I wear them too.
 

Well I wear glasses as well. But anytime I officiate, I wear contacts. One time I wore glasses at a camp and the first question was, "do you wear contacts?" I was not told about my officiating or commented on what my mechanics were, but I was asked about something that I was wearing on my face that falls into the sterotype of "officials cannot see anyway." ;)

Peace

The shine on my shoes may be artificial, but the shine on my hair is as natural as it was the day I was born (we'll actually it's the shine on my head, cause there's not much hair there anymore) :)

What about underwear lines showing through the pants? You all have given me a whole new perspective on the professionalism of wearing beltless pants and that got me to wondering if we might also start wearing thongs to prevent panty or tighty whities lines from showing through. Some might just prefer not to wear any or maybe the jockey type some are wearing now. Don't know if panty hose would be an option because it seems they would be awful hot. Yep, after much careful thought, the thong would probably be best. Wonder how long it will take to get use to that thing. Surely the online stores will include these in the very near future and will have samples at upcoming clinics.

Barry

It is good to know that beltless pants now makes you a better official. When I go to my next clinic how many points do I get for wearing beltless pants? When taking the officials test should I wear beltless pants? Well this make me score higher on the test? Do I remember the rules better with beltless pants? As I see it Iam going to invest in beltless pants, patent leather shoes, and mouse for my hair. And buy the end of next week I should be assinged to my states championship game.

What size of beltless pants should I order? For those who wear the beltless pants do you take in consideration both your waist size and ego's

It's become a sad day when we are prejudged on our looks, and not our ability!

If ever in a job enterview looking for a super skilled computer wiz, that young out of school punk kid comes in dress in his holloween outfit should I not give him the time of day? O did I menchion he was top of his class at
M I T .

BILL GATES FINALLY STARTED TO WEAR A SUIT TO WORK!!!

If beltless pants are to make you look more professional, then why is it when I see officials wearing the beltless pants they are always adjusting and pulling up their pants?
At timeouts and between quarters I see them tucking and pulling.

It's not a new day, it's how it's always been. When that kid shows up for a job interview looking like he doesn't care if he gets it, he probably won't. It takes 10 minutes of thought, at most, to make yourself look presentable in an interview. To me, when that kid shows up, it tells me he doesn't give any thought to how he looks. Frankly, I wouldn't give him the time of day; as there are many other qualified applicants who do, in fact, show their willingness to look and act professional.
Same goes for officiating. No, wearing beltless pants doesn't make you a better official. No one here said it does. It does, however, display your lack of concern for the current uniform. Frankly, it does in fact show that you aren't going to bother with updating your game. It then lends to the perception that you might not even be up to date with the rules changes of the last 10 years.
Adam

Here is a question for the board. A1 passes to A2, A2 misses the ball and goes out of bounds. I am the nearest official to the play. I have on belted pants and my partner is wearing beltless pants. Who makes the call?

I have been replaced from my Varsity boys game tonight. My assignor has found out I do not wear beltless pants.

SNAGWELLS,

Have you seen the "new" breed of young adults getting out of school?

They are hired for the ability they posses with a computer, not how they dress.

I'll take that dorky dressed nerd over your suit and tie glamour boy any day of the week and kick your.......

judge not the cover of the book, but yet the contents of that book!!!!!

Wow! I guess this really started something. We are not the first to officiate basketball. At some point we have stolen something from someone's game. One thing I realized early on was in order to be accepted by the big boys I had to do what the big boys do. In some aspect of life we have all done this. You look up to someone and you imitate them. You hang with the older boys and you don't want them to think you are wierd. Or you are older and someone imitates you. You buy a car because someone told you something about it or someone buys the car you have because something you have. Heck, I live in the DC area and Mercedes Benzs are a dime a dozen. It wasn't like that in Vegas! Officials are wearing pleated pants without belts. Officials are looking more and more athletic. We did not make up the rules this is just the way things are.
From the moment you take that first step onto the court you are being judged. It is just that simple. How you are percieved happens by the time you get into position for warmups. When I have my uniform together and I know I'm in shape that is a walk I love to make. It doesn't make you a better official but this game is changing along with the part we play. We are just talking about what is current. If I made the rules I would change even more stuff but I don't so I will try to stay as current as possible on everything I can prior to stepping onto the court so I can work the game. I'm more relaxed now.

Oh, I was pretty relaxed anyway.

Clay,

What would you wear if you were going to an interview with a fortune 100 company? Would you wear anything different than what you would wear to an interview for a position at a small private business?

I changed to beltless pants about 3-4 years ago because I forgot my belt one night and I did "stand out". Fortunately, I did not need the belt to keep my pants up -- my big butt did that.

I changed to pleated pants a couple of years ago because I like the look of the pants. All of my suits and all of my casual slacks (Dockers, etc.) have pleats. Everything except jeans has pleats.

My association adopted the "no Byron collar" dress code for shirts about 3 years ago, at the scholastic level -- excellent move. Some of our newer officials will wear them for rec games.

It means nothing really but I can't find a single thing to agree with in your post.

No biggie, we're still friends

Hey, it's great to see some youthful idealism out there. Us oldsters get so cynical as we age. Folks, the reality is that people ARE judged by their looks, whether that's fair, proper or right. I wish it wasn't so, but it is. You can rant and rave all you want to, but if you want to move up, you've got to face the reality that as officials we are often pigeon-holed the minute we walk onto the court. Most assignors will tell you right up front what tney want in terms of belts, facial hair, shiny shoes, collar and so forth and so on. If you don't do it, there are another 150 refs who are just as good as you are who will. If you don't want to work for those assignors, okay, but you're not going to change them, so it's totally up to you whether you submit or not. I don't like it either, but that's the way it is.