You may have seen Bill Carollo working this year's Super Bowl between the Raiders and the Buccaneers. The Shorewood native will enter his 15th season as an NFL referee this fall. That's a considerable amount of time in a profession where career longevity can mirror the lifespan of your average housefly.
"We only have one-year contracts," Carollo explains. "Referees and umpires may think they've finally made it, but if we don't do well, we won't be back."
Carollo started his referee career by calling games in Shorewood and Whitefish Bay. "I worked in the Big Ten for about 10 years," Carollo recalls. "The NFL sends scouts to the games to look for referees. The NFL gets about 2,000 applications each year, and selects about eight to 10 guys each year."
On the field, Carollo is like the home plate umpire, without the chest-guard.
It's a difficult profession that is often thankless. "No matter what, half of the people are going to think you got the call right, the other half is going to think you got it wrong," Carollo reflects. "You have to convince people that your call is right. You have to act and be confident. If you feel you've made the right call, you have to have the confidence to convince the players and coaches and fans."
The cruel fact is that coaches' jobs and players' careers often ride on referees' decisions. "We all make mistakes," Carollo says with an air of quiet dignity. "It's understood that a call can have ramifications that go well beyond the playing field, even impacting participants' lives."
During the season, the schedule of an NFL referee can be rather taxing. "It's a year-round operation. We have written tests throughout the off-season," Carollo informs. "I spend about a half hour to an hour every day on the rules. I know the rules, I've read them many times, but from year to year, you have to keep studying them. You can't say, 'I think the rule is this,' you have to know it. You have to react to the play, so you have to stay sharp."
Carollo says there is a perception that referees and umpires are idiots. Truth is, an idiot wouldn't last long in this gig. "You almost have to be a Philadelphia lawyer to figure out the rule book. It's very complicated," Carollo explains. "That's why officials really have to study it, to really know it. There are degrees of knowing. You've got to know the rules inside and out. You have to know the history of the rule, the philosophy behind the rule."
The work continues following the game. Carollo spends a couple of hours on Monday mornings reviewing the previous day's game. He'll review three or four plays in particular.
"We may have had a call right, but I want to know why we had to take so much time determining the procedure," Carollo says. "I'll get a call from the League office and they'll tell me Mike Sherman may be calling about a couple of plays in particular. They'll give me a 'heads up.'"
Carollo says he knows which plays will be controversial at the time they happen. The players will tell him, the fans will tell him or he'll most likely tell himself.
