[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by AremRed

...crew let illegal undershirts go. Sucks that I have the team later this season and will have to fix their mistake. And I look like the bad guy.

I can almost understand some confusion regarding headbands, wristbands, sleeves, and tights, with multiple color options legal for that team that night (solid color black, white, beige, or the predominant color of the jersey). And, of course, I myself am really confused about compression shorts color options (what's a uniform?). Rules regarding these equipment colors have changed a lot over the past few years (in response to changing fashion issues (see Allan Iverson sleeves)), making it difficult for some officials to get a handle on the rules, especially when they really don't want to enforce the rules to begin with because it doesn't involve "the game".

But the undershirt color rule (The Patrick Ewing Rule) has been around, unchanged, for several years. Undershirts must be similar in color to the uniform jersey. Period. And since all team members have the same color jersey on that night, we don't have to worry about the mandate regarding the same color for each item, and all participants (it's already taken care of). With undershirts it's never about same color for each item, and all participants. It's because the undershirts are the wrong (illegal) color. The only legal color undershirt for the home team will always be white. Always. No other options. Period. And the only legal color undershirt for the visiting team will always be the color of their uniform jersey that night (in the case of multiple color road jerseys (see NBA)). Always. No other options. Period.

The only possible problem with enforcing the undershirt rule would involve teams wearing warm up apparel that would hide the undershirt color until the players remove the apparel for the start of the game, or to come off the bench as a substitute. But that's easy to deal with (except maybe to have the player remove the undershirt away for the vicinity of the bench, but that's for another thread).

And for those who believe that the undershirt color has nothing to do with "the game"; I've worked many multiple team, intersquad, preseason scrimmages over the years where the players wear reversible scrimmage vests and we've decided not to enforce the undershirt color rule. When you've got a bunch of players all trying to get a rebound, some wearing a white jersey over a white undershirt, some wearing a white jersey over a blue undershirt, some wearing a blue jersey over a white undershirt, and some wearing a blue jersey over a blue undershirt, it makes the official's job a little easier if they're all wearing legal color undershirts.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Now, could somebody please help me get down from this soapbox? It's kind of high up here, and I'm getting a little dizzy.