Dan Schachner meant it to be a joke—not his job—as the referee for "Puppy Bowl XXI" or any other faceoffs between Team Ruff and Team Fluff that he’s overseen since 2011. But make no mistake: Schachner takes his role as seriously as anyone responsible for wrangling scores of baby canines in the biggest televised fake football event of the year.
But a man can’t be blamed for taking a few liberties with a story he’s been asked to tell over and over for 14 years, so along the way his story morphed to that of a former pro football referee. “I was always getting the question of, ‘How did you get this job?,’” he told Salon. The real answer is simple. He auditioned.
