Some equipment

[Snake~eyes]

Go two questions.

First, where do you guys buy your pants from?\



Second I'm in the market for a new pair of shoes. I was looking at spotbilts but also saw a nice shoe by reebok, here's the one: http://www.honigs.com/detail.asp?Cat=&Sub=&Item=829 . Was hoping you could give me some ideas on what you like.

[rommel22]

Snake~eyes:

You can get your pants at just about any sporting goods store. Just make sure they are all black and have a back pocket that has a zipper to hold some of your equipment. It's hard to find rain pants (lined or unlined) that have belt loops so you may need to wear your shorts under your pants to keep your timer box on your belt.

The officals corner website and catolog have lax referee pants for sale, but they are not cheap. http://www.theofficalscorner.com

One recommendation from experience. Where I live, we sometimes officate games in the early spring when it's raining and the temp is about 35 degrees. A good pair of water/wind proof rain pants are key.

I have three different pair of rain pants myself. One unlined light weight pair for not so cold days with light rain; one lined pair for cold days with no rain; and one unlined wind/water proof pair for the cold, windy, rainy games in early spring. I'm a skiier, so I got the water/wind proof pair at my ski shop. They are light weight, thin, unlined ski pants that don't let anything in. Gortex works best, but gortex pants are pretty expensive. You can also get element proof pants from golf shops. But, unless you are working games in this type of weather, it's ok to just buy an inexpensive pair of black running pants from your local sporting goods store.

As for the shoes, I personnaly don't like the spotbilts I've gotten in the past. They seem to break down after only one season on me. I don't like their feel either. But, I know they've just recently come out with a new style that has been redesigned. I'm not sure how these feel or will hold up. This is what I like to do. I really like the soccer cleats I use to play soccer in, so for lacrosse, I use the same shoes, but I just use black shoe dye to cover up all the non-black areas of the shoe. This works out great. I just buy an all most all black soccer cleat, cover the white markings with the black shoe dye and then polish the shoe with black shoe polish. They look great and the dye last all season. The following year, I just re-dye the shoes and use them again.

I know it's some extra work, but if you find a very comfortable cleat that you really like, don't just not use them because they aren't all black; make them all black. Your feet and back will thank you at the end of the season.

I have two pair of turf shoes (small short cleats) that I use on almost every game (grass or turf) and one pair of spikes that I only use one the worst field conditions. The turf shoes are Nike Tiempo's and Adidas Mundial Team. They are great. The spikes are Adidas Beckenbauer's. All of these shoes are a little pricy, but they're worth it.

I recommend that you try on a lot of differnt pairs first, then pick the one's that feel best. You can make them all black later if you need to. I wouldn't order a pair over the internet (Honig's) until you've atleast tried them on first.

Hope this helps