[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

To my knowledge there are three types of lanyard one can wear.

1) The old time loose neck lanyard that all of us old geezers use to wear before the invention of the Smitty.

2) The Smitty.

3) The non-loose neck (the type we see in the NBA/WNBA) or noose neck type lanyard.

Personally, I prefer the Smitty. But I have all three types of lanyard in my bag. During "real" games I wear either the Smitty or the noose neck lanyard. But when I wear the old shirts with collars (for summer and recreational league games), I sometimes wear the loose neck lanyard.

In the final analysis, who cares what type of laynard one wears. All three look fine to me. It is an official's personal preference as to the type of lanyard he/she prefers to wear. When I evaluate an official the only thing I want to see is that he is wearing a lanyard (I do not care wether it is Type 1, 2, or 3) and that it is black. What really steams my tuchus is an official who does not use a laynard.