Webber: Black men can wear suits, too

[Malfa]

Critics of the NBA's new dress code feel that the rules are fraught with racial overtones, that they are directed at the league's African American players. But Chris Webber feels that the implications are different.

Appearing on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher in an interview taped on Friday, the 76ers forward said that while he has "a couple of problems" with the new rules, he also has a problem with people who criticize him for having dressed up long before the code arrived.

"For everybody to say that [the code] is racist, what you're saying to me is that the black man can't be fresh or flower, can't have a suit on," Webber said. "I'm going to dress the way I want to dress.

"So when people say it's racial overtones, I'm sure it's racial overtones in trying to relate to a different community. But when we really change fashion in everything we do, to say that we can't wear suits, from [rapper] Kanye West to myself to someone else, that's racial.

"We have changed fashion over time so much that, if this is what we have to do because it's the rule and we have to do it, we're going to do it to the best of our ability."

Webber, 32, said he picked up his style of dress when he entered the NBA and saw the well-groomed likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Dominique Wilkins and Charles Oakley, all of whom he tried to emulate.

As for his objections to the new code, which was announced last Monday, Webber said he had two principal ones.

"First, whenever you're told to do something, you have a problem with it," he said. "Number two, we didn't know about it until a week ago. We didn't have time to complain and be mad about it or even try to see if there was some other type of remedy.

"So, really, all this is really new to us. So for a lot of guys - even myself - I was surprised with the dress code. But at the end of the day, to say it's racist - I believe there are racial overtones in damn near everything in America. But I'm not saying that."

During his six-minute interview with Webber, Maher asked him about allegations that some members of the Minnesota Vikings had a sex party on a couple of chartered boats, but Webber wasn't biting.

"My mom's watching this, Bill," he said. "Be cool with me, man."

On a more serious note, Webber said he felt that stories about the allegations were written to sell newspapers.

"The funny thing about it to me, whenever I see things like this, is the hypocrisy," he said. "I wish that all the reporters that report this with a straight face as if they're the Virgin Mary - I wish that somebody could report about what they have done."

[Jona]

Oh, cut it out with this dress code thing, it's starting to get old...

[J@3]

At least one player has half a brain.

[Colin]

At least one player has half a brain.

The other half was destroyed in an accident while he was at Michigan. Apparently some bookie went nuts when they mistakenly won a game.