He stripped off the referee uniform-also conveniently velcroed-in a single swift motion, leaving it crumpled at his feet. Then came the moment he had been waiting for. Then he leaped down over the barrier and onto the sidelines.ĭressed as a referee, Roberts sprinted to midfield, holding his hands up to the confusion of the special teams units on the field. Roberts removed his clothes (fastened only with velcro) at his seat to reveal the referee uniform underneath. Then, as the smoke cleared from the Janet Jackson/Justin Timerblake halftime show, and the players lined up to kick off, the security guard for some reason bolted. There was a security guard standing right in front of him. Roberts spent the first half of the game between the Patriots and Panthers scoping out the situation at Houston’s Reliant Stadium. He also had a sponsor, the betting site Golden Palace, who got him a first row seat and a good lawyer. But the Super Bowl was another animal entirely: higher security, bigger stakes, and a massive global audience. By 2004, Roberts had already streaked hundreds of events-from Wimbledon (where he did a somersault over the net) to the British Open (where he wrote “19th hole” on his back in marker with an arrow pointing down, quite helpfully). What this unsuspecting league official did not realize was that they were actually playing right into the hands of the world’s most creative and most prodigious streaker. They also sent him a box featuring two complete NFL referee uniforms-hats and everything. So somebody at the NFL office took it upon themselves to reply with words of encouragement. In fact, he didn’t even have a way to get a proper referee uniform. But in Liverpool there weren’t a lot of resources for a burgeoning official. Roberts said in his letter that he was interested in becoming n American football referee. Then, as now, the league had its eyes on global domination. It was 2003, and NFL Europe was still in full swing. A few months before Super Bowl XXXVIII, a man in Liverpool named Mark Roberts wrote to the National Football League.
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