Under the 'be careful what you wish for' category
 

So I get a call the other day for my first (football) playoff game -- as White hat. Excited until I start getting the weather report. Cold, which had been expected and isn't a big problem, PLUS rain, which is always a problem but particularly when cold. I've only had one drizzle game before now and it really wasn't that wet, but the forecast for Saturday (yesterday -- the day of the game) was for rain ALL freakin' day.

I double check all my cold weather gear, which up until now has just included the Nike Pro long sleeve turtleneck and the long stripes. I haven't needed anything else, but I know I will need gloves and perhaps a small belt towel. I go and buy the gloves, which I think will work, but can't find the towel at 4 stores. At this point, I've resigned myself to the thought that I'm going to be miserable for 3 hours, but to concentrate and work through it. It isn't THAT cold (just under 40) and I don't think my gear is going to saturate, so I'm not going to freeze to death and since I've been hunting in much colder weather, I know I'm going to survive, be it uncomfortably.

We get to the game and do our pregame. It IS cold and drizzly when we go to the field, but after a few minutes, I don't really notice the cold. By the time the game starts, it isn't raining, though the field is still wet and muddy in places. The ball folks (adults rather than boys) on both sides are armed with big towels, so I see that isn't going to be a problem. After a while, the drizzle starts back, but it isn't bad. In fact, it is neither distracting nor uncomfortable. After the half, we come back out and its cold again for the first few minutes on the field, but after that, no problem. Rain picks up a *little* (still not really much more than mist), but we finish the game, which was a blowout.

I know, I know, for some of you guys up north, this is a typical day's work. We don't get that many bad weather games down here. But my anxiety was all for nothing. Everything worked out fine and we had a good game. I don't know if my cap will survive, but white hats probably need to be new every year anyway.

I buy 3-4 white hats every season. No way I work with hats that aren't white.

I had a game yesterday too. Cold wind chill at 29, and rained the whole game. I wore two pair of gloves and 3 shirts and 2 pants. Glad to be working in the second week of playoffs. Texas Aggie are you working out of texas, what chapter?

From the amount of clothing you wore, you would have thought it was 29 below!

You wimp!! :D ;)

Aggie - you couldn't afford enough gear to work up here in Wisconsin! :)

Playoffs were beautiful up here. Mid-40s, light breeze. No warm weather gear needed. Coldest night of the year was in the upper 30s with a 25 mile an hour wind and rain. Only time I wore gloves this year, but it was sub-varsity.

I had 8 games (varsity and non) in a row with rain, wind and either cold or thunderstorms (4 lightning delay games). Had to change clothes at halftime of one of them!

All said - it was a warm season up north. Nothing worse than mid-30s the last half of the season. Would have worn short sleeves for the second-to-last game except the rookie forget his short sleeve shirt. Almost went in short sleeves the last game of the season - about 50 but a bit too windy for short sleeves.

OxyClean!:D

I'm not shy about wearing gloves during a varsity game. I think I wore gloves 4-5 times this year on Friday nights. My hands get cold and I don't handle the ball all that often (my back judge is quite the ball mover) and when I do it's usually as the midpoint in a short triangle.

Now, my crew will never, never wear shorts or coats on the field, ever. I wouldn't mind if they invented an NFL style long sleeve shirt, though.

Hand Warmer?
 

Few weeks ago we got the remains of a tropical storm with a cold and windy rain I mean lots of rain. The athletic director told my linesman about 10 minutes before the game he wished he had cancelled (too late!).

I wore layers. A cotton thermal shirt. Covered by an Under Armour Cold Gear Shirt. Topped off with a Gore Tex uniform shirt.

Below the waist my usual swimming trunks with the usual white shorts in order to hide the stripes of the uniform shirt. The knickers were the Gore Tex lined ones.

The two problem areas were the feet, the socks and shoes got wet, and hands. Changed socks at halftime but only had a single pair of dry shoes -- had an earlier game that took out the other pair.

The biggest problem was gloves. I used Under Armour receiver gloves that kept my hands dry but cold.

Wondering if the Under Armour Hand Warmer pouch is worth the $59.99 to keep the hands warm?

When your feet are warm (and dry), then your body will think you're warm (and dry). On occasion, I use neoprene 'footies' under the socks. If the field is wet or its raining, my feet/toes stay toasty and warm. Cold, wet feet make for a long evening and usually a 'cold' to boot.