There are many disturbing things circulating inside of the world of sports. Sports-betting companies taking over sponsorship of every broadcast show, podcast and stadium. Athletes calling out members of the media for not ‘‘knowing the game’’ when most members of the sports media are former players. Etc.
There exists one greater. Let’s call this a sartorial conundrum. Before this rant, understand none of the following is directed at men in general; this is about those of us involved in sports. The anchors, the broadcasters, the analysts, the insiders, the pundits, the snitches, the journalists, the players, their 1%-ers, the agents, the front-office execs, the lackeys, the sidekicks, the sideline reporters, the commentators, the hosts, the former players. All of the front-facing ‘‘experts’’ in sports who appear on our flat screens (handheld or wall-hung), on IG feeds, on TikTok posts, on X/Twitter doing whatever — wearing two- and three-piece suits, full button-ups and ties — in sneakers.
Not inappropriate, just wrong.
The trend has gotten outta control with all men’s fashion and attire guardrails removed. It’s decorum armageddon out here. Style, be damned. And sports is more to blame for it than any other walk of life in society.
Blame relaxed dress codes in the workplace, broader changes in corporate culture, the NBA (as GQ kinda did) for taking over menswear, sneakers for becoming the culture that overtook all other cultures connected to it. The fact remains that while sneakers and suits have found marital bliss in the last generation or so, the whole ‘‘sneakers with a suit and tie’’ combo should be as banned and outlawed as the ‘‘1619 Project’’ is in Florida.
All men should know better, be taught better, be shown better. But we don’t and aren’t. So as ballplayers are walking in tunnels, superstar athletes — and non-superstars, given that definition of what is and what isn’t is up for debate right now — are on red carpets and in photo shoots and tech-start-up CEOs, after purchasing sports franchises, like to fashion a pair of Common Projects or Hokas with their Hugo Boss and an open-collared UNTUCKit while jumping on their PJs, it’s the dudes in sports media who have ruined the game forever.
Everyone. Everywhere. From every show on NFL Network to the Tennis Channel’s in-studio coverage of any major or ATP 1000 tournament to any sports program on ESPN with the exception of ‘‘PTI’’ and ‘‘The Pat McAfee Show’’ to any of FS1’s soccer studio shows. It’s rampant. Worse, it’s ubiquitous.
Anchors in full suits and ties wearing Izod lows and Jordan 1 highs. Dan Orlovsky appearing on ‘‘Get Up’’ once with untied tennis sneakers and ankle socks while wearing high Euro-cut stretch trousers and a blazer. Marty Smith covering NASCAR, an SEC football game or the Masters (hell, on his own book cover) in a suit and tie while wearing Chuck Taylors, Air Jordans or Adidas. During coverage of the Sugar Bowl last season, on-camera, one of the neck-to-ankle best-dressed former players in the media, Roman Harper, showed up (as he similarly did for an appearance on ‘‘The Paul Finebaum Show’’) in full suit mode with some Jordan 11s on his feet. Bro. Earlier in the week, Stephen A. on ‘‘First Take’’ was in a suit and tie with half-cooked high-tops. (Not sure what brand, but they were no doubt in the Celine, Balmain or Mr. Porter arena. Yet and still.)
And, yes, I have receipts.
I knew it was over when Don Rea Jr., the president of the PGA of America, presented Scottie Scheffler with the PGA Championship trophy in May wearing a customized blue-checked blazer, tan slacks, powder-blue shirt, a tie with a dark navy logo — in line with all the other PGA members for the ceremony — and Air Jordan 1s that, if thoroughly investigated, could have been a NIKEiD version of the AJ1 golf shoe or a dead-stock Dior version. Yet and still.
And as Rea is not a member of the sports media, per se, he’s still a part of the ecosystem of sports. Making him as culpable as anyone else. Probably more so. But from the media side of this mashdown, Jimmy Pitaro, Rick Cordella and Eric Shanks need to do a David Stern on all of ’em. Dress-code ’em. Right this fashion abomination. Hopefully as I write this, none of them is reading this wearing a Tom Ford or Brunello Cucinelli and a Hermes tie while in Lanvin sneakers.
A GQ story in 2018, a year after Yahoo Finance called the sneaker Silicon Valley’s ultimate status symbol for CEOs, addressed the issue as it was becoming problematic in the area of male appearance. ‘‘The Rules of Wearing a Suit With Sneakers Has Changed’’ was the headline. They called it ‘‘world-is-ending comfort and world-is-ending glamour,’’ writing: ‘‘Let your sneakers be sneakers and your suit be a suit, and wear them together in all their beautiful yin-and-yang-ness.’’
Sorry, but there is no ‘‘yin-and-yang-ness’’ in this. Sneakers with a suit and tie is not a fit because they don’t fit. And when it don’t fit, you can’t acquit. You just quit.