I just thought about this after reading another thread. I have a long list:

1. Rubber bands - what purpose does this serve? The pros do it but they get paid.

2. Shoes - where them properly and please make sure they are a pair and not two shoes from two different pairs!

3. Laces - I used to tie my shoes in a double knot because I loved to play and that took time away from the fun. I still don't like to tie my shoes during the fun.

4. Shorts (girls) - why are they folding the top of their shorts over to make them shorter?

5. Shorts (boys) - why do they pull them down? I had one kid who almost lost his shorts on a break by himself. He left the game shortly after that for remedial short wearing class.

6. Shirts - what is up with this "pinching" the shirt right under the waistband so the next deep breath will cause them to come out? Is the score keeper adding points for style and we don't know about it. What is wrong with tucking the shirt all the way in and then reaching up so you shirt will loosen up to allow your arms to move freely?

7. Free throw lane - I was never a rebounder so I don't know about this one. Do you gain an advantage by putting your arms in your opponents space? Why do girls put their weight on one leg and have the other foot perched up on their toe? Does this help them? :)

I think that the players just constantly go through fads. Some are regional, and other areas may never hear of them. It's just up to us to make sure that their "fads" conform to the applicable rules. Personally, I hate having to be the clothing police out there- especially on non-safety related items. But I do it religiously because (a) it's a rule, and I don't get to pick and choose the ones that I like to apply- and(b) I don't want any coach saying "hey, the last referees that we had didn't call that".

Rubber bands on wrists? That's a no-no by rule, isn't it?

Yes, the rubber bands come off. I too don't like to tell players to keep their shirts in but it is a rule. I also don't like the fact that a lot of times I'm the only one saying anything.

One comment on the shoes. There is a manufacture that make shoe that the right foot is one color and the left is another. If some body will pay money (big money) for it, somebody will make.

Even less sense -- rubber bands on the ankles! I actually had this in a college game. :rolleyes:

If these fads are regional then we are in the same region because I see all of that list in the STL. My daughters team refers to the shorts style from the 70's-80's as "skeet" and yet they all fold over theirs to make them shorter.

Funny story; had a coach in the championship game of a boys tourney stand up and rip his post player. He said: you can't catch a pass if you always have 1 hand pulling up your shorts. Tye your damb short strings NOW! The whole gym cracked up.

I'm not sure it is to make them shorter. I think it's to give them a more hip-hugger look, like how the "waist" bands are on their jeans. Not that the reason is important...

Why do the rules specify that shirts must be tucked in? Why no rubber bands? I understand rules that are for the safety of the players, but why specify appearance? Don't we have enough things to do without going around checking players for uniformity? Or are all of these rules because the schools don't have the guts to tell their players how to dress and get to blame the refs for a dress code?

Why do you care whether their shoes match or they're wearing their shirts backwards, for that matter? As long as they're not wearing anything dangerous to others or themselves, and you can see their number why should you care?

When you see refs telling kids to take off their tee-shirts in an unheated gym in the middle of winter, just because the tees don't match the uniform, it makes you wonder what kind of childhood these guys had.

Email the NF and ask them to take it out. If they take it out of the rules we will stop applying the rule.

Maybe it should be: What do refs do that makes no sense?
 

Although I'm from the cold white North I don't think I've ever reffed in an unheated gym. I've been in a few cool ones but after playing or reffing for a bit you warm up and don't feel it. If the player is sitting on their bench they can toss on the warm up shirt/suit or whatever since they aren't playing at that point.

Allowing players to wear a color t-shirt different than their uniform is giving them a potential unfair advantage (I'm not talking about staying warm here). If the t-shirt matches their uniform color they can wear it. If it doesn't it comes off.

What happens when you have red playing white and some red players have white t-shirts on under their uniform. At a quick glance in the heat of the game the red players may be mistaken as a white team member.

As for tucking in the shirts, players look really sloppy with their shirts hanging out. Some players have their shirts hanging out to hide the fact that their shorts are not pulled up. I'm not stopping the game to make sure players have their shirts tucked in - during a dead ball all you have to do is politely ask the player(s) to tuck their shirt in - if everybody did this, overall the job would be much easier. I just wish players would tuck their shirts in fully when asked the first time (rather than the token tuck).

