Black Pants

[WKowalczyk]

I had a discussion with my commissioner last night. I will post what we talked about after the poll closes.

[Welpe]

I say keep 'em...and phase out the knickers.

[mishatx]

I say keep 'em...and phase out the knickers.

[busman]

They still look like YMCA league to me.  Ditch them and stay with knickers.

[Etref]

They should be used only in extreme weather. I know, I know you have heard all of the stories about walking 2 miles to school barefoot in the snow (uphill both ways) from all of us old farts but I truly do not like the look especially when they are playing in 45 degree weather. The players are in short sleeves and the coaches in shorts while the officials are in long sleeves, black foul weather pants, head warmers, etc.


Like a wise man told me once................


"why do you work football games in the wind, mud, snow, rain, sleet, heat"

"Because the do not have domed stadiums in West Texas"


If it was easy, anyone could do it.


Ditch the black pants except very, very, cold weather.

[cincybearcat]

I hate the notion that officials have to look tough and wear short sleeves because it's football.  Does anybody really think the fans/players notice???  Keep the black pants...they look good and are more comfortable.

[Reff54]

When the NFL  went to the knickers with the  black stripes....it reminded me of the convicts in the ORIGINAL  "The Longest Yard"....these black pants with white stripes look just the opposite... but still remind me of the convicts....

[Gaiters97]

Who washes white pants after a muddy game?

As a single guy i get an "expert" (my mother) to wash them when they're really soiled. The common-sense response was "Why don't you wear black ones in the winter?"

As some of you might know we work all-year in the UK, which often means 25-40 games a year. White pants can get ruined within 2 years. My initial response would be to have black knickers, as opposed to a full trouser, and the white stripe is pretty pointless. I think the stripe looks a bit like a tracksuit, kinda like the tracksuit basketball players wear and "rip-off" when they leave the bench.

It's an interesting topic as there is a proposal in the UK and Europe to move to black pants for our bad-weather games. That means an obvious demand for business.

[younggun]

SS Shirt=Knickers
LS Shirt=Black Pants

[Chester]

I love 'em.  More comfortable and warmer.  Plus, I like the look of them.  I wouldn't mind going to them all season.  Warm or cold. 

[AlUpstateNY]

Black pants are fine for cold/severe weather, but I'd like to see eithe the bottom tapered or elasticized, so with all the movement when the pants slide down we don't wind up stepping on (through) them with the heel.

[rickref]

I like them for cold weather. They are great for keeping cold wind off the legs and quiet toasty with under armor. I do not like the pant legs though. Even after hemming etc when back pedal I fell em scraping across the opposite shoe.

[110]

I would prefer to use 'em exclusively, instead of the knickers.

[gpar]

I have worn the black pant twice now and they are comfortable, look good, and I would wear them with short and long sleeve if I could.  They are great. 

[HLinNC]

After wearing a pair each this season of the "approved" (by my state) Honig's and the "illicit" Gerry Davis brand, I came to the following conclusions:

Honig's-                                                                        Gerry Davis

thicker/heavier feel to the cloth                                       lighter, dress pant feel
flimsy,cheap, teeny zipper                                               heavier, brass looking zipper
shallow hip pockets                                                        deeper pockets
hard to crease ironing at home                                         crease already in
sized alphabetically- poor fit- XL too big ,                          sized numerically- better fit, slider tabs to adjust fit
Lg was too tight
Made in China                                                               Made in USA

The Honig's brand is a better true foul weather pant based on the fabric and the chemical treatment applied.  However, the Gerry Davis was a better fit for me and seemed to be overall a better quality item.  If Davis would improve his fabric, it would beat Honig's hands down.  He acknowledges that in his product description but tries to mitigate by saying that additional fabric or treatment would increase the cost.  Honig's tries to get a dig in back by stating that they "just didn't sew a white stripe on their basketball pant".

If I were in an area that decided they wanted to wear black pants all season, the Gerry Davis would be my choice for August through mid-October.  I'd want the Honig's for rainy weather or cold conditions.

I'm tempted to order a Smitty's and a Cliff Keen set just to round out my assessment.  I've still got one pair of Cliff Keen knickers I bought on clearance a couple years back that are still in the plastic.  I'm going to retire out some of my older sets as we wore pants from October 1st on.  They were a bit warm for a 5:00 pm middle school start in the mid to upper 70's.

[Birddog]

We have worn them twice. If we wear long sleeves we are going black.  Everyone on crew loves them.

If anyone says do what the white hat wants. They need to find a new crew, pronto.

[tow]

Don't know why it matters,but I wish Honigs had deeper pockets.

[sj]

I like them both but if anyone was given the job of designing an officials uniform from scratch for a new sport called football how many would come up with the idea of using white knickers? : )

[bama_stripes]

(Disclaimer: Black is not yet an option in our state)

My main problem with the black pants currently sold is the white vertical stripe on each leg.  Presumably this has something to do with making them tax-deductible as "uniform expense", but to me it mitigates the argument for not getting mud on white knickers.  Plus, it makes them look like jogging pants.

Although I'd like the option to wear them for rainy/cold weather games, I wonder how they would do in the Deep South during hot weather games.

[Diablo]

If anyone says do what the white hat wants. They need to find a new crew, pronto.

Amen, Brother.
That philosophy went out with the wrist horn.

[lawdog]

I have the Gerry Davis pant and I'm not impressed.  It really is not a cold weather pant, its very light weight and not wind/water proof at all.  Plus, the butt/crotch/legs are cut too big.  I could darn near fit my waste in the legs.  They are like an oversized dress pant, not an athletic pant at all.  I only wore them once this year as my normal crewmates decided not to buy them after I had already done so.  I wore them filling in with another crew and they didn't have the Davis or the Honig not sure what they had but I liked theirs a lot better than mine...

[HLinNC]

lawdog, you'll find the Honig's are big too.  One WH of ours actually had to have the seat taken up in his, along with the standard hemming, because they were too roomy.

I think they're designed that way to allow for layering.  I will say I was glad for the space the night I wore my Rocky heavy duty fleece longs two weeks ago.

I've heard of some officials wearing the Smitty's brand.  Might that be the ones you saw?

[Andrew McCarthy]

Properly worn white knickers and striped socks is what separates us from intramural flag football officials.

[Etref]

Properly worn white knickers and striped socks is what separates us from intramural flag football officials.

 

[rickref]

 

And tucked in shirts with hats worn the proper way.