[Dan_ref]

Originally posted by ksandi
First, you are misrepresenting my post. At no time have I said that it is wrong for a person to display the flag. Such a symbolic gesture is quite worthy of praise. What I said was that it is wrong to leave it at that. We all should do more to support our nation all the time. Not just when a conflict arises. Correct me if I’m wrong but a 35% voter turnout during an election is considered to be above normal.

This is what we commonly call a red herring. Off the point
and muddys the argument by indirection. It doesn't matter
if 100%, or 2% of voters turned out. What about the
starving children in Elbonia??!!

[quote]
I thought this site was for officials to discuss general thoughts about sports rules and interpretations of them. Somehow it appears to be drifting off onto another tangent. The question by Dan was;
“Do we want to, as an Association, wear the American Flag on our referee shirt?”

And to that I expressed my thoughts…
“I don’t believe that it’s appropriate for anyone to ‘mandate’ that a person wears a flag in anyway.”
To me that statement defines itself, so what is it that you missed?

[quote]

I posted this before in a thread here last month, I'll
post it again: When you get the call to work the NCAA
D1 tourney next March are you going to question the mandate
requiring you to put the NCAA patch on your shirt? As Mark
posted are you gonna question the mandate to wear black
socks & black sansabelts? It is appropriate for an
authoritive organization to mandate what constitutes a
uniform. But this aside, all "flag" regulations that I
am aware of state clearly that each member of the crew is
to wear a flag. If one does not wear it none wear it.
Not exactly a "mandate".

I went on to say…
“If any official chooses to wear a flag on his uniform, to me that would demean the accomplishments of the men & women who are putting their lives on the line everyday. Sports and politics ought to be kept separate.”

After reading this again, I admit it is a bit confusing. Having said that, allow me to elaborate. No one should be forced to place a flag on his or her uniform. It should be an individuals’ prerogative. I don’t think we should legislate something such as this.

So when are you going to start your crusade to eliminate
the requirement for black socks? But more to the point,
the regs I've seen require ALL or NONE to wear the flag.
If you decide to not wear the flag it is not an issue,
you in fact dictate to the crew that flags shall not be worn
when you work.

Finally, you should not confuse my opinions to represent anyone other than me.

If you don't want to be confusing you should attempt to
present your thoughts more clearly before pressing
"submit".

This will end my participation in this discussion.