Do You Really Want To Be a Kicker?

As I sit down to watch the Orange Bowl (the best game for halftime shows), I can't help but think back to the already completed games. Bowling Green's loss was a heartbreaker as the MAC has one more chance to win a game. Go Chippewas.

The Boise State game last night was entertaining. You have to give the Broncos credit. They may not have topped their win over Oklahoma from a couple of years ago, but the fake punt call was reminiscent of their willingness to take chances. Though I am not a big proponent of a playoff system (too many variables to do it right), it would be fun to give Boise a chance to go up against the winner of Texas-Alabama.

The biggest thing in my mind concerning this years games was the two kickers who have got to be feeling pretty bad - even though their games have been over for a few days.

Northwestern and East Carolina lost bowl games that would have been different if their respective kickers had made one kick. The cruelty of the game is that each of them had multiple chances for a game winning kick but managed to miss some half a dozen kicks between them.

The game is played by all these big fast guys that plow into each other for a couple of hours. Then it frequently comes down to the little soccer player with the clean uniform trying to kick the ball betwen the uprights. When it doesn't happen, the pain and loneliness is evident.

The view from my seat (cringing at the thought of how bad the kicker must feel) suggests that maybe the game can be changed to alleviate this problem.

Nah, probably not. That is just going to be the life of the kicker. Hero or heel in the blink of an eye.