Dressing for NFL press box

Slim: I think that how we dress makes an impression that impacts how well we can do our job.

 

I think it's important to wear clean clothes that don't call attention to you (slogans on shirts/hats, maybe really low-cut tops or too-short skirts for women) and to exercise good hygenic habits (don't smell,for instance). Outside of that, it doesn't matter very much. Unless, of course, you're a television reporter.

 

I've worked with a woman who wore low-cut tops. It was distracting for ME and I'm a woman, I can only imagine the players/coaches. It's just not the kind of attention you want to attract unless you're in a bar.

I sure don't have to try very hard to be more professionally dressed though. Advantage: me.

 

Exactly.

I know a local TV sports director who wears the following on-air:

UP WHERE THE CAMERA CAN SEE: Coat. Buttondown shirt. Tie and tack. Sometimes even cuff links. Looks very slick.

TOO LOW FOR CAMERA VIEW: Shorts or jeans; tennis shoes or flip-flops. Looks like he's ready to go to a beach cookout.

The minimum standard for men should be: Collared shirt (polo or button-up, preferably with no commercial logos other than your employer [and maybe not even that]), nice jeans (not too faded, no fraying, no holes, no patches, no phone numbers from Ladies' Night), and some kind of closed shoes. As for those you-have-to-wear-a-tie-and-dammit-denim-at-work-is-the-spawn-of-Satan people ... eh. Whatever. It's entertainment, not banking.

And for those who claim ties are "professional attire," I can think of quite a few Fortune 500 companies that have dispensed with the tie requirement and more power to them. IBM is one of them.

I still like the way Insight Direct announced that none of its male sales-by-phone staff would be required to wear ties anymore: After studying the sales patterns on "casual days" versus "non-casual days," they made the announcement by having each tie cut in half with scissors by the receptionist as the employees made their way through the lobby and security-pass door. ;D

Yes, neckties are more formal, for whatever that might be worth. But let me point this out: Part of a reporter's job is to get people to relax and open up. A necktie is a constant reminder to the wearer and people around him of formality, which could very well be a barrier to having people relax and open up to you.

 

Good point. I think for everyone who's impressed by your coat-and-tie there'll be another person who perceives you as an eager-beaver wannabe.

 

You'd be surprised how many people can't adhere to the "don't smell" requirement. I can't count the number of times I've been in a group interview and almost passed out from the smell of someone standing around me. I used to think it was just the athlete who stunk but then I figured out the athlete had usually just showered.

And before any suggests it, I usually give my pits a little sniff to make sure it's not me.

 

If you must wear a tie...

 

This might be going back 10 years or so, but does anybody remember the NFL writer who wore a 49ers sweatshirt in, I believe, the Giants' locker room? And one of the players went nuts on the guy, which is understandable. I don't recommend doing that.

And that reminds me of Jack McCallum's foray into coaching with the Suns last year. In trying to explain how it was difficult going from objective to coaching a team, he wrote of a time when he was on his way to a game, realized he was wearing a regular shirt that just happened to be the same color used by one of the teams so he stopped off and bought a new shirt.

 

Especially an NFL player on game day - dressed only in his unprepossessing $3500 custom-tailored suit, $600 Ted Baker shirt, $225 Paul Smith necktie and $1200 hand-lasted alligator slip-ons from Milan.

 

Is this close enough?

http://www.brooksbrothers.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=307&Product_Id=1059602&Parent_Id=305

 

Woo-Hoo! It's on sale!

Coming to a box near you soon.....

 

From their Lindsey Nelson collection.