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[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

Then we went to the Smitty lanyard almost exclusively. And now, the "noose" is coming back into style in some circles. And the style now, for most successful officials, is to wear beltless pants.

We cannot compare the type of lanyard each official uses to what type of pants we wear. There has never been an abolition of wearing a neck lanyard to my knowledge ever. The reason people would wear the neck lanyard was because shirts had that little loop on them. Those are cool, but the loops have broken and ripped or the smitty lanyard for many became useless.

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

Also part of the "look" is not to have facial hair or long hair. No jewelry or watch on the court either.

This is also not completely true. I have a mustache and have had one my entire career. I will say this, it seems like it is much more acceptable for African-Americans to wear mustaches rather than other races of people. There are several D1 and NBA Officials that happen to be African-American and wear a mustache. It is not acceptable in most circles to wear a full beard. Having said that, at the HS level and below, I see more facial hair than I ever do when working college or watching other high levels of basketball. Also it is acceptable to wear a wedding ring. But wearing a necklace that can be seen or a watch is not usually acceptable, but I do see officials wearing them from time to time. Funny thing is you usually do not see this from officials that are used to working deep in the post season or work any college ball.

Peace