The one rule that I don't quite get is the multi-colored head bands. Anybody want to explain that to me?

Rubber bands are a safety item-i.e. broken----> eye.

As Tomegun said, you're blaming the wrong people. Try the people who made the rules, not the ones that have to enforce them. The ones enforcing the rules didn't get a vote. Has anyone ever met a referee that really cared if a number on a shirt was less than 3/4" wide?

As I've said many times before, the people making the rules (NFHS) are nearly all officials (or former officials). Only 1 or 2 coaches/administrators are involved.

I care...if that number is thin or small, it increases the odds that I'll make an error in reading the number or I'll have to take a lot more time to see it. It also makes it possible for the scorers, coaches, and people in the stands to identify players. Thin numbers become invisible at distances...particularly on game film made with poor equipment.

[Edited by Camron Rust on Aug 12th, 2004 at 02:17 PM]

At a game I did this Summer this kid had "star stickers" on his ear's and I told him to take them off and he goes there only stickers. I told him I dint care take them off. I was right wasent I?

Why not? I do. :D

I always thought the girls folded the waistband of the shorts over so that the tag wouldn't rub and irritate them, since it is now on the outside.

PS What a great thread, tomegun. Thanks for the laughs.

This one is a pain in the butt, but it is a rule that we were asked (in my local anyway) to enforce. I always mentioned it in the pregame with the captains...subs were to have shirts tucked in at the table prior to being beckoned in. About 50 % of the time the first sub would come on the court while shoving his shirt into his shorts and i would escort him right to the bench and tell the coach I wanted someone who was ready to play. Never had a problem with a coach and never had another shirt problem for the rest of the game.

Also easy to do with a player on the court. Send 1 kid out and all of the others will keep their shirts in without any help from the officials. It is amazing how much better the shirts stay in when they know they won't play otherwise.

I've done the same thing. Stickers are not part of the uniform, and therefore I don't allow them to be worn in any game I do.

These are two things that I don't see any sense in,

Boys game:

Finger gloves, they're illegal (in basketball) and expensive, why would anyone want to waste their money on them if they can't wear them to play.

Girls game:

Those velcro ties they make to tie up the shoulders of the shirt. Another illegal item, because it's a safety concern.

I find it amazing that at the end of the season people are still wearing these items, and that tells me that the equipment rules are not being enforced, this is something that we need to be consistant on.

Well I've seen the velcrow ties and I didnt make them take it off I didnt see how it could endanger another player.(???)

easy, the velcro is loose enough for another player to get her finger caught in it.

Also, even velcro can come unfastened and fall off. THese things are legal in volleyball. The part I don't understand is why manufacturers don't make sleeveless T-shirts, so girls wouldn't need these velcro thing-ys.

The rule doesn't say no shirts. I have a game, team has red jerseys, one kid has white undershirt, the coach tells me he has to wear an undershirt. Fine. Find a red one. If you may want to wear a shirt under your uniform, get t-shirts that match the uniforms. Simple.

As far as the color of the undershirts go, the rule about the color is not new.

I forgot all about the way girls like to have the shoulders of their shirts. Why is that?
Also, can anyone clue me in as to why girls have their feet close together with one foot up on a toe when they are about to rebound a free throw?

I think their thought is that the closer they can get their toe/foot to the line, the quicker they can step to box out. Reality is; they're off balance and can't step out with as much power. And they could only learn that from watching another player do it. Surely, nobody is coaching that.

They're teenagers and know more about rebounding than the boys team, the coaches, college players and NBA players. If you don't think they know more then you, then you should ask them. They'll tell you, or they'll roll their eyes, and that's sign language for "I'm smarter then you"

I don't know about this. A lot of things "can" happen.

Anything can happen, and I'm not risking the safety of a player, or a law-suit against me because someone wants to wear a potentially dangerous uniform item.

