Originally Posted by VRGNCD5
With the exception of the military, do either one of those professions you named dictate what employees in said professions can wear to and from their job?
Many employers limit personal freedoms as a stipulation for employment. For instance, you can be terminated for using drugs, even if it is after hours and doesn't affect your ability to work. A more extreme case is like mine, where I am not allowed to travel to certain countries and all my personal travel outside the US must be reported and is periodically monitored. This dress code is a condition of employment, and not an unreasonable one at that; if the players don't like it, they are certainly welcome to find other jobs.
Originally Posted by VRGNCD5
But that appearance is all you have to work with as far as the image they project because their personal business, good and bad, is not put out in front of the world for all to see and pick apart so their appearance plays a significantly more important role in their image than that of NBA players.
Haven't you seen headlines like 'Police Officer convicted of beating wife' or 'Police officer convicted of taking bribes'? Their personal lives are out there, too for all of us to see.
Also, since basketball players are more public figures, it makes more sense to make them look better. If people already assume your average basketball player is an arrogant prick with a thuggish background, why enforce the stereotype by letting them look like thugs?