DropDownList Has A Selected Value Which Is Invalid Because It Does Not Exist

I have had some issues with processing null values stored in a SQL Server database table that needed to be represented in a DropDownList. Inevitably if the value wasn't there [meaning that any value in the database must match one of the values in the DropDownList otherwise] you would get the following error:

'DropDownList' has a SelectedValue which is invalid because it does not exist in the list of items

My earlier solution to this problem was to not allow null values resulting in making sure that all fields had default values, and that all DropDownList boxes were equipped with and entry called "Select this" or some such nonsense. Of course this value would also be the default value in said field, which even I would have to admit, looked quite stupid. Enter my co-worker and classic ASP guy who insists that null values are OK in a database (I tend to come from the "No Null values allowed camp.") One look at my code, which looked like this:

Code:
<asp:DropDownList ID="JointType" runat="server"
SelectedValue='<%# Bind("JointType") %>'>
<asp:ListItem>Select Joint Type</asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem>Mechanical</asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem>Push</asp:ListItem>
</asp:DropDownList>

Prompted him to say "Why aren't you doing that this way?", where "this way" looks like the following:

Code:
<asp:DropDownList ID="JointType" runat="server"
SelectedValue='<%# Bind("JointType") %>'>
<asp:ListItem Value="">Select...</asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem>Mechanical</asp:ListItem>
<asp:ListItem>Push</asp:ListItem>
</asp:DropDownList>

This causes a "Select..." to be displayed in the DropDownList when a null value is found in the database.