Question about unwritten rule #2341-b

[mu4scott]

Was recently married and have a question about wedding rings. I was at a camp this summer and an evaluator said that you should not wear them while officiating.

If the kids can’t wear jewelry I don’t think we should either.

[Jurassic Referee]

What's your question?

[Adam]

This is a regional thing. If you're working for someone (an assignor) who doesn't like them, take it off. I've never taken mine off for a game, but I wouldn't put up much of a fight if asked to.

It ain't a hill worth dying on.

[M&M Guy]

I have had assignors tell me that a wedding band is the only piece of jewelry we can wear. Jewelry is a safety issue, especially with players and contact. Officials are not involved in any of that type of contact, so it is not as big a deal. However, if one of my supervisors changed their mind and told me I cannot wear it, I won't.

Remember unwritten rule #2341-a: Do what you assignor tells you.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

I have had assignors tell me that a wedding band is the only piece of jewelry we can wear. Jewelry is a safety issue, especially with players and contact.

Agree, with the understanding that medic alert bracelets and religious items should also be OK for officials to wear.....under the same conditions as players.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

Do what you assignor tells you.

Shut up.

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Shut up.

You didn't send me any games this year, so:

[Adam]

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

You didn't send me any games this year, so:

You wouldn't have worked for him anyway, too many, um, "conditions."

[BillyMac]

Wedding bands, or rings in general, can present a safety issue for officials, as well as for players.

Over thirty years ago, before I officiated, when I first started teaching, I was walking out of the school at the end of the day, and walked past the gymnasium, where our middle school boys basketball team was practicing. There was no girls team back then. Title IX hadn't fully kicked in yet in our school system. I walked into the gymnasium to watch a little of the practice. One of the players called out to me, "Hey, Mr. BillyMac, how about taking some shots?" He passed me the ball a couple of times, and I made a few jump shots, in my street clothes. I had just gotten married a few months earlier, and never took off my wedding ring, not to shower, not for bed, etc. I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been, and I "caught" one of his passes on the tips of my fingers, jamming the fingers. No big deal. I shook it off, and took a couple more shots. When I woke up the next morning, my ring finger, with the ring on the finger, had swollen considerably, not very painful, just very swollen, and it was impossible to get the ring off. When I arrived at school, I showed the finger to the school nurse. She marched me down to the Industrial Arts (that's what it was called back then) wing, to get the ring sawed off, as it was constricting the circulation in my finger. I persuaded her to take me for a detour into the cafeteria kitchen, where we got a stick of butter. Using the butter, we barely got the ring off my swollen finger.

Since then, I never wear my wedding ring when participating in any sports activity, or when doing any chores around the house, at my workbench, working with power tools, working outside in my garden, with outdoor power equipment, etc. I'm not going through that experience again. When I officiate, the ring goes into my street pants pocket, with my car keys. How many times in a game do the players toss the ball to the official? I'm just not willing to take the chance of a similar injury again.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

I walked into the gymnasium to watch a little of the practice. One of the players called out to me, "Hey, Mr. BillyMac, how about taking some shots?" He passed me the ball a couple of times, and I made a few jump shots, in my street clothes.

Yeah - I learned to take my wedding ring off when I did something similar, since I kept banging it on the rim while I was dunking from a standing start.

And if you believe that, I have some oceanfront property in Nebraska I'd like to sell you.

[JRutledge]

It is so good not to have such trivial problems.

Peace

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Until the mid-90's both the NFHS Officials Manual and the CCA Manual (NCAA) allowed officials to wear wedding rings only. In the mid-90's the CCA Manual without comment added the prohibition of wearing wedding rings. I was officiating basketball long before I met my better half so I have never worn my wedding ring even for high school games. But one should not wear a wedding ring while officiating a college game but can wear one while officiating a high school game. Wearing a wedding ring is no big deal as far as I am concerned unless it is some big guady one (and that probably applies only to female officials and I am not trying to be an oinker, just an observation made over my lifetime). As far as the assinger is concerned he is being anal about the wrong things that officials do.

MTD, Sr.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

I learned to take my wedding ring off when I did something similar, since I kept banging it on the rim while I was dunking from a standing start.

Actually, the post above wasn't my first bad experience with a wedding ring and basketball. The first summer that I got married, I would often play basketball on an outdoor court with metal chain nets. Once, while going up for a rebound, I was fouled, lost my balance, and got my ring "stuck" in the chain net for a few milliseconds. The ring acted as a knife blade and cut me almost down to the bone, which required several stitches to close.

[M&M Guy]

BillyMac - with all of these incidents regarding your wedding band and injuries, some might consider that a sign...

[Adam]

Some might wonder why he didn't learn after the first time.
Oh, and be careful, Jurassic might tell your wife.