Kids say the darndest things - funny
 

6th grade AAU game. White team is getting crushed by blue(wearing purple jerseys), although their players, coaches, and fans had great attitudes, and did all game long. I think they were a B or C team of sorts, as each high school feeder has a few different teams.

At half time white is down by 30. Their players walk onto the court while blue is still in their huddle.

Me: you guys having fun so far?

White players: yeah

White Point Guard: Do you guys mean to say blue instead of purple?

Me: Yes, purple isn't an official high school color. That's why we say blue.
(brief pause)

White Point Guard: (in the most sincere, 6th grade way possible) Oh, we just thought you guys were color blind.

LOL

Purple isn't an official High School color? I say blue because it is one syllable.

That's what I was told.. Maybe I'm wrong on this?

Never heard that official school color thing, there isnt anything I have seen in the books about it.

Its just a lot easier to use single syllable words for calling out whose ball it is, addressing coaches and players and any belligerents you cant get away from after the game.

Nothing official or unofficial about it... and I'm sure the school's "official" colors are purple and something. My high school was maroon.

But I've noticed this as well. Officials (all sports I work) simply won't say purple. Or maroon or orange. It can't be the 2 syllables thing because I've said and heard yellow lots of times (although even there I know a couple that call that team Gold, even though it's plainly yellow.)

Really? Tell that to my son's team.

I know older officials that won't say "purple" or "orange." I don't see what the big deal is to spit out two syllables. Besides, it shows better respect for the team in question. Otherwise, you're just being lazy, IMO.

Chartreuse ???
 

One syllable colors in my little corner of Connecticut. Been that way for over thirty years. Rookies are taught this like it was a "rule".

As a rookie in my little corner of Kansas, I can assure that we are taught this as well. Seemed a little odd, but I have many other larger issues to work on.

Well, I'm not "older," so I must be "lazy." One syllable it is.

When I first started out, some of the senior officials did the "red" instead of "orange" and "blue" instead of "purple"..... I always thought it to be weird...... until I started living more and more in "Rome" and started doing it that way. Now, it's just normal for me too.

Okay, other than "that's just the way it's done," can anyone give a solid reason why people insist on one syllable?

That's how I was taught also. Guess I'm a lazy, poor official also.

Good story, rook! :D

Distinct and clear - no misunderstanding of what is said.

It's a lot easier to sell a close OOB call with distinction and clarity without confusion saying "red" rather than "magenta" or "maroon."

It is also difficult to say two syllable words with a whistle in your mouth. That was the justification for why I did not do that early in my career.

Peace

I guess I'm in the minority here... I work with a lot of people who insist on changing the color to go with a one syllable color, but I think it's disrespectful to the team if you call them by the wrong color... Orange, purple and maroon it is for me!

I always hear an official (usually in a lower level game) say purple and the like and immediately think they're probably not trained all that well.

I will say "orange" because it can easily be done as one syllable. Otherwise, it's blue, red, gold, etc. for me.

Do you talk with the whistle in your mouth? I drop mine out of my mouth to talk (at least I think I do).

Disrespectful? :confused:

Some schools must hate me then b/c I'm color blind. Any team with a dark red/burgandy jersey is black to me.

I was told...
 

...this is one of the easiest ways to spot an inexperienced official.

The disrespect charge is just nonsense. The teams don't care, as long as you call out their color on an OOB call.

Sometimes, "the way it's always done" should be good enough, especially in the absence of a compelling reason for change. Single syllables here, and that includes "gold" for yellow.

I hadn't thought about it as an indicator of experience, but it might fit somewhere below back pedaling in the chart of red flags.

While I don't agree with jeschmit, I can tell you first hand he's not an inexperienced official.

Not true, sir.

Within five miles of me, there are two high schools that wear purple, and one that sometimes wears orange. (I'm sensing 26YearGap is trying to figure those out.) I've been thanked before for saying "purple" and "orange," rather than "blue" and "red." Schools indeed care that you get their color right. It's their color.

Here's a reason. If you're watching Northwestern or Northern Iowa, and tell others, "those uniforms are blue," you'd be dead wrong. Same goes for Tennessee and red. Again, I don't have a problem with spitting out an extra syllable, as long as I'm accurate.

