January 20, 2011 – Kevin Burke

“You’d rather look good and lose than look bad and win.”

Those epic words were spoken by Billy Hoyle to Sidney Deane once upon a time. Perhaps Billy wasn’t speaking just to Sidney, but rather an entire generation of basketball players to follow. While that may be a bit extreme, I think it’s inarguable that ball players (and athletes in general) want to look good when they’re performing. Players are always trying to be innovative and set trends for others to follow. In the NBA, the two trends that we see most often are the headband and the arm sleeve.

Make no mistake. The person that we should credit with the headband (as we know it today) and arm sleeve is Allen Iverson. He’s the guy who I’ve always considered to be the league’s most influential player ever. He has forever transformed the league from the look to the style of play.

The headband is supposed to prevent sweat from running down your forehead into your eyes and the arm sleeve is supposed to keep the shooting arm warm, prevent muscles from cramping or overstretching, and help you maintain proper shooting from. Yeah right. Neither do what they claim. They are both purely fashion statements on the court as far as I’m concerned.

Sure, guys like Bill Walton, Wilt Chamberlain, Slick Watts and more recently Cliff Robinson, all wore headbands but you didn’t see a slew of guys follow suit. They stood out because of it, whereas now you stand out if you don’t wear one.

If the headband did what it claims, everyone in the league would wear one or they’d be blinded by sweat constantly trickling into their eyes. Actually, what it really does is make your forehead hot. Iverson broke out the headband his rookie season and it has been one of his many trademarks ever since. Iverson’s look was novelty so it was only a matter of time before it caught on. He has even worn it over in Turkey this season.

There are some guys that I don’t ever remember playing a game without a headband. I don’t think Carmelo Anthony or LeBron James have ever played an NBA game without one. Then there are some guys who may not have started out wearing one, but have become synonymous with it over time. Paul Pierce, Baron Davis and Zach Randolph come to mind – just to name a few. Then, of course, you have teams who banned them because they realize it’s a way to draw attention to yourself. Who can forget the unnecessary drama that ensued when Ben Wallace signed with the Bulls and was told that he couldn’t wear a headband because the team didn’t allow it? This man signed a $50M deal and was complaining about a headband.

Iverson introduced the arm sleeve to us as well and has even worn that in Turkey too. At the time when Allen first wore it, he was nursing a bad elbow and we all were told that he was wearing it for that reason. It was pitched as a medical device. At first I believed it because I had no idea what it was. But let’s stop the madness. No it isn’t. It’s a fashion statement. First of all, if it really does what it claims, then that sounds like a performance enhancer to me. If it keeps your arm warm and ensures proper form, then it would be banned from the NBA, like other equipment that gives you an advantage, has. Wouldn’t practice (“Practice?!”) help your form? I guess it’s only fitting that Iverson paved the way then.

What I never understood about this arm sleeve is that if it’s supposed to do all of those things to your shooting arm, why do some guys wear it on their healthy, non-shooting arm? Carmelo does this all the time. And what really gets me is when guys wear it on both arms. Mo Williams has done that repeatedly and I’ve also seen Ray Allen do that too. Ray is arguably the best shooter ever so why is he using a device that is supposed to augment that?

Both the headband and arm sleeve are completely unnecessary as far as I’m concerned and are worn because of fashion. Because of the longevity and history of the headband, I’ll say that the arm sleeve is more unnecessary. The fact that guys wear it on their non-shooting arm solidifies that for me.

Which do you think is more unnecessary?

If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook