Referees’ Uniform Policy Is Changing

The zebras are changing their stripes.

NFL referees will be trading in their well-worn vertical black-and-white stripes for a style that instead uses broad white and thin black stripes that flare around the shoulders and upper arms.

In addition to giving their annual lecture on rules changes for the upcoming season, several referees wore the new threads this week at New York Giants training camp.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told the Associated Press the reason for the makeover was to use a lighter, more efficient fabric that would be cooler when it’s hot weather and warmer when it’s cold. The second aim was to make the uniforms more easily accommodate not only the gear referees carry but the layers of clothing needed in cold weather.

“The third reason was to give the uniforms a more modern, distinctly NFL look,” he said.

Referees will wear the new shirts and the traditional white knickers for most games, and in cold weather will switch to black full-length pants that will allow more room for additional layers.

Not everyone was enamored of the new look. “They should be riding on a horse at Saratoga,” one spectator cracked while watching the officials oversee a practice session.

*

Trivia Time: Seven Dodgers have homered from each side of the plate in a game. What players have done it twice?

*

Take a gander at this: Kansas City Star columnist Joe Posnanski doesn’t fault Bruce Sutter’s induction into baseball’s Hall of Fame. But when it comes to relievers, he says, Goose Gossage also belongs.

“Sutter gets an awful lot of credit for winning one Cy Young award and popularizing the split-fingered fastball. I would argue that Gossage popularized the idea of the intimidating closer. To me that has changed the game more.”

*

One-digit salute: How badly does Raiders receiver Jerry Porter want out of Oakland? During a practice at training camp in Napa, Porter was wearing a T-shirt featuring two giant hands on the front. One was pointing right at you; the other had its middle finger raised.

*

Swing clear of this: LPGA golfer Brittany Lincicome, 20, told USA Today about her goals in life: “To make enough money to retire at 35.

She might want to have a chat with PGA golfer John Daly about the latter. Daly claims to have gambled away $60 million -- and still can’t stop.

*

On this day: In 1967, the Denver Broncos beat the Detroit Lions in an exhibition game, 13-7. It was the first time an American Football League team defeated an NFL team. The win included Bob Scarpitto’s 28-yard run from punt formation.

*

Trivia answer: Eddie Murray, April 18 and June 9 in 1990; and Milton Bradley, April 18 and May 13 in 2005.

*

And finally: From Randy Hill of Fox Sports.com: “Houston Rockets center Yao Ming has promised to quit eating shark fin soup, which is considered a delicacy in China. Yao’s growing interest in supporting the welfare of endangered species has been extended to fighting the threatened extinction of the legitimate NBA center.”