I say "gold" for yellow works. Thankfully, no maroons around here. But purple ain't blue, and orange ain't red.

As an aside, I don't think any high school in our entire state wears brown.

I think arguments for both sides are valid. I don't have a beef with a partner who wants to go "blue" instead of "purple," just so long as we're on the same page. The other night I was halfway through my varsity game when I realized my partner was saying "maroon" and I was saying "red."

Guess we shoulda pregamed that one. :D

Who thanked you? The fans? Coaches? Players? Not that I really care, but I'm not going to change away from the way other guys are doing it around here just to get a couple of thank yous.

And the players always know if they're wearing purple, and I say blue, it's their ball. I've never had anyone complain.

Oh, and we have a brown here locally.

Players. I'm not doing it for the thanks; I'm doing what's right. Besides, we've told our kids, just because others are doing it, doesn't make it right.
I'm merely walking that talk.

And, of course you've never heard someone complain. They've been led to believe that officials are heartless jerks that don't give a damn.

Yeah, I just threw that out there, as I was going through the spectrum. (I know, brown isn't on the spectrum.) Nothing terribly unusual around here, though I overlooked two maroons.

"What's right"? Really? This isn't a moral or ethical choice.

Not during play.

Peace

You lost me here. We do a lot of things that have nothing to do with what the teams say or do. Our terminology is often very different than what players, coaches and fans use.

Really??? They complain about everything else we do. Why would they not complain about this too if it upset them?

Peace

This sounds like your issue. I've never been accused of this, nor do I see most people being led to believe this (at least in my part of the world). They may not like some of my calls, but I've never been accused of not giving a damn. Doubtful I'd be out there if that was true.

Correct. This is about facts. Purple uniforms aren't blue.

A uniform color isn't terminology.

Believe me, you have. We all have. Just because we haven't heard it doesn't mean it never existed.

I was also taught to use 1 syllable.

But when it comes to orange, I don't know how many syllables are in that word! :eek:

LOL The dictionary says there are two, but some parts of the country make it one.

Conversely, in some parts of my state the number "four" has two syllables.

Chances are, they aren't purple or orange either, we just pick what our eyes tell us and use a color that's close.

For BNR, it's all black and white.

If you want to feel like you're on some moral high ground by using purple, yellow, orange, royal blue, fuscia, or amnesia, have at it.

But bringing "what others do" or "if all your friends were jumping off a bridge" into the discussion implies a moral or ethical issue, which this is not.

Unless, of course, you think an angel gets his wings every time an official says "purple."

The reason we use one syllable for colors is a single syllable is easier to pronounce at volume. This makes it easier for all concerned to understand what's going on. Beyond that, many of us can't tell a red from a magenta from a maroon.

I am corrected not infrequently with a "It's purple, not blue." Sometimes it's the players, sometimes it's parents. I invariable respond that officials aren't smart enough to use two syllable words which gets a laugh and dismisses the issue.

It has nothing to do with the actual color of the jersey but with the accepted mechanic. I think it's abundantly clear that one-syllable colors is the accepted mechanic.

Good lord, Snaqs.

For the second time, this is neither ethical nor moral. This is about accuracy. If 2+2=4, and everyone around you wants it to equal 5, it's still 4. As they say, you're entitled to your own opinion, but you're not entitled to your own facts.

Nor can I. Even I can live with "red" under those circumstances.

Anyway, if we can run up and down the court with these kids, we can easily project two syllables.

It's a fact that "purple" is more accurate than "blue" (well, assuming the uniforms are purple).

That doesn't make it "right" as you indicated in some previous post.

You're the one who brought doing "the right thing" into the discussion. If you're concerned about accuracy, you're free to tackle the windmill as many times as you like.

What are you going to do if you want to be accurate with the schools colors but the home team's colors are say green and gold but have to wear white when playing at home?

People arent going to worry about what color you use during the game, they might get a bit fussy if you use the wrong color in talking about the school after the game.

What if a team's color is listed as emerald green? What about if you were working the Texas Longhorns where they list their shade as burnt orange? You gonna be saying that all game long...in the name of accuracy?

