How thick in the head is this dude? :eek:

For the second year, State of Florida requires an FHSAA approved shirt for all contests,boys or girls, for all post season play beginning with district contests. Grey with black pinstripes, a different FHSAA logo on each arm and an american flag on the back just below the neck trim. They are hideous and conveniently available from exactly TWO vendors.

In years past, each crew wore their local shirts with the FHSAA patch. Didn't matter which shirts ya wore as long as the FHSAA patch was on left chest and entire crew matched. Lots of grumbling this year...mainly becuse only TWO vendors sold the shirts.

Intriguing stuff.
Now for some details which you may or may not have.
1. Who specifically is authorized to stop the game and compel an official to leave the court? State Exec Dir? Tournament Dir? Someone at the site who is appointed by the State office? Is this person a current or former official?
2. For the guy who missed a quarter, why did it take so long? Was the alternate part of the pregame? Was the alternate warmed-up before being pressed into action? Don't want to jeopardize his health.
3. What pay did the guy who missed the 1st quarter get for that contest? How about when he was removed a second time?

Wisconsin does not allow the side panels in any WIAA game. They also have a clean shirt policy -- other than an (optional) flag patch on the sleeve, there is no patch required or allowed -- no state patch, no association patch.

Officials working state are reminded of the panels and that the crew should either be all flag or all no-flag. Amazingly enough, this didn't appear to be a problem for any of the 30 state games (boys/girls).

To me, this is the best policy of any of the states I've seen. It's that way in all 3 sports I work, too.

And at what price?

My belief is that if an organization such as a State office decides to mandate a specific uniform (or just shirt depending upon the sport), then it should supply the required uniform or reimburse the officials for the cost of the purchase.

1) Tournament Director, who is authorized by the State Assoc to run the tournament. And he is a former official.

2) He missed about half of the quarter...took a couple of minutes to get back to locker room and change and back to court area, and then there were no significant stoppages of play to reinsert him (no timeouts, no free throws, etc.) And the alternate was in the pregame (required). Was he warmed up? No idea.

3) No idea on pay issues.

Pretty thick...

I want to say around $40 each for the shirt.

Our state association reimburses a game fee (about $53 plus $10 mileage regardless of how far you travel) and that's it. I don't see that changing any time soon. The attitude is that it is a "privilege to work the state tournament so be happy with the assignment".

While at the semi and finals this past weekend in Michigan, I noticed that all the officials had shirts with the wide stripe on the sides. During the season, and the rest of the playoffs there is no requirement on what shirt to wear.

In Ontario we have 3 different styles of shirts.

The old grey with black trim.

Stripes- with our without the side panel ( most of us wear the side panel now.. more breathable)

the Fiba black and grey shirt.

My board requires the IAABO patch which drives me nuts. Restricts my ability to buy shirts to one price gauging supplier ( Honig's)

You think that's bad, we are mandated the sublimated shirt with only 1 supplier. Not only that, but they changed logo and we all need the new logo by next year. So for my $70+ shirt (I think it was about $77 w/standard shipping), I got to wear it a total of 2 years and then buy another one. All this because they got a new "official" supplier. I can imagine that conversation. State Assc: We'd love to give you exclusive supplier status for a fair fee of $xxxxxx.
Vendor: I could do that if you make very official buy a new shirt next season.

It's all about money. Everything is about money and separating you from yours. Partnerships, customer focus, care about the customer? BS It's about separating you from your money. In my closet the 2 most expensive shirts I own are all 3 of my $77 referee shirts (2 football and 1 basketball).

Not that I'm bitter or anything (yea I am), but to pass this off as a change to a logo (if you didn't tell me, I couldn't tell, still can't) in conjunction with a new official supplier, is flat out wrong.

The only mandated thing we have to do is not wear the college panel shirt outside of what the rulebook states. Other than that, everything else is highly suggested but not required.

Peace

I agree with you, you've got it good right now! Just wait until they see how much these State associations are making with the manadated shirts and the "royalties"!

Yep.

This is the way officiating is going now. It has crept down into the high school ranks from the college level. Basketball isn't as bad in college because they all wear the same shirt and I haven't seen many, if any, conferences with logos on shirts. Baseball conferences all have their own shirts/hats/jackets, and umpires are expected to buy uniforms for each conference. Of course this isn't done just for the fun of it. There is a reason a short sleeve shirt is $45 and a jacket is $70. I'll let you figure out why.

I know that the places that sell shirts or jacket with a logo on them is paying for some licensing rights. Not sure what those agreements are, but that is the case in my state. It is no different than buying official NBA or NFL stuff, you have to get permission to put their logo or logos on a shirt or jacket.

Peace