Please forgive me for my naivity, but are we really at a potential risk for a law suit or does that fall to the school or gym?

How big is this risk?
Could the kid who's not in correct uniform get sued?
What protection, besides enforcing the rules do we have?

Nobody in the history of the planet has been hurt by the velcro tabs girls use to hold their sleeves up, so they can't be a safety issue. BTW in our CYO league they are allowed.

What's wrong with being sloppy? The question I really have is why does the NF care about these things, except when they are safety issues? I suspect that NF thinks it's somehow a sportsmanship issue, that players who want to reflect their individuality are trying to intimidate or visually trash talk others.

The reason I bring these things up is I have seen games where refs have been by-the-book about these things and where they have been lax, but I failed to notice any difference in the quality of play or the amount of sportsmanship or the safety of the players. So while I'm telling kids over and over to tie their shoes or tuck in their shirt for the 1000th time in a season, I get to wondering what's the point. The shirt will be out again in a moment, so why am I wasting my breath? How does this affect the game?

Sorry for venting. Maybe this kind of thing is more important in HS or college levels than it is in youth basketball, but I just don't get it.

If you can get past the bickering, there are a couple of very good posts that include legal references. Check it out:

http://www.officialforum.com/thread/6712

Jimgolf,

We enforce this because it is in the rule book.
I have played and I know for a fact that if the shirt is a reasonable length the shirt will not come right back out.
This isn't so much of an issue in college. Do you think that the college uniforms have some kind of magical "stay in" dust on them?
It also doesn't happen in the NBA. I don't think anyone plays more physical than them.

If this problem happened at every level with every kind of uniform then this would be OK. But, it doesn't so we know it is a lack of effort.

Having said all of that, if they take it out of the book I wouldn't enforce it.

One thing that should be remembered is that most rule changes are instituted as the result of a problem. That problem may be found only in a specific locale but may be of enough import to warrant a rule to prevent the possibility of it spreading.

Uniform requirements may be one of them...maybe a gang problem. I don't really know but rules get made that way.

Regarding the velcro things...I think the arm holes in the shirts are far more dangerous. We should require that the uniforms have no arm holes....perhaps they'll look like the armless and legless knight in Monty Python.

[Edited by Camron Rust on Aug 13th, 2004 at 07:06 PM]

Who would?!?!?

Camron,
That's one of my favorite segments of all movies I've seen.
Thanks for the memory. :)
mick

Why does the NFL care about their players having uniformity? Saftey? Nah...Its so these millionaires can run around and actually look like a TEAM. Once in awhile you will see a player with his shirt untucked or a sock down...but you can rest assured he will be fined. The NFL has "uniform police" that watch for uniform infractions at each game. The officials don't have to worry about it.
Wouldn't it be nice if the NF could afford these "uniform police"? Since they can't...we as officials must enforce the non-sloppiness.
Again, I think basketball should be about the TEAM...if you want to stand out, do something spectacular on the court.
If you want individuality...sing Karoke or something.
BTW...I bet some of us remember when we played for a team in school and the dress code we abided by...remember, letterman jackets...ties...etc.

"I'll bite your knees off!!"

"Okay, we'll call it a draw"

I don't know who would enforce.

Does someone need a hug?

I don't know! Let's take a poll, Shall we?!

Does the poll respondant get to specify who adminsters the hug?

I'll let tomegun decide on that rule. Tom, who chooses the hugger?

I don't care who gives the hug. I don't think a poll on this board would be an accurate way to decide who gets the hug though. I have the perfect way to decide but I don't think Rainmaker will agree to it.

Tom, you constantly amaze me...

Thank you, I do what I can. :D

Yes!!

The uniforms our rec department bought for intramural play have numbers only on the front, and the digits are less than an inch tall. Very difficult to see - especially when you just T'd a player and now have to get his number.

Of course, if the shirt is tucked in, they shouldn't have this problem . . .

The extreme of waistband-rolling has to be at my school. The bookstore sells shorts that are designed so that, when the waistband is flipped, the tag and name of the school show right-side up. :rolleyes: