Professional athletes often given slack with team rules
Last week's news that the Bulls' no-headband rule had been rescinded, but only for Ben Wallace, prompted an interesting letter. The name was not provided, but the idea is worth excerpting:
"The headband fight was idiotic, but the solution was worse," the letter read. "Ban it or don't ban it, but don't say we have different rules for different players and different salaries. …
"My son's team had a discussion this summer about what it takes to be on a team and why there are team rules and why they all have to respect them. The Bulls' headband rule was used as an example of how everyone has to follow them. …
"You won't believe the amount of prima donnas there are among talented kids who expect things to be different because they are better than others and the rules don't apply to them."
Both sides were at fault for allowing the headband ban to become national news last season. General manager John Paxson and coach Scott Skiles knew Wallace favored extra headwear in Detroit and should have settled the issue when making their free-agent recruiting pitch.
Likewise, if Wallace had a problem with the rule, he should have gone to Skiles before the season began instead of challenging the coach's authority that night at Madison Square Garden.
When Wallace did ask to revisit the headband usage rule prior to training camp, Skiles put the decision up to Wallace's teammates, knowing full well they would never vote against it. The no-headband rule remains intact for everyone besides Wallace.
It's hard to imagine the one-man headband immunity ever being a problem on this team. Chances are, no player will ever give it a second thought.
"When we talked about it, everyone was on board," Kirk Hinrich said. "We just wanted to talk about it early and not have to worry about it all year."
On media night, Paxson suggested Skiles deserves credit for being open to bending his rules. But as the reader asked, is it smart for the Bulls to embrace such a blatant double-standard?
"Obviously, I considered a lot of things, because I was the one that had the rule," Skiles said. "I'm not concerned about that. There's a team dynamic in play here and we're making decisions accordingly based on that."
The first thing I'd say is there's a big difference between a bunch of kids who try out for a school team and a 32-year-old NBA veteran who signed a $60-million deal to switch teams.
The NBA is full of double standards. Veteran players usually practice less, are given leniency by referees and can get away with shunning rules like being available to the media before games.
Since Wallace feels more comfortable wearing a headband on the court, the Bulls should encourage him to use it. If making an exception to a team rule sends a poor message to kids, that's unfortunate. But we should have learned a long time ago not to expect pro athletes to be perfect role models.