About two weeks ago, three officials from our local chapter, including yours truly, acted as ‘extras’ for an upcoming episode of “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.” We played, as you might expect, what else…football officials. The plot of the episode is an attack on a child at a private school – Chestnut Academy. The actual setting was Nutley (NJ) High School, the alma mater of two great Americans, Martha Stewart and Robert Blake. Our shot consists of a single play during a high school game. As the down ends, the two stars of the show, Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay arrest the coach while the teams, the cheerleaders, the fans, and of course the officials look on in disbelief. The episode is scheduled to appear on January 4th on NBC, 9:00 EST. In the scene, I play the part of the umpire. It wasn’t difficult once I bulked up on a few Snickers Bars. They even paid us (scale) for the appearance, and since we actually are officials, we got a “Special Ability” premium. (A lot of coaches we work for would probably take issue with that!) It took about 2.5 hours to get the scene to the director’s satisfaction. Expect that our scene won’t take more than about 30 seconds. For all we know, we might end up on the cutting room floor. By the way, Meloni has quite an arm. While everyone was getting ready, he was throwing ‘ropes’ about 30-35 yards downfield. Mariska can throw it pretty well herself, but has no directional control. She nearly hit me in the head after which I threw my flag at her!

Hey Bob, now that you're a star, will you get your own separate locker room to change in at your next game?

Bob, you guys must be the consumate actors! Imagine guys, having to look on while a coach is arrested. And not cheering........

BTW, with your list of 'famous Americans' who went to this school, you didn't drink the water there, did you?

REPLY: Actually I did drink the water. Now I can't decide whether to dump my Imclone stock or kill my wife ??!!

Way to go Bob!
 

Wow Bob, thats great! One of my favorite shows... I'm definitely circling January 4th on my calendar.

REPLY: Nope...probably will still get the mop closet under the staircase!

Bob: Please tell us that you didn't waste the opportunity to chase her down and tackle her.

Very cool Bob....Never watched the show but I'll try to check it out...

ohhh I got to see this.

WOW...Hey, I was on KOIN Kitchen once and have counted myself one of the lucky ones. But this is...this is...sorry, I'm just getting so choked up.

Okay, I'll watch the show. Always wanted to see what would happen to one of those line guys after several snickers bars.

Can you say ***POOF!***

The Chestnut Academy? Bob, are you aware that the Nutley HS field is at the intersection of Franklin Ave and Chestnut Street?

BTW - I bet you get a nice, new light bulb for your broom closet.

First of all, congratulations. SVU is a great show, and I hope you don't end up on the cutting room floor.

On a related noted, I hope you were being sarcastic about the "great" (!) Americans part.

You get published by the NF and now you "star" on television. :D

The gods must be crazy :b


Seriously though, that's cool Bob!

I will circle the date on my calendar and I will plan to watch.

REPLY: Indeed, sarcasm <u>was</u> intended. I just forgot the quotes around the word "great." Although, I always did like "Baretta." By the way, the show is on at 10:00pm EST, not 9:00pm.