In one of the rare times I watched the NBA
 

Recently (within past 10 days), I observed an entire crew on a televised game that was without lanyards. Can't recall the specific game, but sure do recall how peculiar the crew looked.

I've seen one NBA ref not use one. I don't watch the NBA, I saw it on the highlights of Sportscenter when I'm forced to watch the clips of the game. As far as not using a lanyard, I've got enough things to remember about other than trying to remember not to drop my whistle or it will hit the floor. Happy Holidays!

T Jones

And thus your nickname....:D

Ronnie Nunn was a notable NBA official who went "lanyard-free".

In my (limited) college experience, this is only true for guys that have already "made it". Big time refs can do pretty much whatever they want as long as they make good calls. But for guys like me, stuck in D3 with less than 5 years experience, we have to toe the line and don't get much slack in expressing our individuality.

I could be wrong about the larger picture, but that how it seems to me in my neck of the woods.

Funny story about the finger-Fox. I used to ref HS lacrosse. Great game and I loved it. Hated to give it up, but it was just too time-consuming right after basketball season.

Anyway, our lacrosse association required the finger-Fox. No lanyards. Fine.

For face-offs, the proper mechanic is to point down to the ball (telling the players to get "set") with one hand and to raise the other hand to "chop" the clock in. When you chop the clock you blow the whistle to signal the start of play. Well, if one hand is pointing down, and one hand is up in the air, you can't blow the whistle if it's stuck on a finger. So we had to take the whistle off our finger and hold it in our mouths.

First game I ever did, first face-off. Whistle in mouth, hand pointing down, hand up to chop. Chop, blow whistle, and (of course :rolleyes: ) spit out the whistle. With no lanyard, it landed right in the mud. I had to pick it up and wipe off all the mud before I could put it back in my mouth. Yuck!

I watched a boys JV game last week and one ref didn't use a laynard. It didn't seem natural to me. I thought he looked just plain silly. Well, there were a few other traits lacking like movement and some strange mechanics. But he did have his individuality.

We have one member of our zone who refs without a lanyard. Like some of you mentionned, he is veteran who can call his own shots. He did the Gold Medal game of the 1992 Olympic Games. I was watching a game that he was officiating with a friend of mine. He sarcastically asked if the referees manual said you should put your whistle in your pocket before you report a foul. I replied he could put it down his pants if he wanted to. For the rest of us, that`s a different story.

We had a young official who tried to emulate him a while ago. He was told by our assignor to use a lanyard.

The last three partners I have had worked without a lanyard. Next time I will ask why. FYI none of them had a problem.

Around these parts we have a legend that did not use a lanyard since the 60's up until he retired from basketball
a few years back. As far as now I think we need to not try to draw attention to ourselves on the court. It usually finds us somehow. I'd rather have someone say they wanted
some official to go with them to a "gun fight" because of
their ability not their niche appearance. JMO

You are called Juggling because you juggle the whistle trying to catch it after you drop it?

With the collarless shirts, the neck lanyard looks geeky. Especially with my neck. I go with the short lanyard attached to the shirt. I have gone to the short lanyard in FB, attached to the zipper on the shirt. Never gets caught when I signal.

Unfortunately, twice in the last 2 nights, my Smitty has come off the loop of my shirt. I prefer the Smitty noose, but as somebody else said, we don't want to draw attention to ourselves, so I wear what my partner(s) wear.

I dunno, guys (and ladies) I can't think of any more good reasons not to use a lanyard than I can think of good reasons to smoke. It's just flat doesn't make sense to me. IMHO your just asking for trouble while trying to look cool --- and it doesn't even look cool to me.

Blaine Reichelt in the NBA does not use a lanyard. I also saw an official in a Pac-10 non-conference game officiating without one. Not surprisingly, both of these fellows had poor mechanics because they were more worried about catching their whistle instead of showing proper mechanics.

However, I can safely say that the college guy was NOT wearing a belt. :)

The no-lanyard thing, in my experience, is more of a "look what I can do" thing than anything else. Perhaps the odd official finds it useful, or is so capable that they just do it out of habit and you'd never know.

But by and large, it seems like more of a game. And we're not supposed to be playing games out there.

Just my $0.02