The goal is to blend in, fade to the background and slowly vanish in plain sight. The plan, whistle-clutching fingers crossed, is to become an anonymous cog in the complex machinery of an NFL game.
When you’re Sarah Thomas, it can feel like Mission Near-Impossible.
You were the first full-time female official in the history of America’s most popular sport, adjudicating outcomes for billionaire owners, millionaire players and fantasy leagues alike.
You were the first in major-college history, calling Memphis and Jacksonville State in 2007. You were the first to work a bowl game when Marshall and Ohio fought over some Little Caesar’s breadsticks in 2009.