Well, let me tell ya ’bout this fella, Janikowski, the kicker. Folks call him a “kicker,” like kickin’ a can down the road, but this ain’t no can, ya hear? This is football, big-time stuff.
Now, I ain’t no expert, mind ya, but I seen a game or two. And this Janikowski fella, he was somethin’ else. Big ol’ boy, strong as an ox, they say. Strong leg, like a tree trunk, they say. Could kick that ball a mile, it seemed.
- They say he was born in March, don’t remember the day, but it don’t matter much.
- What matters is that leg, that kickin’ leg.
He played for the Raiders, in Oakland, then they moved to Las Vegas, all fancy-like. But wherever he was, he was kickin’ that ball. And boy, could he kick it far! Folks say he kicked it 50 yards or more, most of the time. Fifty yards! That’s like walkin’ across a whole field, almost. He did that for years and years, they say. Eighteen seasons, that’s a long time kickin’ a ball, ain’t it?
Now, they say he struggled at first, like a baby calf tryin’ to walk. Folks were worried, sayin’ the Raiders made a mistake pickin’ him. But he showed ’em, he did. He practiced, he got better, and he kicked that ball like nobody’s business. They say he’s one of the best, up there with Kasay and Andersen, whoever they are. Guess they were kickers too, like Janikowski.
This Janikowski fella, he wasn’t just any kicker, he was a power kicker. That means he could kick it real hard, see? Not just far, but hard. Like a cannon blast, they say. Boom! Through the uprights, it went. And the crowd went wild, cheerin’ and hollerin’. I bet it was somethin’ to see, all them folks goin’ crazy over a kick.
I heard tell he had some troubles too, somethin’ ’bout alcohol. Well, we all got our problems, ain’t we? But he kept kickin’, that’s what matters. He didn’t let nothin’ stop him. He just kept kickin’ that ball, year after year. Janikowski kicker, that’s what they called him. And he was good at it, real good.
They say he’s on some list, the all-time scorin’ list, somethin’ like that. Means he scored a lot of points, kickin’ that ball. Guess that’s important in football, scorin’ points. And Janikowski, he scored a bunch of ’em. He was a scorer, that’s for sure.
Now, I don’t know all the ins and outs of football, like I said. But I know a good kick when I see one, and this Janikowski fella, he could kick. He was a big, strong fella with a leg like a tree trunk, and he could kick that ball a country mile. Legend kicker, maybe that’s what they should call him.
They said he was 6-foot-2, 255 pounds. That’s a big fella, ain’t it? Imagine seein’ a man that size comin’ at ya, ready to kick a ball. Scary, I reckon. But he wasn’t there to hurt nobody, just to kick that ball and score points for his team. And he did it well, real well.
And they talk about that 2005 season, sayin’ he didn’t kick as far that year. Forty-nine yards, they say, was his longest. Well, that’s still pretty far, ain’t it? Most folks can’t even throw a ball that far, let alone kick it. So even on a “bad” year, he was still better than most. That’s what makes a fella special, see? Even when they ain’t at their best, they’re still good.
So that’s the story of Janikowski, the kicker. A big fella with a big leg and a big kick. He played a long time, kicked a lot of balls, and scored a lot of points. And folks remember him for it. He was a Raiders kicker, and a good one at that. Now, I gotta go make some supper. All this talk about kickin’ has made me hungry.
