SPORTS
PSYCHOLOGY By: Dr. Tom Ferraro March 30, 2012 SPORTS AND FASHION: WHAT?!?!? |6SRUWV DQG IDVKLRQ DUH GHHSO\ FRQQHFWHG
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'U7RP )HUUDUR Sports are typically considered to be the masculine domain,
what with all the aggression, sweating and grunting. So when
you put the words �sport� and �fashion� together, it seems like
an oxymoron�almost like saying sports and beauty in the same
sentence. But if you have ever stood behind Tiger Woods on the
links and watched him swing, or watched Roger Federer hit a
backhand or MJ move towards the basket, the word beauty is the �UVW WKLQJ WKDW FRPHV WR PLQG And because fashion is about beauty, it may be worthwhile
taking a peek at the connection between the two. You may re-
call watching Jerry Maguire a few years when Marcee Tidwell,
wife of client Rod Tidwell, eloquently explained, �My husband
deserves the big four: shoes, car, clothing contract and soft drink
deal. I know about the 4 jewels of the celebrity endorsement
dollar.� In doing so, she introduced the deep connection be-
tween athletes and the world of fashion.
More to the point, we can see that athlete s often cannot resist
the siren�s call of fashion. Pick any sport; let�s take the NBA for
example. Here, we see nearly every player adorned with body
art, the penultimate fashion statement in a league that stresses
uniform appearance. Dennis Rodman was a long-time poster
boy for the NBA and he wore nose rings, techicolor hair and lots
of tattoos. What�s that you say? Rodman�s an unfair choice?
Okay, take golf, the most conservative and stodgy of sports.
While it�s true they are stuck with collared shirts and cuffed
pants, do not think for a second they aren�t conscious of fashion.
You all know that Nike endorses Tiger Woods, but what you
may not know is that every time you see him on TV he is wear-
ing a totally new shirt, pants, hat and shoes. When he arrives at D WRXUQDPHQW VLWH D QHZ RXW�W LV SUHVVHG DQG ZDLWLQJ IRU KLP LQ
WKH ORFNHU URRP :KHQ KH �QLVKHV WKH URXQG KH JRHV EDFN WR WKH locker room, leaves the clothes there and goes home. This hap-
pens every day. If he plays 100 tournament rounds per year, he LV ZHDULQJ QHZ RXW�WV SHU \HDU 1LNH UHDOO\ KDWHV ZULQNOHV 94
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