Bye, bye knickers???

[El Macman]

I agree that the black pants should be an option with the short sleeves. I do not own a pair yet because I knew that my crew would not work playoff games and it really did not get cold enough during the regular season to warrant buying a pair. I am an official with experience, but I am on a new crew. A couple of the guys did not want to invest money in even a LS shirt last year.

The option would be nice...but when the NFL let some of the crews wear the black pants with SS shirts in some domes a couple of years ago it kind of looked funny. For some reason, I think the black pants look better with LS shirts...but I would wear them just the same. It all depends on what my crew wants to do.

I hope that my crew will all have LS shirts this year. I got to wear mine a couple of times last year when I filled in on another crew. I also hope that they buy black pants just so we can have them as an option. I hate it when one guy holding out means the crew has to do something different.

The NFL didn't really "let" the crews wear the black pants with short sleeves. The crew(s) did that on their own, and were quickly told not to do that any more. That may change.

[ornery1]

The knickers are not going away.  They black pant option might be extended into non-cold weather situations (which I guess would mean with short sleeve shirts) but there is no way we should force guys to buy the pants. 

Agreed Knickers aren't going away but they are definitely "on their way out". No one can possibly say knickers look better than the black pants. As we all know, its perception. If the coaches see you look good, they are comfortable to begin the game, but then its up to you to keep that "comfortability". If you look like "crap" to begin with, you are starting at a deficit. My crew wore them all year and during the playoffs and all I can say is woo hoo, they look great and are ultra comfortable. Welcome to the 21st century.

[TxSkyBolt]

Agreed Knickers aren't going away but they are definitely "on their way out". No one can possibly say knickers look better than the black pants. As we all know, its perception. If the coaches see you look good, they are comfortable to begin the game, but then its up to you to keep that "comfortability". If you look like "crap" to begin with, you are starting at a deficit. My crew wore them all year and during the playoffs and all I can say is woo hoo, they look great and are ultra comfortable. Welcome to the 21st century.

You wore winter weight black pants the entire season in Texas with long sleeve shirts?  This explains a lot......

[Etref]

You wore winter weight black pants the entire season in Texas with long sleeve shirts?  This explains a lot......

 

[Arbitrator]

Agreed Knickers aren't going away but they are definitely "on their way out". No one can possibly say knickers look better than the black pants. As we all know, its perception. If the coaches see you look good, they are comfortable to begin the game, but then its up to you to keep that "comfortability". If you look like "crap" to begin with, you are starting at a deficit. My crew wore them all year and during the playoffs and all I can say is woo hoo, they look great and are ultra comfortable. Welcome to the 21st century.

You wore winter weight black pants the entire season in Texas with long sleeve shirts?  This explains a lot......

 

It could well be the new UIL approved football officiating uniform for 2011!   

[ornery1]

You wore winter weight black pants the entire season in Texas with long sleeve shirts?  This explains a lot......

Well its quite evident Brad that you are a moron. Our crew wore the light weight black pants and short sleeves the entire year and playoffs. We encountered pretty mild weather for the majority of the year and it was never necessary to go to the heavier black pants and long sleeves although they were packed and ready if called upon. I pray that the UIL dandates the black pants, knickers are similar to a high maintenace girlfriend, they cost a bunch, arent likely to make last call and need to be checked at the door when you are done with them. Long live the UIL, send taso packing, their is a new sheriff in town and his name is Tony Timmons.   YEAH

[Arbitrator]

 

Well, let's just see if Judge Yeakel aligns himself with the UIL in his forthcoming Federal ruling!   

[TexDoc]

Well its quite evident Brad that you are a moron. Our crew wore the light weight black pants and short sleeves the entire year and playoffs. We encountered pretty mild weather for the majority of the year and it was never necessary to go to the heavier black pants and long sleeves although they were packed and ready if called upon. I pray that the UIL dandates the black pants, knickers are similar to a high maintenace girlfriend, they cost a bunch, arent likely to make last call and need to be checked at the door when you are done with them. Long live the UIL, send taso packing, their is a new sheriff in town and his name is Tony Timmons.   YEAH

You apparently don't know Brad very well.  Sorry to disappoint, but he's no moron!

[TXMike]

Heck in your crew, Forrest Gump would be a freaking genius.  But I do agree that Brad is the brightest non back judge on your crew.   


As for other "gentleman"...there was nobody in the state wearing black pants in the 1st 6 weeks of the season.  Yet more proof he is just trying to agitate and aggravate.

[Getting Fat]

I really like the looks of the black pants and would like to them become the standard.  In addition, a TASO patch for the shoulder would be a nice touch.

[TxSkyBolt]

Well its quite evident Brad that you are a moron.

Wow, that really stings.....wait...no, coming from you it doesn't.  I'm finally convinced that you make up about 95% of everything you say. I think most people realize you are an irrelevant participant to any discussion on these boards.  

Best regards,

Brad

By the way, this from TASO 5-Man Mechanics Manual: "In cold weather, the knickers may be replaced with an "NFL-type" black pant. The pants
must be worn by the entire crew. The pants must be accompanied by regulation, longsleeved
shirts. The pants must include a one-inch white strip on the seam of the leg, must
not be cuffed, and must continue to the shoe without a break."

