletes but that's carrying it.....ehhh, never mind.
posted by NerfballPro at 03:47 AM on June 15, 2007
Football would look awesome if the players wore suits & ties.
posted by fabulon7 at 10:52 AM on June 15, 2007
Thinking of Bill Belichick in a suit somehow brings to my mind someone selling used Toyotas. Stay with the sweatshirts, Bill. PS: I love where this thread is going. Holden, Beaverboard, you 2 have me on the floor.
posted by Howard_T at 05:53 PM on June 15, 2007
I hope Belichik doesn't wear a suit. He looks a bit odd in one.
posted by False Prophet at 09:44 PM on June 16, 2007
The mandate that coaches wear Reebok-provided gear to the exclusion of (presumably) non-competing formal wear is merchandise licensing gone wacky. I can understand that Reebok, as the official clothing licensee of the NFL (for which they have paid a ton of money), may not want coaches to wear competing gear (e.g., Nike and adidas shirts). However, I think the better rule would be that coaches can wear whatever they want, so long as it does not display a logo or distinctive styling of another clothing manufacturer. Or it could even be narrowed down to something along the lines of coaches can wear gear for which Reebok does not make a substitute (which I believe suits and other formal wear were, prior to Rebook making suits specifically for Nolan). I suppose Reebok believes that attiring coaches in its gear will drive the casual fan to buy Reebok gear, but does seeing this or this really make you want to go buy the equivalent for yourself?