You know the answer. Green, orange. Simple.

I disagree, sir. In fact, accurate and right are synonymous.

The bottom line is that I'm challenging a long-standing mechanic for some. When you do that, you're going to get flak. That's fine. We're officials. Since when do we care about others' emotions in pursuit of accuracy?

In that case, you're not being accurate.

:rolleyes:

Those unis are green and orange. The declared color fits.

(Here's hoping they don't play in the same game, though.)

But "schools care that you get their colors right. It's their colors." ;)

[QUOTE=bainsey;804383]You know the answer. Green, orange. Simple.


I disagree, sir. In fact, accurate and right are synonymous. [quote]

True in the "correct" sense of "right;" not true in the "morally superior" sense of "right."

You could say "I think it's better to be more accurate than to have on-syllable colors." That's an opinion, and you're entitled to it. NCAAW would agree with you. Most of us wouldn't have a problem with it. IT's when you seemed to say that your opinion was the "better" "more ethical "purer" answer that some got a little upset.

For most of us, it's a "do what the assigners want" situation. If they want me to use "light-dark" or "white - colored" or "home-visitor" or "Milford - Tech" I'll do so. Most want me to use "blue - red".

Negative, sir. See post #37.

And there's the trump card. It's the boss's call. Thankfully, my boss knows that purple isn't blue.

Bullsh1t, you're not getting flak because you're challenging a mechanic, you're getting flak for the following comments:

There's no respect issue here. And calling 99% of high school officials lazy is bound to get you some deserved blow back.

And here is where you leave the impression that you see this as some moral or ethical issue. That's where your argument nuked the fridge, IMO.

I personally don't give a crap what you do, if you can move up in your association while saying "purple," go ahead. Good for you. I don't find "accuracy" here to be important enough to go against the grain. I'm so used to saying red and blue by now, however, that it would take some effort not to.

bainsey, I don't understand what you don't grasp about the fact that there's no right or wrong about this issue. Your moral superiority on this subject is quite nauseating.

Well, you got me. I can't argue with logic like this.

Kind of like the chupacabra I suppose.

Asked and answered, twice. Forget morality.

You obviously don't understand the concept of morality. By definition, it involves the concepts of right and wrong, which is all you have talked about in this thread.

No, you accused me of bringing it up. But that's why you're taking crap, not because of some imagined sacred cow.
Well, that and the part where you called officials who don't do it your way lazy. That came across a bit high-horsey.

On the contrary, sir. I understand it quite well, but this has to do with being factual, not moral.

No wonder people think we don't have a clue.

Some guy starts a thread about humorous comments from kids and we end up with a teenaged argument on blue and purple.

I'm right.... No, I'm right.... You might be right, but......

Sheesh :o

+1

p.s. Our school colors are officially Navy and Gold.

Not according to this:

That's when you made it about morals. Notice you didn't say "I'm doing what's correct" (vs. what is incorrect). You said "I'm doing what's right" (vs. what is wrong, ie calling out blue or red)

That's okay. You keep playing your semantics games. We all know what you mean.

Wow, and they say that I'm splitting hairs.

Right, correct, tomato, tomahto. You, sir, made it about morals.

And asdf, YOU are right. This is too much. I'm done with it.

Actually, I said a long time ago in this thread that I see no right or wrong about it. It's actually not that big of a deal. I take no issue with any official doing it either way. If you want to say purple, I say go for it. If Snaqs wants to say blue, I say more power to him.

What I do take issue with is morally superior officials (like you) who want to make a point of telling other officials who choose to do something like this a certain way that they're doing something wrong.

Fixed that for you.

Huh?
 

Last night, GV game, fourth quarter, I'm L administering free throws. Girl in the closest lane space to me, a starter, looks at me and asks, "Rim?"

Now, this is our third week of the season and the fourth quarter of the game, and definitely not the first foul shots of the night. It took me a second or two to think to myself, "Really?"

Me, "Yes."

Too much AAU ball for her I guess. :rolleyes:

agitator

+1

Me: "Or backboard."

Touché!

Citation?

Ibid.