[Arbitrator]

Wow, that really stings.....wait...no, coming from you it doesn't.  I'm finally convinced that you make up about 95% of everything you say. I think most people realize you are an irrelevant participant to any discussion on these boards. 

Best regards,

Brad

 

Great attitude, Brad! After all, as soon as the favorable ruling is handed down, I seriously doubt that he'll have neither the time nor the inclination to even want to lurk around here!   

[fleetofoot]

The only thing constant is change. To show my age, we had the same debate when we changed fron red flags to yellow.

[GWK]

The only thing constant is change. To show my age, we had the same debate when we changed fron red flags to yellow.

Wow.  That indeed IS a time-defining statement.  I can BARELY remember seeing the red foul markers when I was in junior high, and I've been working football for 32 years.

[Etref]

How many of us argued against wearing black shorts for subvarsity and scrimmages?

[WABill]

Well its quite evident that Tony Timmons is a moron.  YEAH

FIFY

[george7244]

Wow.  That indeed IS a time-defining statement.  I can BARELY remember seeing the red foul markers when I was in junior high, and I've been working football for 32 years.

   the flags were red and white were they not.  i started in 1970 and this seems right but i would not guarantee anything with this memory any more. lol

[El Macman]

   the flags were red and white were they not.  i started in 1970 and this seems right but i would not guarantee anything with this memory any more. lol

Yep, red & white. I still have one. Keeping it for posterity. Unless I can sell it on Pawn Stars for thousands of dollars.

[GWK]

I guess I sort of remember the red and white foul markers.   Perhaps I'm getting them mixed up in my cabeza with the old pylons.  Weren't those also red flags suspended above the goal line & end line corners with the sidelines on some kind of springy steel rod?

[fleetofoot]

Dang GWK I had forgotten about those. They went out about the same time as the stuff that used to cover the field. I think it was called grass. I did a playoff game once at a neutral site, and when we arrived there was not a mark on the grass field. The coaches went with me to a local hardware store and bought all the white spray paint they had and we painted one as close as we could. Ah for the old days.

[Arbitrator]

 

I attended high school in SW Louisiana and my last football season was the fall of 69. That particular season, the LA refs threw the red/white flags. The pylons all seemed to look like red oil field rags hanging off of a long piece of wire stuck into the ground. No adornments on the field other than the white lines. A lot of places we played at only had chalk but we were fortunate enough to have them painted onto the field at home!

The following football season at college was when I first saw the "new" yellow flags and thought to myself how odd and strange they were opining that they were just a fad that would simply never last!

Oh, the pleasant memories that you have stirred!  

[El Macman]

I attended high school in SW Louisiana and my last football season was the fall of 69. That particular season, the LA refs threw the red/white flags. The pylons all seemed to look like red oil field rags hanging off of a long piece of wire stuck into the ground. No adornments on the field other than the white lines. A lot of places we played at only had chalk but we were fortunate enough to have them painted onto the field at home!

The following football season at college was when I first saw the "new" yellow flags and thought to myself how odd and strange they were opining that they were just a fad that would simply never last!

Oh, the pleasant memories that you have stirred!  

As with so many things, the change in foul marker color was a TV thing. So, it should not be a surprise that these changes began occurring about the time that televised sporting events started becoming such major part of broadcast television, and our lives. The red or red/white thing didn't show up well on TV, so they picked a light color (other than white) - voila - gold. Even before that, the 2" stripes in the NFL were generated by the way 1" stripes created a rather moire-like pattern on CRT tv screens. 2" wide stripes averted that. But, with LCD, plasma, HD, etc., technology, I don't think that makes any difference any more.

The red flag on wire/spring style pylons went the way of the dinosaur for what should be obvious safety reasons.

[Osric Pureheart]

I did a playoff game once at a neutral site, and when we arrived there was not a mark on the grass field. The coaches went with me to a local hardware store and bought all the white spray paint they had and we painted one as close as we could. Ah for the old days.

Come to Britain, where we usually have at least two or three games a year with fields marked in wobbly spray paint or flour (on grass) or gaffer tape (on turf)...

[Joe Stack]

I started to use death analogies with knickers, but I don't want to equate something so trivial with human life. Knickers are on their way out. It took an organization -- the NCAA (or CCA, whoever) to make a strong decision to get rid of them. I think if you look back at all uniform changes, be it shirt colors -- white long sleeves to stripes -- flag colors (discussed), or even stirrups to one piece, I think you'll find that someone stepped up and said "everyone is going to ___" and whatever is changed was gone in a short period of time.

Knickers are very impractical. They don't look better. They are tough to clean in many cases. The only reasons for keeping them around are sentiment, resistance to change, not wanting to replace gear ($$), and not really being wild about the look of pants for football when all you've seen is knickers for close to a century. The last will be the easiest to change once you no longer have to go through a can of spray and wash each month of the football season. Just think: no more trouble putting on two long pairs of socks -- made more difficult when wearing tights; no more having to adjust your knickers; no more 3 different loads of laundry (whites, blacks, and stripes -- now blacks and stripes); no more looking silly after a subvarsity game running into Subway or getting gas; and finally, the most important: being able to crap in your pants after a big blown call without anyone knowing a thing!

[ornery1]

After reading the last few posts. I would think that all of you old broke down grandpas would want the black pants more than ever because it would be so much easier to hide your Depends than the knickers ever could.