I, and I like to think many, dont go loooking to police any more BS than we have to. I think the whistle and snazzy stripes we wear give some officials a power trip and they think that they can do or say anything on the court. Just officiate the damn game and dont go looking for a reason to throw your weight around when not necessary. Many of the rules if you really break them down you might be able to come up with some really retarded stuff.

in absent of a rule I use something called judgement -- if it makes sense, isnt harmful, doesnt give advantage -- but rulebooks cannot teach you judgement.

I'm not Jeff, and I've never played one on TV, but absent a rule, you leave it alone.

He's already told you.

There's no rule governing tattoos. That means that you've got nothing to enforce. JRut also gave you the reason why.....so officials wouldn't be able to try to impose their own standards.

Iow, don't worry about tats.

You guys are really uptight. I am going to get ready for my games but if you think the only things you have to ever worry about is covered in the rule books you are mistaken.

rite is the right usage here.

He's saying don't worry, and you're calling him up-tight? THis must be some new slang definition of up-tight that i"ve never heard before.

I apologize for the up-tight comment but what I meant was that in absence of rules you may have to make a decision. If someone is wearing a tatoo that I know is offensive ie to race or gender, I would have it covered or the kid would not play. You can look it up and may not find a rule but I would consider it unsportsmanlike.

LOL!!!!

My point exactly. :rolleyes:

Peace

OK Army, this is a lot better. You were not clearly defining a scenario in your previous posts.

In this case I would inform game management about the offensive tattoo. Any actions concerning the tattoo from that point on would up to game management and the coach(es). I still believe we as officials would be powerless to take any further action.

Now in an intra-mural or base team game played on a military installation, that could be a totally different story. There are post/base regulations or command directives that may be violated by the display of the tattoos. But even then, it would be addressed in the by-laws with specific actions to be taken.

There's a big difference between being "uptight" and <b>knowing</b> how a situation should be called. If you don't like the answers that you get here, fine. Basically, none of us really gives a damn anyway. But don't try to rationalize away the fact that no one agrees with you by assuming people that you have never known or met are "uptight".

I can see this opening a big ol' bag o' something that I don't want opened when I'm working. I see what you're saying, AMJ, but "offensive" is still a hugely subjective word. The first thing that popped into my head was an 18-year-old senior with a Confederate flag tatoo on the upper arm. Whadya do there?;)

In our association, we are told that we can make this decision when we feel that the tattoo is offensive, so we do have a basis in "higher authority", and don't need to fall back on "common sense (since)".

I'm probably the last person that should chime in here because I think that getting tattoos, other than smoking, is the single stupidest thing a human can do. Thus, if someone has a tattoo that is clearly vulgar, I want it to be shown. I want the individual and the school he represents to put the tattoo on display.

The way you can use 2-3 is if it is a safety issue. Let's say some choir boy came in the gym with a nice little white prison gang tat in a game in an urban area. I'd tell him and the coach that he's not going on the floor without covering that up since we aren't going to have a riot in my game.

I worked at a school that part of their logo was a confederate flag and I did not do a thing about it. This was the school's logo and the HS name was Southern HS. Now all these rules were in place then and now and I do not know of anyone that did not allow the team to play or show their logo at games. The town the school was in also had "sun down laws" in place and was not the friendliest place to work on the surface for someone like myself. But the administration asked me to officiate there and I never had any problems with anyone while working games at this school. Am I offended by the Confederate flag|? Of course I am offended. I knew how to pick my battles and did not have a lot of options at the time to work. Now I am sure some people would say "they cannot have that flag up." But what were you going to do about it? Were you going to fight a battle that you had no right to uphold? Would you not allow the team to play on the road or in a tournament?

Peace

you shlould have them cover all their logos with tape...