People on Yahoo noticed the ridiculous pants the referees were wearing during yesterday's Patriots/Jets play off match up (playoff matchup? play-off match-up? (I'm uncomfortable with hyphens, now you know (but I LOVE parentheses))).

Instead of the short pants and long socks that referees always wear, Bill Vinovich and crew all had what looked like black track pants with a white stripe down the side. The folks on Yahoo Answers claim these pants are part of the cold weather optional uniform. Now, what I want to know is which ninny referee needed the warm weather option on this brisk, New England, January afternoon? I understand that in the future, when Massachusetts averages a balmy 63 degrees throughout the year, the idea of a referee wearing his winter gear will be outrageous, but… well, the future is now, Sunday was warm, and the refs had on the referee equivalent of snow pants. And it was outrageous.

Was this the best game to try these pants out? Have they used them anywhere else? It was 4 degrees a few years ago for a play off game in Foxboro, that wouldn’t have been a better time for the woolies? I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I will pledge to spend a reasonable amount of time trying to quench our collective curiosity.