Kickers and The Meaning of Life

In my quest to not study for PC finals, I stumbled across this article on placekickers. I found most of it to be fascinating, given that kickers hold a unique place in the sports landscape. I can think of no other position in sports like it. Kickers aren't really considered part of the team and their successes are usually forgotten while their failures are forever remembered. Think Scott Norwood who, believe or not, was a really good kicker. But we know him as the guy who shanked the kick in the Super Bowl.

Anyway, the article focuses on the one kicker who has busted out of the kicker ghetto: Adam Vinatieri. But let's be honest, he's considered a clutch kicker because of three kicks. Three. His whole career boils down to about 20 seconds. If he misses just one of those kicks, he's a nobody. He misses two... well, he's bagging groceries in Iowa right now.

But here's the thing, Vinatieri isn't that much better than any other kicker, really. He hits about 26 of every 30 FG attempts, making him slightly above average. But here's the thing: two more makes and he's an All-Pro. Two more misses and he's out of a job. That's pressure. Essentially, EVERY kick in a kicker's life is a big kick. Every moment is a job interview. There's no such thing as a clutch kicker because every kick is a clutch kick.

Even stranger to me is that kicking field goals isn't the most important part of a kicker's job. Almost every kicker hits about the same amount of their attempts, so there's really no difference between Vinatieri and Kicker X. The big difference is kickoffs. and strangely enough, despite his reputation as the Greatest Kicker Ever, Vinatieri is not that great a kickoffs. He's got a distinctly average leg. He only managed two touchbacks so far this year, which is not very good especially given how often the Colts kick off. So, the only kicker to be respected as a Football Player is not very good at one of his two job functions.

There's a lesson there, but I can't quite grasp it.