The Bowdoin Orient

April 6, 2001
Volume CXXXII, Number 20

Do-Rag or not Do-Rag?

by J.P. BOX, STAFF WRITER

   That was the question that haunted the hearts of NFL executives during the past months. With a growing number of NFL players wearing do-rags, which are essentially bandanas or stocking caps, the NFL outlawed their use in the upcoming season citing a need for uniformity.
   Only players with medical conditions, such as the Raven's Ray Lewis, requiring a do-rag to play will be allowed to continue wearing them. (Quick question: Does this mean Ray Lewis couldn't play in the pre do-rag era? If so, we would have been spared an incredibly boring Super Bowl XXXV). Each team voted for the ban, except for the Oakland Raiders, and the NFL competition committee responded unanimously to uphold the decision.
   Minnesota head coach Dennis Green, one of the NFL's three black head coaches and a member of the competition committee, remarked, "I don't know why it has to be a big deal. When a baseball player takes his hat off, he looks like everyone else."
   When asked if uniformity was just a mask for racial discrimination, Green responded "Does image matter? And if it does, should we have a uniform code that is standard?" The image to which Green referred was the do-rag's status as a supposed gang marker.
   Sorry, Paul Tagliabue and Dennis Green, but this one stinks. Bad. If a rash of kickers, who are predominantly white, suddenly started wearing bandannas, does anyone really believe that the NFL would place a ban upon their use?
   Elijah Anderson, author of Street Wise, writes that "a young black male is suspect until he proves he is not. The burden of proof is not easily lifted." Although Anderson was analyzing the life of young black men in an urban setting, the men who wear do-rags in the NFL, who are primarily black athletes, are facing a similar dilemma.
   And to think that the NFL made this decision approximately one month after Black History Month. At www.nfl.com, a headline rings "NFL Salutes Black History Month." The article cites various ways that NFL players have reached out to communities to enrich people's knowledge of African Americans, but certainty does not mention the cultural attack rendered against black players last month.
   Recently the NFL has suffered an image problele-like many American sports. Its viewership is dropping, its fan base is dwindling, and the XFL has geared up with hopes of competing with the NFL game. In addition, it is now commonplace to hear of players like Rae Carruth, who was convicted of conspiracy to murder his pregnant girlfriend. However, this latest move is not an answer to make the NFL represent the three-bedroom, white picket fence model of social acceptability.
   But, what about the need for players to look the same on the field, like baseball players do? first of all, baseball players routinely wear earrings, chains, and other kinds of jewelry hanging out of their jerseys. They also have varying preferences on sock height, bagginess of uniform, as well as other nuances. They do not represent the cookie-cutter team player that the NFL dreams about.
   Secondly, the NFL has fairly recently instituted a policy that forbids players from removing their helmets while on the field, and thus do-rags are virtually unnoticed during live play. So, basically the NFL has decided to regulate what players wear on the sidelines. Meanwhile, quarterbacks, kickers, and back-ups chill in ball caps of different styles. Some are even turned.... backwards and sideways! I saw a gang member do that once!
   Make them wear them forward, NFL committee, or else the image of the NFL is going to be ruined. Instead of seeing guys in do-rags next year on the sideline, you will still see starters with big wads of chew in their mouth at the end of blow-outs.
   John Elway, a Colorado demigod who was known as the man who could do no wrong in the Mile High City, was one of these players who would spit his Skoal into a Gatorade cup while on the sideline. Before regulating headgear, the NFL should have considered at least outlawing tobacco products on the sideline, too.
   What message does the NFL want to send? Dennis Green asked "Does image matter?" Yes, it does. As Andre Agassi told the nation in his Canon camera commercials: "Image is everything." Ironically enough, Agassi is a proud wearer of a do-rag.