Like millions of other football fans around the country, John Robison is looking forward to watching Sunday's Super Bowl XXXI in New Orleans between Green Bay and New England from his living room sofa. After all, he watched a lot of football this fall, just like the rest of us. The difference for him was his perspective. He was on the field.
The long-time Bountiful resident completed his ninth season as an NFL official three weekends ago when he worked at his field judge position during Jacksonville's improbable upset of the Broncos in Denver. It culminated another hectic fall for the former high school basketball coach and current student counselor at Bountiful Junior High School, but it's a schedule that he's grown used to during those nine years.He never figured on working in the NFL back in 1971, when Robison began as a junior high referee in Davis County. That same year, he was recruited to work some high school games as well. Within two years, he'd moved into college football officiating at Westminster and Southern Utah State College games, and eventually moved to the Pacific Coast Athletic Association. He figured his career as an official had reached its apex when the Western Athletic Conference hired him in 1982.
"It never crossed my mind that I'd go beyond the WAC," Robison said in his office in Bountiful, where he was interviewed between student appointments. "In 1984, I was assigned an NAIA playoff game in Grand Junction, Colorado. That's when I met a gentleman named Howard Roe, who had applied for consideration to the NFL. He suggested I apply as well."
Robison did apply in 1986, and was interviewed by the league at the end of that season. He was hired in 1988, and has worked an average of 20 games each season since.
For the former Davis High head basketball coach, who's been involved in coaching and education his entire adult life, his NFL work week begins with assignments he receives each Monday or Tuesday. His work schedule from that point is detailed and intense.
"I receive my airline tickets and my itinerary early in the week, and the process begins," he stated. "Depending on the day of the game (some assignments fall on Saturdays late in the season, or occasionally on a Monday night), I catch a flight from Salt Lake City on Saturday morning, in order to arrive at my destination city by 2 p.m. We meet as a crew of officials around 3 or 3:30 that afternoon at our hotel."
As a field judge, Robison has responsibility on the field for all passing plays, from the line of scrimmage to the endline. He also watches all punt receptions, as well as looks for holding violations on, or by, the tight ends.
When officials arrive at their hotels on Saturday, his first responsibility is picking up packets the NFL sends to each crew at their hotels. The packets include grading sheets for the upcoming game, referee reports on the teams from their previous week's game, and other league information.
"We're graded on the calls we make each game on a four-page report," he explained. "Every play is recorded, and a photocopy of the report is sent to each of the seven officials on our crew. We also review a tape of the previous week's games for the teams we're about to officiate, and we look at a video tape of the game we worked the week before to study our techniques or suggestions made by league officials. The league grades each one of our calls, rating them either correct, incorrect or marginal."
This pregame briefing lasts three to four hours, after which the crew goes to dinner together, then returns for a written test the league sends out each week. By time Robison and his crew members retire Saturday night, they're already well prepared mentally for the next day's assignment.
Following breakfast and a one-hour review of tests on game day morning, the crew heads for the stadium, arriving at least two hours and 15 minutes before kickoff. Robison and his crew chief, the referee, check the official's microphone and the stadium clocks to be sure they're operational. About 90 minutes before kickoff, as fans are filtering into the stadium, he meets with the TV crew assigned to the game - the producer, the "green hat" and the "orange sleeves," the latter two who coordinate TV timeouts.
"We have 19 TV timeouts each game, and the official wearing the orange sleeves on the sidelines lets us know whey they're to be taken and when they end," he said. Robison then meets with officials who are working the 25 and 40 second clocks as well.
And believe it or not, NFL officials have another important responsibility before game time -the footballs. "We have to be sure that each of the 36 game balls we start with are clean, that their air pressure is checked and correct. Each team supplies 600 footballs for the season at the beginning of the year. We pressure gauge every one of them."
Half an hour before game time, Robison and crew inspect the field, and then inspect the equipment each team is wearing. They then leave the field until about two minutes before kickoff, when the real work begins. Even postgame, these officials are still busy reviewing their work.
"We usually meet for about 20 minutes afterward to go over the game report with our crew chief," he said. "Then we shower, dress and head for the airport." Robison generally arrives back in Salt Lake City at about 9 or 10 p.m. that night, though he's arrived home as late as 2 a.m. the next day.
Like those in all sports, NFL officials are subject to scrutiny oftentimes by players, coaches and fans. Robison admits that the first year was intimidating for him, but adds, "I figure I'm well prepared. I try to make the right calls, and I've learned that there are many great `non calls' as well."
As his years in the league have increased, so has the camaraderie between Robison and many players and coaches. He entered this past season ranked second or third among the league's field judges for his accuracy on the field, one reason he has worked a number of postseason games, including two Pro Bowls and last year's AFC Championship game. The money helps, but the long weekends away from wife Joan and their five children do take their toll.
Not that John Robison is likely to step down soon. At 47, he could still work another 15 years on the NFL sidelines if he chooses to.
Ironically, one of Robison's assignments in preseason this year was a game between New England and Green Bay, two teams he also officiated once each during the regular season. His pick for Sunday's championship - Green Bay - for one big reason.
"They're better," he stated. And who should know better than someone with his perspective.