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Football Officiating => General Discussion => Topic started by: lukez on June 28, 2023, 10:44:26 PM
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I ordered a new shirt, and decided to give a try to the Smitty Body Flex variety. I was expecting a solid fabric or perhaps micro-mesh fabric (like the FBS-137 shirts), but instead it has holes punched in it. The material is flexible (it has spandex in it), but the mesh holes in this thing are quite obvious and remind me of my old gym shorts. If I'm more than 15 feet away I suppose it looks OK, but up close it does not look particularly crisp or professional with this mesh.
See attached photo. This is the USA109-607 (https://smittyapparel.com/collections/football-short-sleeve/products/usa109-607-smitty-usa-body-flex-football-short-sleeve-shirt-w-flag-over-pocket) shirt. Maybe I'm over-reacting. Do people/crews wear these?
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This style of fabric goes back 35 years or so. I had (still have, in a closet somewhere) a shirt with that type of fabric back then. A lot of us did. Loved it. Still my favorite shirt. Between the shirt ‘shrinking’ (wink, wink) and needing to have shirts with different patches, position letters, etc., and that fabric not being offered any more, I had to go to standard fabric. If I could get a TASO shirt in that fabric, I wouldn’t hesitate.
Wear it. Love it.
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You're in luck then - you can get them here (pretty sure the pic is not the actual body flex shirt), but I have one TASO and one CFO Bodyflex shirt.
https://officialsgearoutlet.com/collections/football-shirts/products/taso-body-flex-shirt-with-position-letter
They will also most likely have them at the state meeting as well.
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FWIW, all D1 college football officials have the body flex shirt. I don't remember the holes being that prominent on the shirts last year though. Maybe this is the model for this year.
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Yeah mine are not quite as pronounced. Only gritch I have about them, is around the beltline, mine tends to get pulls/strings, so it's my JV shirt for TASO. CFO shirt doesn't seem to have that issue.
That said, I do think they don't snag as easily as the 'other' kind of shirts, it is super annoying on the others when it seems to get a snap/pull for no reason.
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I bought one several years ago at the suggestion of a CFO friend of mine. The "holes" aren't remotely close to what the old, original mesh shirts of the 80's and early 90's were until the material moved to micromesh.
My main problem with it is that I have more body to flex than the prototypical new age college official. The cut and material fits more snuggly than the average officials shirt.
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I just noticed that the American Flag, being dye on the shirt - has holes in it. The ultra patriot in me doesn't like that. I might have to get a loose patch and have it sewn on over the dyed flag. I remember using a special fabric glue to stick the flags and SFOA patches on the sleeves, back in the day. For us cheapskates (back then), we could work a SFOA game on Friday night, then drive four hours to Alpine to work a TIAA game on Saturday, using the same shirt by peeling off the patches. Then do it all over the next week. Fun times. (Really?)
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FWIW, all D1 college football officials have the body flex shirt. I don't remember the holes being that prominent on the shirts last year though. Maybe this is the model for this year.
D1 had them last year too, right? Somebody else also mentioned this to me. I went back and looked at some broadcast videos and did not notice any short sleeve shirts like this shirt. I do wonder if the holes are larger this time around.
I just noticed that the American Flag, being dye on the shirt - has holes in it. The ultra patriot in me doesn't like that.
Yes, good observation. There are holes everywhere except in the collar and the zipper.