NBA bans upside-down headbands
The NBA has outlawed wearing team-issued headbands upside-down. The uniform rule was passed earlier this season and has caused Boston’s Rajon Rondo – commonly displaying the upside-down headband – to completely forego its use in the Celtics season opener
against the Miami Heat and in their next game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The story of the official NBA headband
About a decade ago the headband was beginning to become fashionable again. Players began to sport this simple piece of cloth getting the attention of NBA marketing. The league began to cash-in on this, replacing each player’s unique headband with generic,
team-issued ones that were provided free of charge to their players. These official headbands – a simple piece of elasticised terrycloth with an NBA logo slapped on – were the only option for the players and if any player violated this rule there was a nice
fine waiting for him.
This blatant opportunism from the league caused NBA All-Star Rasheed Wallace to begin to turn his headband inside out in protest. The league responded to this disobedience and Wallace eventually stopped this habit.
The controversy of headbands resurfaced in 2007 when players began to follow Rondo’s practice of wearing their headbands upside-down. This act of defiance has continued up until present with some players sticking to the practice and others completely dumping
piece of attire altogether. The man that has remained consistent in this unusual practice has been Rondo who has been seen countless times on national TV sporting the upside-down headband.
With the Celtics making it to the conference finals two of the past three years it was only a matter of time before this practice came to the attention of the league. Rondo was asked personally by the league to stop the practice and it appears from the game
against the Heat that he, like Wallace before him, has obeyed their requests. In fact Rondo, like so many players before him, has skipped wearing of the piece of merchandise altogether.
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