He's Got Legs, He Knows How To Use Them ...
 

(Apologies to ZZ Top)

In the past my local IAABO board only assigned AAU games when the games were in conjunction with our local camp. Now our board is assigning AAU games for several tournaments over the next few months. I plan on working games in these tournaments for several reasons: get in some running, stay on top of my game, see some of my buddies that I don't normally see in the off season, and make a few bucks.

Problem. Since, other than camps, I have never worked spring, or summer, ball, I don't own a nice pair of black shorts for officiating. I always wore long pants for the camps. Does anyone have a suggestion, or a link, to where I can purchase a few pairs of black officiating shorts? They can be belted, or beltless. I take pride in my appearance, and always like to look professional, so I don't just want to run down to our local sporting goods store and buy a pair of black running shorts.

Another silly question. With black officiating shorts, do I wear black socks, or white socks?

I hear's ya Billy
 

I had the same issue last yr........

I bought my mid-leg, length running shorts from Runners World. They're not short. I did find that you can get them in most any sporting goods store though.

We wear white socks.

I do however bring a complete, regular uniform just in case.......as happened at a tourney a few weekends ago when my partner wore the wrong uni. ;)

Where I am ALL summer games, including camps, are officiated in shorts. Most people just go down the sporting goods store and pick up a pair of Adidas, Nike, Reebox, etc. As long as they are black, no one is going to say a word.
People wear either white or black socks. There is no standard on that in this locale.

Do everyone a favor and wear shorts that are long. Do not buy those ugly coaching shorts (I do not know what you mean by officiating shorts BTW anyway). :D

Also wear white socks, it looks better and you do not look corny.

Peace

You might try these. They look pretty good, especially with the black socks.

http://www.binarybasketball.com/site...ack-Shorts.jpg

Some AAU, like the tournaments that Disney runs, require us to be in full uniform. Many others allow shorts. I have some black Nike shorts that have pockets. Some want us with white socks. Some want black socks. But they are the short socks, not the 'normal' length socks. I would ask the assignors what the proper dress is for each tournament.

And leave the fishnets at home. Unless you have a night game.

We don't allow the tournament folks to dictate anything to us. We tell them what we are going to do and if they don't like it they can find other officials.

I believe that the powers that be in your local area are making a huge mistake by allowing the tournament directors too much say on officiating matters.

It is not like the tournament director wants to have veto power over foul calls.

I don't have a problem with the TD/customer wanting to buy a certain product with a certain image to give his event the appearance of a higher level of professionalism than the others...as long as he's paying more than the ones using officials that can wear shorts.

You Don't Know What You Don't Know ...
 

I don't either. This is new territory for me.

Never heard of officiating shorts? Tosh.

http://stores.intuitwebsites.com/Pur...g/SS-PSS_0.jpg

All you have to do is go to a sporting goods store of some kind and buy them. I have several pairs I have bought over the years. And that is what many people wear when at local camps and working AAU ball.

Peace

Uniform Police and Full Disclosure......
 

....and, FYI, my shorts even have a small (barely noticiable) manufacturers logo on it and no one has said anything to me yet. :rolleyes:

Isn't that the case with most of them? I have several pair with a Nike logo on them. Then again I get the joke. :D

Peace

Any nice golf shorts will do. I wear a belt..(oh, the horror). I wear short black socks.

That just looks ugly. But that is after all a personal choice. :D

Peace

The spring league I'm working on weekends requires us to wear black shorts with black socks. I asked if we could wear black sweats instead of shorts (I lose more weight per game that way) and was told they would "prefer" shorts, so that's what I'm doing.

I have three pair of black shorts I can use for this. When I bought them years ago, I made sure they have pockets (including a back pocket for a handkerchief) because I know that in these rec leagues, it's to the officials advantage to keep possession. While some guys use a band on their wrists for that, I prefer to move something from one front pocket to the other. I've been using a chapstick for quite some time and it works well.

As I've posted previously, I used to use a Hickory Farms beefstick, but I'd get weird looks from female coaches whenever I'd move it. The hot moms were impressed, however. :D

White socks with black shoes? Or do you run with different shoes?

I used a Sharpie on my Nike swooshes, but the coverall only worked for a couple of wash cycles. As long as they aren't black shorts with white racing stripes, people aren't going to care all that much if that is the dress code for the tournament.

I've done AAU ball a few times the last couple of summers....standard gear is an athletic looking pair of black Nike shorts that go to or just above the knee, black low top Nike's (a lot of guys wear their Shox) and black socks (preferably no show or ankle). White socks with all black shoes makes a guy look at least a decade older than he is. In my case, the late 40's/early 50's. Not the image I want to project since I'm already balding on the crown of my coconut. :o

I'm with Rutledge...avoid the trap of wearing the shorty shorts with accompanying belt/loops.

I've seen the white socks with black shoes combination many times.

I actually had one supervisor use this in his camp instructions - black shorts are fine, with white socks and black shoes. Now, I was one of the ones that thought black socks look better with black shoes, but since the instructions specified, and I had a bunch of white socks, that's what I wore. As it turned out, the supervisor used that to see who could follow instructions, and downgraded people who wore something different than what was written.

So I learned that it's important to follow instructions, no matter how trivial they may seem to me. If someone says to wear a certain item, that's what I do. If they tell me they don't care, than neither do I.

