NCAA referee shoe

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Rich1

Not sure I wrote anything that would lead you to believe I was stating anything other than, all other things considered and being equal, he "looked" less professional than the other two. When standing next to the others HE looked out of uniform so, in my opinion, his appearance had an initial affect on how he was perceived. He did a great job and was professional, but the white on the shoes was distracting. If the crew all had white markings it would have looked fine, all I am saying (and what you so obviously missed) is that it did make a difference. Additionally, as I pointed out in my post, this was a person who had said to others as a trainer at a clinic that all black was the only way to go.

And, as has been pointed out by others, it is absolutely unprofessional not to dress the way your employer tells you too. I don't know how this guy was told to dress so I'm not commenting on him or on any other league, etc. But if I'm told all black shoes or no belt or grey shirts instead of black & whites or to wear a jacket for varsity pregame then, as a professional, that's what I do.

White markings on shoes is distracting?

The judger is the person doing the hiring. Apparently, it's OK with that person or I'm guessing he wouldn't be wearing the shoes.

Originally Posted by deecee

To bad some officials don't take officiating as seriously as their shoes I guess. :sarcasm:

Some people look for any reason to put other officials down. As an avocation, overall, we're damned good at it.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Rich

White markings on shoes is distracting?

The judger is the person doing the hiring. Apparently, it's OK with that person or I'm guessing he wouldn't be wearing the shoes.
...

I will be interested to see how many officials continue to wear shoes with prominent white markings during the NCAA tournament, as John Adams is definitely not a fan of it.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

I will be interested to see how many officials continue to wear shoes with prominent white markings during the NCAA tournament, as John Adams is definitely not a fan of it.

Full disclosure - I never have. I could probably list all the shoes I've used since the 1990s, starting with the Converse Running Refs. They all have been all-black.

I just don't care if others do.

[deecee]

Rich, my third year officiating I was working a BF game with a first year guy. At half time one of the varsity officials walked in and the first thing out of his mouth was, "I can tell you two didn't call each other to communicate before the game."

I was like, "ok". So he goes on to say, "I can tell because you would have talked about your uniform and you would have had matching shoe laces."

My partners were grey.

I looked at him. Said Thanks. Got up and walked away while he was starting to flap his gums some more.

I was proud of myself because I was about to blurt out, "I'm sure that's why we are officiating so piss poorly or did you not notice any of the calls we made due to the glaring and unmatched shoelaces."

[JRutledge]

The problem it is hard to find all-black shoes. And when you do it is only a certain kind of shoe. Thank God the one I found is all-black and feels very good.

Peace

[BktBallRef]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

I will be interested to see how many officials continue to wear shoes with prominent white markings during the NCAA tournament, as John Adams is definitely not a fan of it.

In baseball, softball and soccer, officials have been wearing whie on their shoes for years.

In NC, we're allowed to wear shoes with white on them. I wear them during football. We wear the black pants with the white stripe. I like the look of a shoe with a white swoosh or the Reebok stripes. Makes the uniform pop!

I don't wear them in basketball because we wear the gray shirt. But I don't object if others do.

Opening the door to shoes that are not 100% black allows officials a much wider variety of shoes to wear. Personally, I think it's something Mr. Adams really needs to get over it. That type of thinking is very old school.

[Rich1]

Originally Posted by Rich

White markings on shoes is distracting?

The judger is the person doing the hiring. Apparently, it's OK with that person or I'm guessing he wouldn't be wearing them

Apparently, it is. Perhaps I need to spell it out more simply next time but my second post clearly stated that I was not commenting on that guy in that instance. If its fine with his group then by all means he can wear whatever they allow. I was commenting on those who are in associations, chapters, states, etc. that have requirements that they do not follow, which is not professional. And, for the record, in THOSE instances it is still unprofessional even if the one doing the hiring continues to hire them. It is on us to be professionals at all times and I expect my co-officials in my chapter to do exactly that -- not because it affects their ability to do the job but because it may affect their perceived ability do the job (I say this as an ex coach who could tell within miutes of seeing a crew who I would be "working" to get those 50/50 calls to go my way).

So, to recap:

1) original post asked about shoes
2) a joke was made about them being black
3) I posted about D1 official who wore blk/wht (remember, HE has said "never do that")

I will make an effort in the future to write posts that leave less room for feelings to get hurt.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Rich1

I will make an effort in the future to write posts that leave less room for feelings to get hurt.

Is this a joke? Must be.

[Dexter555]

Mmcfadden--welcome to the forum! Clearly there are some strong opinions on the topic of your first post. Basically you can never go wrong with all black. There is no one brand/model that is recommended or mandated. Find one that feels good to you. If you choose a shoe with white trim, some don't care, some will make a snap judgment about not only your shoes but your skills. You can also run afoul of your assignor/association, so proceed at your own risk.

There are other threads here on recommended shoes, but the search function isn't so great. Try this: go to Google and in the search bar type "site:forum.officiating.com/basketball shoe recommendation" (without the quotes) and you'll find several threads. Good luck!

[LRZ]

If you are required to wear all-black and you need a specific shoe with white markings because fit is an issue, black out the white design. Simple, no?

[Adam]

Originally Posted by LRZ

If you are required to wear all-black and you need a specific shoe with white markings because fit is an issue, black out the white design. Simple, no?

Yep, but the simple fact is, not many require all black any more. They may say it, we've been told to have "all black", but when I ask about my Zigs everyone is ok (they have them anyway).

"All" means different things to different people, apparently.

It never hurts to ask.

Judging other officials based on this, though, is ridiculous unless you're privy to the relationship between that official and his supervisor.

[Multiple Sports]

At the college level, it is about the green. Years ago the CIAA had a contract with Reebok ( I think ) and the story is that an official had on a pair of Nike's with a big white swoosh. Jim Burch came into the lockeroom at half time and had the official darken the swoosh.....