I agree, the patent shoes are overkill.

They look like they should be used for bowling or ballroom dancing or something.

There, THAT'LL start something.

:D

I guess its time for me to throw my two cents into the discussion.

Until 1993 I wore belted pants for basketball officiating. I wore belted pants up to that time not because I thought that belted and not beltless was the way to go, but because I am a belted pants type of guy. I have always worn belted pants, both pleated and non-pleated pants, and I still do, exept for officiating basketball. I changed to beltless pants in 1993, and I do not know why I did not change sooner. I have both pleated and non-pleated basketball pants in my basketball officiating wardrobe. There is no way that I would go back to wearing belted pants for officiating basketball.

As far as officiating H.S. basketball, I believe in going by the NFHS officials manual. Belted or non-belted, is what is required, and I do not think that local officials associations should be setting the rules regarding belted or non-belted pants. My opinion is that same regarding Byron collar shirts vs. v-neck shirts. A StateHSAA is the only organization that should be calling the shots regarding pants or shirts. The only thing the NFHS officials manual says about shirts is the that entire crew should wear the same type collor shirt.

I will say this about shirt collars. When the v-neck shirts came out, I did not like the look of them, and refused to wear one until I officiated in an AAU Boys' National Tournament. The instant I put one on, I wondered why I had waited so long to wear one. I just could not believe how good it felt or how good I look in one.

I still wear my Byron collar shirts for rec. league, CYO regular season games, summer leagues, and scrimmages. My collared shirts are still in good condition and I do not see why wearing them for the aforementioned type games is wrong. In fact I still carry a collared shirt with me for H.S. games because, believe it or not, there are still a few old geezers that refuse to wear a v-neck, and I am prepared to wear a shirt just like my partner.

Agreed. Our state association took this step to insure that all officials are dressed UNIFORMLY.

BTW Mark, please give us your thoughts on the elimination of the dual coverage area in the thread linked below.

http://www.officialforum.com/thread/10932

Mark, are you saying that you've had a shirt on with a collar in 2003?

I had a collared shirt on, but it was during football.

Every year, the V-neck feels weird at the beginning of the basketball season and the Byron feels weird at the beginning of football season.

Rich

Why am I not surprised!?

LOL!!!! :D Classic!

Let me reiterate that when it comes to basketball officiating I wear beltless pants, because I think that they look the best and I really prefer wearing beltless pants when I officiate basketball. I just prefer belted pants for everything else.

I wear the v-neck becuase I like how it looks and feels, but yes I have worn collared shirts this year, but not in regulation H.S., college, Special Olympics, AAU, and YBOA national tournaments. I wear collared shirts in summer league, rec. league, scrimmages, etc. My collared shirts are all Cliff-Keen and in very good shape, and I do not see why I should not get some use out of them.

NO to Belts
 

You know? One thought has gone through my mind while reading ALL of the posts on this thread: Ya'll prob'ly need to get w/ the times--go beltless! There's no real reason not to, is there? Unless, one just flat out refuses to wear beltless. It is more professional, any (NCAA) official on TV is wearing beltless, and in the NBA they wear beltless.

Nota bene: We try to wear the samein our association. Some don't have them; I guess that's ok, but I think that if we both don't wear the same, it doesn't look as good. Maybe, thought, it really doesn't matter, but if my partner has beltless, I wear beltless. However, ironically enough, if my partner doesn't have beltless, he buys beltless. :)

But, if one doesn't have beltless, we try to both wear the same.

BTW, the NFHS manual specifically specifies a V-neck shirt for basketball.

Rich

Nix the belt
 

Get a flexbelt it does a better job of keeping your pants up and your shirt in.

ok, Iam going to jump into the 90's and order a pair of beltless pants. Please give me some suggestion on what size to order. My waist is 34" do the pants run big? small? are they true to your waist size?
I do not want to order and have to keep sending them back because they dont fit.

Your best bet is to order your size and them have the altered to fit tighter if need be.

I have been really reluctant to order pants from the usual outlets because I didn't know if they'd fit right. In our last meeting they suggested we go to a certain local men's clothing store to get them. A lot of local officials get theirs there, and they give us a good price. I was able to try them on. They did the hemming and alteration for free. They were pressed and ready to pick up the day of my first game (maybe you don't want to cut it this close!). You could cut steak with the pleats on these things, they're so sharp ;) And, because I had them professionally done, they are the best fitting pair of pants I own!