This is really surprising to me. I have been too many camps or situations where we wear black shorts and I have never been told that the shorts could not have a logo on them (as this is almost impossible to find in the first place) or that you could not have even significant amounts of white on their shorts. I have even known guys to have several white stripes on the shorts and no one cared as long as the shorts were black (if they really cared about that in the first place). I would never have even thought to mark out a logo in any situation. That is just as interesting as it shows how different places are. I could maybe understand this a little at a camp, but not at all at a summer league. I have seen guys were white shoes in summer league games. Everything else is worn as normal.

Peace

In almost EVERY New York city summer league (or tournaments as they're called here), black shorts (sometimes with the logo of the park i.e. West 4th St, IS8) sometimes w/ a nike logo or sometimes plain black)...

Or we wear our blue nike shorts with our Pro-AM shirts.

But the one consistent is white socks with black shoes.

As I said above, I have three pair of black shorts I wear for rec leagues. Two have no logo and one has an Adidas logo. I make sure I don't wear that pair when I ref in Beaverton, because the odds are pretty good the coaches (and a lot of the parents) might work at Nike. I don't want them to think I'm a spy.

In fact, I think there's a city ordinance in Beaverton that you can't wear a competitive company's logo on a city street, which is weird, because Nike's World Campus (that's what they call their corporate HQ) is actually outside the city limits and there's been an ongoing "fight" between the city of Beaverton and Nike about getting them annexed - in fact, Nike got the Oregon state legislature to pass a special bill to make them exempt from annexation!

I've worked in shorts every year for the past 10 at a tournament out of town.

Each year we talk about this and every year it's agreed that white socks look better.

OK - I want you to work your next game wearing this uniform.

http://www.nexternal.com/masquerade/images/31254-m.jpg

While I certainly don't have the legs for that uniform, I am willing to work with this official. :p

...sigh...ok, but since you're talking about that specific uniform, I gotta take it off her first. The sacrifices I go through for this avocation...

OK, now let me edit slightly:

:p

It is a good thing to dark out a manufacturer logo. One year I worked a tourney sponsored by adidas, was amused by all of the guys/gals wearing NIKE shorts with the logo very visible. Since I stopped at the Reebok outlet store, I took a marker to my $10 shorts. Couldn't do anything about the asics shoes though, except darken the silver like normal.
As for socks, I wear a black ankle brace on the right and I wear sox that are running socks that are white and black. You can find them out there. I figure this way I have the bases covered and it doesn't accentuate the ankle brace.
Some tournaments I wear my Borat mankini/speedo outfit, but that is only once a year...........
Google Search

Thanks for the white socks comment...so many guys where I live think black socks with shorts look good...no they don't!!!!

The Tournaments at Disney are all AAU National Tournaments and they require you to wear the full uniform. I am attending a womens camp there in July and we actually have to bring along our CCA jackets.

I usaully were running shoes if I am working more than a couple of games...easier on your feet.

I've never been any part of clothing. Does being a pair shoes make you feel like people just walk all over you?

A lot of officials I work with put aside the patent leather clods and wear Nike Air or Shox running shoes for comfort in the summer.

you can usually find cheap ones at Eastbay.com. maybe get some sandals for the summer as well

About To Unveil My Pasty White, Skinny, Hairy, Legs ...
 

This is what I ordered from Hit! Run! Score! Sporting Goods:

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/hitrunscore_2102_104236360

(Teamwork 4120 Officials Shorts, $ 24.99)

Here's the link: Teamwork 4120 Referee Shorts, Discount Basketball Football Referees Officials Shorts

Still undecided about socks. I'm leaning toward white. Any additional comments about black or white socks would be appreciated.

I don't think it's about what looks "good." It's about looking less bad. Personally, I tend to wear black socks but it's just because I'm used to it during the season. I think they both look tacky and wouldn't do either outside of officiating.

I have a pair of U/A gym shorts that work perfectly. I can't for the life of me imagine worrying about a tourney sponsor; if Adidas wants me to wear Adidas shorts, they can provide them.

FYI..Adidas and Reebok are owned by the same company.

Ewwwwww!!!! :(

Peace

I wore running shoes at a camp once and a clinician marked me down in professionalism because I wasn't wearing officiating shoes. Of course, I was also wearing shorts, but that was OK in his mind. :rolleyes:

I got a pair of these at richardsimmons.com. My assignors don't like me to wear them, but I get a lot of cool looks from the hot moms. And there was this one hot dad once.....but that's another story.

http://images.halloweencostumeideas....xy_spandex.jpg

I am assuming you mean you were wearing shoes that were not all black. Because all my officiating shoes are running shoes.

Peace

Well if they don't specifiy BLACK shoes... I know of a person who went to their first camp wearing whie running shoes. One of the clinicians rather forcefully brought up they looked unprofessional, asked why he wore them and if he wore them during the season. The officials response was that 1) The brochure never mentioned what type of shoes to wear and 2) he doesnt wear shorts during the season either. The clinician was speechless. Incidentially, this camper is now a college official and the clinician is working at lower levels then they were during the incident.

I would make a similar point to a camper, but I would not be forceful about it. A lot of things are not talked about in the brochures but everyone knows what to do. But the "camper" made a good point. ;)

Peace

This guy was a first year camper so he had no idea. He said, if was calling that many games than his running shoes would be more comfy. Can't argue that. But the situation sort of was blown WAY out of proportion by the clinician. The camper did a good job taking it in stride and it sort of became a running joke during camp. Any good call people would say "Had to be the shoes" Any bad call "It had to be the shoes" He was a great sport!