Sniffing the Slope With Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl Referee

We all know lots of folks will be tuning into the big game this weekend, attending parties with football shaped chip bowls and all the natty ice you could imagine, while some of us spend the day trying to understand the appeal (besides men in tights, of course).

Here’s something I can get behind: Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl had been the source of adorable-ness for 6 years and counting, and who knew the game’s referee Andrew Schechter, 25, laid out his traditional stripped shirt and high tube socks in Williamsburg? It comes as no shock that the ref for alternative programming on Super Bowl Sundays lives in our alternative Borough. The concept is simple, 30+ adorable baby animals and one charming referee for hours and hours!

As Schechter and I embarked on our walk through Park Slope recently, we made friends with Zellie the dog on the corner of 9th Street and 7th Avenue, where she was hanging out with MacKenzie Bub and David Collier – her proud parents. I ask how old she is. “Zellie is 6 or 7,” MacKenzie told us, “We got her three years ago and they told us they thought she was between three and five years old, so we split the difference and said 4.”

Zellie is a Springer Spaniel with a lot of personality and a penchant for street found nibbles and the affection of strangers. She has a traditional Springer show dog coat of brown and a cream color which is officially called “liver and white.” Her owners adopted her from Springer Rescue America, and brought her to Brooklyn, “She loved Brooklyn Heights,” MacKenzie shared while petting the adorable pooch.

As we walked and talked on our way to Buttercup’s PAW-tisserie with our new found friend, Schecter and I discussed his life as the now-famous shot caller on Animal Planet’s instant classic show.  Check out the pictures from our adventure with Zellie, and tune into Animal Planet this Sunday February 7, 2010 – kickoff begins at 3pm.

Brooklyn The Borough: Where did you grow up? What brought you to Brooklyn?

Andrew Schechter: I grew up in New Jersey not too far away – northeast New Jersey – after college in Boston I moved home for a year. It was the worst year of my life. I would always be crashing on my friend’s couches in Brooklyn.  A lot of my friends were living in Williamsburg – I was here every night and I was going home just to sleep. I finally a found a sublet on Havameyer Street, and now I live in south side Williamsburg.

BTB: How did you end up working with Animal Planet?

AS: Three years ago. I was working for Discovery Kids and the general manager for Discovery Kids started working for Animal Planet and she brought some of her team with her. It’s been amazing.

BTB: How did you end up on Puppy Bowl?

AS: Well, I like to say I was born into it, but in all honesty, I worked with the executive producer. We were going into our fourth season and we had a big production meeting at the time. Going through creative, a budget, and technical element of the show and it was a very quick mention “Who are we going to have as the Ref.” In the past it was usually a PA on set, who literally would walk on and off set briefly. My boss knows that I have a background and theater and acting and when they asked I whispered, ‘I want to be the ref, seriously, I do want to be the ref.’ I am loving it!

BTB: You’re the only person on the show, right?

AS: I like to pride myself as the only animal with two legs.

BTB: What’s in store for us this year?

AS: It’s the 6th Puppy Bowl. It started off some time ago as a counter programming idea before the big game – a lot people stay away from that territory – but for people that don’t like football, theres puppies! We just have fun with it, we said, ‘Let’s have puppies run around a football stadium’ and since then its really blown-up. We have fan favorites like the water bowl cam, the kitty half time show. But we like to keep it fresh. Two years ago was our first time in HD, last year we had Pepper the Parrot sing the National Anthem. This year we are proud to announce that we have bunny rabbit cheerleaders gracing our sidelines and world famous hamster pilots piloting a miniature blimp above the stadium. Believe it.

BTB: Are the kittens total divas pre-show?

AS: The kittens are the Liza Minellis of the Puppy Bowl World and they need a lot of attention. They just prance around – you have to keep complimenting and they understand that they have their role, but this is the PUPPY bowl and this year the Super Bowl has the Who, but the kittens put on quite a show year in and year out.

BTB: Any referee calls that haunt you?

AS: There are a lot of calls I make, day in and day out. As Puppy Bowl ref, unnecessary rough rough roughness, illegal use of the paws, un-puppy like conduct. All serious calls, every year I am always haunted by the personal foul calls I have to make and that is just what it sounds like. When a puppy makes a foul, working with puppies can be extremely foul. It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it. I call the penalty and then I pick up their feces.

The chilly walk was lovely and the famed referee made an easy call: Zellie deserved a treat! Thanks to Liberty, the cashier at Park Slope’s own Buttercup’s PAW-tisserie, Zellie enjoyed a fabulous snack. We all headed home after a bark worthy afternoon stroll.

(Photos by Burgess Bub)

tags: 5th Avenue, Brooklyn Heights, Dogs, Manhattan Migrants, Media Mockers, Park Slope, Style, The Brooklyn Effect, Williamsburg, Yuppies