Judging from the sideline

As millions of football fanatics sit down Sunday to watch the Super Bowl between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts, know this, Orange County folks: There’s a Newport Beach resident who’s been to the Super Bowl twice — and he wasn’t sitting in the stands.

He’s got the pinstripes, the hat, the shoes, the whistle, the flags, even the professional pig skin. He even has a number: It’s No. 125.

Laird Hayes, an Orange Coast College instructor, is living the dream.

When he’s not teaching surfing classes or coaching men’s soccer at OCC, he’s serving as an NFL referee. Next season will mark his 16th as a referee — that bittersweet position that so often makes a multitude of fans weep, cheer and jeer.

Technically speaking, Hayes is a side judge, whose position is always 23 yards downfield from the snap of the football. It’s one of seven referee positions on the field.

Once the ball is snapped, Hayes can wind up just about anywhere, moving with the play as he keeps an eye on fouls, whether it’s illegal hands to the face, offensive or defensive holding, pass interference or illegal contact.

Hayes officiated in the 2002 and 2004 Super Bowls, both of which the New England Patriots won on last-second field goals.

For him, those Super Bowls were “pretty intense” and “nerve-racking.”

“But let me tell you, I felt so privileged to be there,” he said.

As for Sunday’s Super Bowl, which Hayes will be watching from the comfort of his couch, he has this word of advice to fellow referees:

“Let the teams play the game. Try not to get too technical. Call the fouls that really make a difference,” said Hayes, 60, as he stood outside the OCC gym Thursday. “They say that the best-officiated games are the ones where you forget that the officials were even there by the time the game is over.”

Never truer words spoken from the Santa Barbara native, a graduate of San Marcos High School, where he played baseball, football and basketball before setting his sights on becoming a baseball catcher for Princeton University, where he majored in politics.

He went on to attend UCLA for graduate school, where he earned a master’s degree and doctorate in higher education, which helped him land his first — and, most likely, last — instructor’s gig at Orange Coast College in 1976.

The road to becoming an NFL referee wasn’t easy, Hayes said.

He had to work his way up, officiating high school games, then smaller colleges and universities before catching his break in the PAC-10.

From there, Hayes eventually made it to the NFL in 1994. He now makes $6,000 over the three-day weekend that he ends up working — although the salary was much more meager when he was starting out.

“Today’s rookies probably get about $2,000 per weekend, but everybody knows that it’s just an honor to be there,” he said.

He admits he’s made mistakes on the field.

And mistakes come with the territory, whether artificial turf or real grass, whether under the dome or out in the air. After all, he’s officiated 160 games. And, to that end, it’s important that he stays in shape to be on the ball.

Consequently, Hayes, an avid golfer, works out every day, whether it’s riding an exercise bike, surfing the waves on the Balboa Peninsula, lifting weights or merely trying to keep up with the younger crowd on a daily basis — namely his students.

And that’s just half of it.

Hayes often has to fly coast to coast, which often requires getting up at 5 a.m. to be able to catch connector flights out of places like Chicago and Dallas.

He says he’ll know four weeks in advance which games he will be officiating.

In the summer, Hayes works at the Quarterback Receiver Camp, which teaches youngsters the fundamentals of football in several states, from New Jersey to Georgia.

It seems Hayes is constantly on the move. He’s a high-energy guy that can’t get enough of sports.

“My mom always used to say, ‘The grass doesn’t grow under your feet,’” Hayes said.