Lawrence Tynes is a joke, not a jock





K Lawrence Tynes booted one extra point and two field goals(38 and 33 yards) in Super Bowl
XLVI in a 21-17 victory for the New York Giants over the New England Patriots. The Giants attempted a two point conversion on their second TD, but were unsuccessful. The game was played indoors on a carpet at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis with a controlled temperature of 72 degrees.

Was Boston Celtics guard Carlos Clark supposed to bash Los Angeles Laker's Hall of Fame Center Kareem Abdul Jabbar for losing Game Seven of the 1984 NBA finals in the Boston Garden? Clark made a cameo appearance for 10 seconds prior to halftime while the Lakers' star center scored 29 points in a valiant effort in 43 minutes.

Rick Reilly, Sports Illustrated:
San Diego coach Don Coryell said, "There has never been a game like this." Years later Miami fans voted it the greatest game in franchise history. And their team lost. San Diego defeated the Dolphins, 41-38 in double overtime in the 1982 AFC first round matchup.

The person who scored the first and last points in this epic battle was San Diego Charger's K Rolf Benirschke.
He was handsome. Gorgeous smile. Son of an internationally acclaimed pathologist. Honor student. Stud of the UC Davis soccer team. Star kicker on the school's football team. Beloved San Diego Chargers kicker--by 1979, he was on course to set the career NFL record for field goal accuracy. Wheel of Fortune host. Spokesman for the San Diego Zoo, best zoo in the country.

The perfect life for Rolf Benirschke didn't turn out the way most had hoped. He had what the doctors originally thought was a demon intestinal virus that they eventually identified as ulcerative colitis. Basically, it was eating up his intestines, microscopic bite by bite.

Two surgeries, 78 units of blood and 60 lost pounds later, Benirschke wasn't dead, but he was a reasonable facsimile. "After the second surgery," he recalls, "I knew that if I had another, I wouldn't make it."
Three days later the doctors told him he needed a third operation. Rolf weighed 113 lbs.

The game featured two 400 yard passing games by Dan Fouts of San Diego and Don Strock of Miami. There were missed field goals by each team in overtime, blocked field goals by Chargers' Kellen Winslow and Lee Roy Jones. There was sportsmanship. Miami head coach, Don Shula was hot that his players were helping Kellen Winslow up after a play only to see him beat them with another great catch. (He had 13 in all, for 166 yards.) "Let him get up by himself!" Shula kept yelling. Miami players did not listen to their coach.

"People come up to me sometimes and say, 'Too bad you never went to the big one,'" says Dan Fouts. "And I say, Really? Well, do you remember who played in Super Bowl XIV? And they'll say, No. Super Bowl XXII? And they'll go, No. How about our playoff game with Miami in 1982? And they all go, Oh, yeeeah!" What a great game.

DetroitAthletic:
The Detroit Lions became one of the first NFL teams to use a soccer style placekicker when they signed a bald, 22-year-old, 5’ 7” 160 pound, left-legged kicker from Cyprus, named Garabed Sarkis “Garo” Yepremian.

Yepremian had never seen a football game in person, had not attended college, but after watching a game on television he convinced himself that he could kick in the NFL.

Legend has it that in his first game, Lion head coach Harry Gilmer told him that Detroit had lost the coin at which point Garo ran to midfield, dropped to his knees and began looking for the coin.

In one of his early games after kicking an extra point he ran off the field screaming with excitement. Alex Karras asked him, “why the hell are you celebrating?” upon which Garo replied, “I keek a touchdown!”

Garo Yepremian is a good guy. Rolf Benirschke is a saint. Lawrence Tynes is neither.


Paul Murphy is a freelance writer from New Hampshire.

Follow me on Twitter at @_prmurphy

For more of my articles, click here.

Post a Comment
Share