ATLANTA — Gene Steratore is back at the Super Bowl, one year after he ruled on two crucial, razor-close touchdown catches.
This time, his view will be from the broadcast booth, not the field. He was hired by CBS in June to be a rules analyst for its N.F.L. and college basketball telecasts.
At 55, Steratore is young enough — and fit enough — to be a referee for several more years. But after reaching the top of that profession, he is relishing doing something new, and, in some ways even more high-profile than serving as chief cop on the biggest stage in American sports. He now explains the intricacies of the rule book to tens of millions of sports fans watching on television.
“The excitement of the unknown, becoming a neophyte again, at a very high level, was extremely challenging to me,” Steratore said.
Steratore has made some of the most scrutinized — and denigrated— N.F.L. calls of the last decade. He overturned a potential winning touchdown catch by Detroit’s Calvin Johnson and a Dez Bryant catch for Dallas in the playoffs four years ago. Then last February, he upheld disputed touchdown grabs made by Philadelphia’s Corey Clement and Zach Ertz.
“Calvin Johnson didn’t catch it. Dez Bryant didn’t catch it. Corey Clement and Zach Ertz did catch it. O.K., it’s time to quit. That’s it. I’m out of here,” Steratore said while laughing during an interview days ahead of Super Bowl LIII.
When Steratore started wearing zebra stripes, his current job did not exist. In 2010, Fox became the first network to hire an N.F.L. rules analyst: Mike Pereira, formerly the league’s director of officiating. CBS, NBC and ESPN have followed suit. Steratore is teamed with Jim Nantz, a veteran broadcaster, and Tony Romo, a wunderkind play predictor. But if the Super Bowl is anything like the conference championship games, Steratore will be the member of the broadcast team sitting under the brightest spotlight.
In the N.F.C. title game, shown on Fox, the officials failed to call an obvious penalty on Los Angeles Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman late in the fourth quarter after he hit New Orleans Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis before the ball arrived. The Saints went on to kick a field goal, but the Rams tied the game and eventually won it in overtime.
The noncall has dominated football chatter for the past two weeks. As a result, N.F.L. rules and their interpretation are top of mind.
Steratore, calling the A.F.C. Championship, had his own mess, err, messes, to deal with. After barely speaking for the first three quarters, Steratore was asked to comment on six fourth-quarter plays, including one that produced a questionable roughing-the-passer penalty against Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones.
He defended Clete Blakeman, the referee who made the call, and then stated plainly that Blakeman got it wrong. “It’s a swing and a miss, and it’s a missed call for roughing the passer there,” Steratore said on the telecast.
Steratore, one of seven brothers and sisters, comes from a family of referees. His older brother, Tony, is an N.F.L. official, and his younger brother, Michael, referees lower-division college basketball. His father, also named Gene, was a college football and basketball official, and a cousin, Frank, just officiated the college football national championship game.
He is almost as close with his refereeing comrades. The head of the crew that botched the Robey-Coleman noncall, Bill Vinovich, was, with Steratore, one of the two active N.F.L. referees officiating Division I college basketball games.
“Vinny and I have a special relationship,” Steratore said.
He has said repeatedly this week that Vinovich’s crew got the call wrong, but also defended Vinovich, who told a pool reporter after the game that he had not seen the play.
Steratore explained that Vinovich’s specific responsibility on the play was to watch the offensive line and the quarterback, not a pass 15 yards down the field.
“If you turn your head when that ball leaves and that quarterback gets hit at his knee or below and he’s laying there out, and there is no flag, it is a much more egregious mistake than this one,” Steratore said.
Gerald Austin, a former referee and ESPN rules analyst for six seasons, said parts of the analyst job were harder than being a referee.
There are seven officials on the field, each covering a specific area, but a rules analyst must cover it all. While analysts are watching the ball, there could be a development across the field they are asked to comment on a few seconds later, with limited time to watch a replay.
“Your decision has to be quicker and more on target in a shorter period of time,” Austin said.
Steratore said his job also involved educating viewers about the process of ruling on difficult calls. He quickly explains the situation and generally what the officials are considering, and then, after a few replays, he goes over the specific things they are looking at to make a call.
Only after he has seen every relevant angle does he say what the call should be.
“The greatest officials in the world, they’re in the N.F.L.,” Steratore said. “It is fun to hate them, and it’s part of our game and we’re cool with that. We still need to have someone explaining to the world that these people are that good at what they do, even with their mistakes.”
Steratore grew up in Uniontown, Pa., and now lives in Washington, Pa., both about an hour outside of Pittsburgh. He officiated 11 Steelers game in his career, including two against their division rivals, the Baltimore Ravens. Brian Billick, the former Ravens coach, would tell Steratore he wanted him to referee every one of those games.
“His reverse psychology was that if it was a 50/50 play, I might be more inclined to go his way for fear of what the public may think,” Steratore said.
Billick said his request was mostly tongue in cheek, though he thought it was “worth bringing up just to get him to think about it — maybe he’ll pause.”
The referee for the Super Bowl will be John Parry, who was promoted to his job in 2007 after Vinovich temporarily retired because of health problems. Steratore knows Parry well, of course. His brother Tony officiated a previous Super Bowl alongside Parry, and Parry’s late father, David, was the supervisor of officials for the Big Ten.
Steratore said he expected Parry to do a great job. But if he doesn’t, or when he inevitably has to deal with an incredibly tight play, Steratore will be ready.
Email Kevin Draper at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @kevinmdraper.
Source: Read Full Article