Unshaven

Bad Zebra · #1 (**permalink**) Fri Feb 22, 2013, 09:11am

The timing of this thread is interesting. As some of you may have noted, I have a big game Saturday. As it so happens, for the first time in my life, I am sporting facial hair... a neatly trimmed goatee.

I had a brief discussion with one of my partners early in the season who has been to the state finals and he mentioned that they generally don't select officials with facial hair...it's not explicit or spoken, but that's just the way it is. They also avoid anybody carrying more than 15 pounds of extra weight as well. Again, just the way it is. At that time I said "if I get to that point, I'll shave it" and I didn't think much about it again until this week.

As it so happens, I have received my best schedule ever this year, despite the new facial hair. I was conflicted about it because I'm not sure if the powers that selected me know if I had a goatee. As a result, I've decided I don't want to make it an issue, so I am going to shave it off before I leave the house tomorrow morning.

Reading the comments in this thread up to now have more or less affirmed my decision.

And here's a funny side note...our local newspaper posts the mugshots on their website for anybody who has been arrested on a daily basis. I live in a county of about 500,000 people and this IS Florida so the list is pretty long some days. As an experiment, I looked at every mugshot over the past 7 days and counted and calculated how many were clean shaven and how many had beards or moustches. 73% of the males arrested had some form of facial hair. I don't know if that proves anything, but I find it interesting that 3/4 of (alleged) criminals have facial hair.

just another ref · #2 (**permalink**) Fri Feb 22, 2013, 11:34am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bad Zebra

...... I'm not sure if the powers that selected me know if I had a goatee.

So this means the people that selected you have never seen you? So what is the criteria for your selection?

Bad Zebra · #3 (**permalink**) Fri Feb 22, 2013, 11:57am

Quote:

Originally Posted by just another ref

So this means the people that selected you have never seen you? So what is the criteria for your selection?

The tournament is so large and there are so many venues, the state relies on "State approved Evaluators" to grade performance and pass it up the chain. Those evaluations and feedback from the games (no controversies or management issues) plus other criteria (attend camps and field clinics) are used by the state office for final picks. I doubt any evaluators at my games mentioned my goatee.

Terrapins Fan · #4 (**permalink**) Fri Feb 22, 2013, 12:11pm

BTW, I don't think we should be judged by our facial hair, provided, it's neat and groomed.

I also do not think we should be judged by our weight, again, provided we can keep up with the game. It should be about our calls and our mechanics.

Rich · #5 (**permalink**) Fri Feb 22, 2013, 12:13pm

And the reality is I've never seen a top D1 official with facial hair (I'm sure there are some, I just can't think of one) or glasses.

When I work college football, I'm expected to squint rather than wear sunglasses -- in baseball, I wear sunglasses everywhere.

Some of these things hold on when they probably should've died years ago.

Eastshire · #6 (**permalink**) Fri Feb 22, 2013, 12:26pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terrapins Fan

BTW, I don't think we should be judged by our facial hair, provided, it's neat and groomed.

I also do not think we should be judged by our weight, again, provided we can keep up with the game. It should be about our calls and our mechanics.

We have to look the part. However, it's only referees who think a person with facial hair can't possible be good. No one else cares so long as it's neatly groomed. On the other hand, everyone is going to notice a referee being overweight.

Can you imagine a fan saying, "If you'd just have shaved off your beard you wouldn't have missed that call."? I can't. On the other hand, "Lose some weight so you can actually get a call right." is well within the realm of possibilities.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich

And the reality is I've never seen a top D1 official with facial hair (I'm sure there are some, I just can't think of one) or glasses.

When I work college football, I'm expected to squint rather than wear sunglasses -- in baseball, I wear sunglasses everywhere.

Some of these things hold on when they probably should've died years ago.

The whole thing reminds me of an experiment that was done either with monkeys or chimps (can't remember which). They were put in a cage with a bunch of bananas hanging from the ceiling and a ladder underneath them to access them. Then whenever one would try to climb the ladder to get one they'd be sprayed with water from a fire hose until they stopped. Eventually, they stopped trying to get the bananas.

At this point they started rotating out the original animals and replacing them with new ones. The new one of course would go for the banana but the others would stop him so they wouldn't be sprayed. Eventually, not a single one remained of those who had been sprayed but they group still wouldn't let the newcomer get a banana.

It's the same kind of self-perpetuating thing. For some reason lost to time (and almost certainly having nothing to do with basketball), the college referees didn't have facial hair. So the people who want to be college referees go clean shaven. By the time they get there, they have no desire to have facial hair so they don't grow any causing the next group to think they have to ditch the facial hair to get there.

JRutledge · #7 (**permalink**) Fri Feb 22, 2013, 01:15pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich

And the reality is I've never seen a top D1 official with facial hair (I'm sure there are some, I just can't think of one) or glasses.

When I work college football, I'm expected to squint rather than wear sunglasses -- in baseball, I wear sunglasses everywhere.

Some of these things hold on when they probably should've died years ago.

Well you do see mustaches from African-American officials often but that is it. And even that is hit and miss, but your point is point on otherwise.

Peace

SCalScoreKeeper · #8 (**permalink**) Fri Feb 22, 2013, 01:22pm

Ok as a scorer here are my rules on this topic-

2 day tournament-shave on first day only
3 day tournament-shave on first and last days
4 day tournament-shave on first,third,and last days

Regular game days-shave on every game day.