Most people walk into an elevator to get to another floor. Not John "Kruk" Broder, The Magazine's NFL reporter. Close encounters with rock-movie-sports stars are a routine part of his life -- and make him a cult hero around here.

So when Kruk walks into this particular hotel elevator in Week 10, it should be no surprise that he is ushered into a different form of NFL reality -- the referee zone.

Something funny happened on the way into the elevator. I met this guy, and he seemed as if he was in town for the football game. We started chatting and it turned out he was one of the refs working a game that weekend.

I've never spoken to an NFL ref before, and being a fan, there was something I was dying to ask: "What do you think about replay?"

With no hesitation, he said, "We like it, we're all for it, you have to understand that we want to make the right call and if replay will help us, then good, let's use it. A lot of times we'll be checking out the Jumbo-tron to make sure we made the right call."

Wow! I was not only shocked by that, but now I have a whole new perspective on refs.

"What goes on inside one of those crazy scrums?" I asked.

"It's madness, people are clawing for the ball," he said. "I have to jump in the middle of it all and try and see who has possession of the ball. A few games ago I was eyeballing a pileup. I was yelling 'It's white, white has the ball,' but the other ref saw it another way and, guess what, he was right."

These guys are hardcore football fans. They have meetings the night before games to review game tape, and to go over the rules. They even have to take a test every week.

I was staying at the same hotel as the ref crew (props to my travel person) and I was invited to take the mini-bus over to the game with the guys, a five minute ride from the hotel. When we arrived to the stadium an NFL rep got on the bus and told us our bags were all going to be sniffed by dogs when we got off the bus, and to lay our bags on the ground. This was a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to peek inside the life of a NFL ref, and I wasn't going to blow my chance. I was told to meet back at the bus 45 minutes after the game.

Did you know that there is a supervisor of each crew that attends each game and watches the game from the booth and gives grades to the crew on every call? Each play, whoever makes a call gets a grade, and at the end of the season the crews with the highest grades are the ones that get to do the playoff games.

So there are even playoff berths at stake among the refs. Who knew?

Not me.

This isn't an easy job. People, do you have any idea how fast the game is? "Sometimes I get lucky -- you only have a split second to see if the guys feet are in-bounds and if he had possession of the ball," one ref told me.

I got a chance to watch a few minutes of the game from the sideline: Imagine watching a game on tape using the fast-forward button the whole time. That's what it looks like on the field. It's a total blur. And these guys are making calls in that blur in a split-second. I now have a new appreciation for the stripes.

The bus ride back to the hotel was all business, discussing the instant replays that happened in the first quarter. That pass interference call? Was it in the end zone or at the two-yard line? Talk about rehashing a game! You'd have thought you just turned on some local sports radio show. I was invited to get some grub with the crew, so although I was on another deadline, I couldn't pass up the chance to watch some of another game on the tube with some refs and talk ball.

Get this: The crew chief had a mini-TV and mini-tape of the game they had just called. The meal was a constant "Look at this, see where his arm went?" and "This is where you spotted the ball." One ref was saying how he didn't see a facemask that should have been called on a foul. "I didn't see it! The QB came over to me and was very polite and I told him I'm sorry but from my angle I didn't see it."

However, watching the replay at dinner, he was able to clearly see what he missed. Doh! The screen was passed around so each guy could see calls they made and how they did.

I learned and gained so much respect for the zebras -- and not just because they let me tag along with them for a day. All they're attempting to do is make the right call, and the vast majority of the time they get it right.

Sure I'll be pissed as soon as some calls go against my team, but at least I now know that long after that flag is thrown and my DB gets snagged for a 57-yard pass interference penalty ... they care as much as I do.

E-mail John Broder at john.broder@espnmag.com.