Valentines shoes on ESPN
 

What is the legend wearing tonight? How does he get away from wearing the all black shoes? He must know something.

Just like any other guy in his position gets away with it. They do not care about his shoes. They care about him as an official. He is not the only one in that situation. This is not high school basketball. And even there many do not care what shoes you have on.

Peace

Come work for me. I don't care what shoes you wear as long as you get your calls right.

I've been wearing a pair of 2014 Nike Air Max with a silver-ish swoosh for the past two seasons. I wish I would've bought a few pairs -- can't find them and they are the best shoes I've ever worn.

2017. All black are better...

I have custom orthotics. I ordered a personalized 2016 version and found that the orthotics and my feet just didn't fit right inside the shoe.

So I'm wary of trying again. But if I can find any more of those 2014s, I'd buy up a few pairs the same way I bought 6 pair of Converse Run N Refs back in the 1990s (I think that's when I bought them give or take a few years).

He and Steratore have been wearing those since last year.


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There was a mandate to cut out all of the white several years ago. Most have complied with this rule but several do not follow the rules as it makes them stand out from your partners.

Well several years ago there was a different administrator. And if I recall that position did not hurt guys like Valentine to work. So I guess we will have to see if there is some kind of situations as a result.

Peace

The NCAA rulebook specifies details on the uniform....except it doesn't mention the shoes at all.

The NFHS manual says shoes shall be primarily black with black laces. Not all black.

John Higgins isn't wearing all black right now either, and we know the assignments he's gotten the last few years.

Much ado about nothing. As usual. :rolleyes:

From the CCA 2016-17 Men's Basketball Officiating Manual for a Crew of 3:

Thanks. I wasn't interested enough to look past the rules book.

But there's no way that the B1G (for example) is going to tell the officials that they all have to wear the same shoes. Just isn't going to happen.

As long as the shoes are mostly black, I'm not sure why anyone would care.

Who. Cares.

There are some uniform "traditions" that need to die. All-black shoes is one of them (in SC we still have to wear all-black shoes in football). No sunglasses for football is another one.

Had high school coach say to me: How can officials enforce uniforms rules for players, if they aren't wearing proper uniform ("entirely black shoes and socks")?

Shoes which are specifically not allowed "don't matter." A belt which specifically is allowed matters very much.

Interesting.

Not at all interesting to me.

Nobody wearing a belt would get HIRED at the D-1 level. The same people making those decisions may or may not care about shoes.

Must be a state rule. NFHS manual says primarily black shoes, not entirely black shoes.

I'm not talking about the D-1 level. I'm talking about all the snide remarks about belts at any level.

But if there is a rule in the book for D-1 officials shoes, but some choose to disregard it "because they can get away with it," why is that okay?

Interesting: 12/13 book says:
2.1. ART. 1

The official's uniform shall be a black-and-white striped shirt, black pants, entirely black shoes and socks.
When did this change?




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I'm looking at the 15-17 Officials Manual.

"or shoes approved by an individual conference" is good enough for me.

The belt people crack me up.

Basketball officiating pants are sold beltless. The people I see wearing belts around here are wearing Dockers or pants with white pockets or pants that fit poorly when it comes to running up and down a basketball floor.

I asked someone once why he didn't buy pants specifically designed for officiating. He told me he could get the pants he bought for $15 at Sears. Enough said. He just didn't care enough to buy the right pants. Same guy was still wearing a 100% old-style polyester shirt, which anyone with any sense stopped wearing YEARS ago.

I know of one official who worked at a high level in the last 15 years wearing a belt -- Blane Reichelt -- and he retired in 2005.

The new pants out in the last few years (the 4-way stretch pants) are super comfortable and look good and I just don't understand why anyone wouldn't just buy them.

2010 Air Max all leather. Blacked in the swoosh. Replaced them with Zigs a couple of seasons ago, but made my way back to the Air Max. The best shoe ever.

Rich, have you tried shoekicker.com for those AirMax?

I knew a guy that wore pants with belt loops. I never asked him about this personally, but my understanding he hardly ever worked varsity ball. It looked absolutely stupid, but that is what he did. It is just lazy and unprofessional. Just like when you go to a job interview and you wear a T-shirt, that usually does not give the right impression either. So does what we wear and hardly anyone at that level cares about some white on shoes as most of the time they do not sell shoes that are totally black anymore.

Peace

I worked in an area where even the highest level varsity officials wore belts: there was no local supplier (mid 2000s) who sold the beltless variety. When I asked the local sporting goods guy why he didn't sell them (a small isolated metro area of about 100,000), he said there wasn't enough market for them. Too many officials could go to Target or Sears and get a cheap pair of dress slacks for $15.

How good were these top officials?

How did you respond?

I've tried everything I can think of, including eBay. I'm not a size 6, unfortunately.

I am an old, old guy and one of the things that I am most sensitive about is the statement "he looks and calls like an old timey referee". So, I go to camp EVERY summer and try to adopt all the current philosophies deemed important by those clinicians. I try to stay current and that includes things like shirts, pants, shoes, whistles. I believe the more current your assignor the more closely you can emulate the TV guys, regardless of rule or officials manuals.

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Mendy Rudolph. Is that you?

I shouldn't have mentioned belts. It was an unnecessary and pointless distraction to the original thread. To me this is not about belts or shoes, but about rules, and the need to follow them and/or which ones truly "don't matter." A couple of posters referred to Valentine getting away with something, and at least one said nobody cares, I think. Which leads to questions. Is he truly getting away with something because of who he is, or could a rookie at this level wear any kind of shoe and be okay? And if he is allowed special privileges, do those of you here that call at the college level find that acceptable? I agree that it doesn't matter, and unless they're fluorescent or something, I'm unlikely to notice a partner's shoes. But if it truly doesn't matter, why is it in the books at all? Especially the part about being approved by an individual conference.

First of all there are no rules that even discuss the shoes. In Rule 2-1-2, there is no mention of any shoes or the color of those shoes. Only words about the shirt, the stripes size on that shirt and logos and national flag being permitted on the sleeve. Nothing about shoes. The CCA Manual is not a rulebook. It is a manual made up with the consolation of the supervisors and the NCAA to set some standards or expectations.


This is not a Teddy only issue. I work college and have for some time and many officials wear shoe with some white or grey on their shoes. I have no issue if people are allowed to do that if their supervisors do not care. It is also very hard to find comfortable shoes for many. I have shoes that I wear sometimes that has some white on them. Never been told to stop wearing them. Been to many camps where several officials have shoes with some white or gray on them. I do not recall anyone ever saying a word about them.

Peace

Because that is how life works. Deal with it. Its not fair and never will be.