It was an ordinary day. Saturday, January 22 and Sunday, January 23 and there are two top-notch professional football games on television each day to watch. They are the Divisional Playoff games that will determine the four teams that will compete in the Conference Championship games to see whom will meet in the Super Bowl. Anyone watch the games this past weekend? It was perhaps the four best playoff games I have ever witnessed. In case you didn't watch the games or have forgotten the scores...Cincinnati defeated Tennessee 19-16 and San Francisco defeated Green Bay 13-10 on Saturday while Los Angeles defeated Tampa Bay 30-27 and Kansas City defeated Buffalo 42-36 in overtime on Sunday. All the games came down to the wire which created fantastic games. My favorite game was San Francisco's defeat of Green Bay and getting to watch the 49ers' field goal kicker, Robbie Gould kick a 45-yard field goal to win the game. I cheered for Robbie years ago when he played for the Penn State Nittany Lions and have been cheering for him ever since. One of the highlights of his long kicking career was the game he played Saturday night.
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Robbie Gould after kicking the game-winning field goal. |
In my local newspaper today there was a special story written about Robbie by reporter Erik Yabor. If you didn't watch the game on Saturday and later get to see Robbie attribute his successful 45-yard field goal to his new seven-stud cleats in the snow as time expired, then I just have to tell you about it! Seems that Robbie got his cleats from Angelo's Soccer Corner which is a soccer shoe store located about a mile from my home at 360 Steel Way in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Robbie said he needed those new cleats on the last kick for sure! The cleats, typically used for playing soccer, were given to Gould last week by Angelo Zalalas who is the owner of Angelo's Soccer Corner store and a longtime friend of Robbie's family. Angelo has supplied Robbie with many pairs of cleats over the years. All have been cleats that are meant to play soccer, but seem to work just fine for Robbie. They do work best on natural grass which can make surfaces softer and muddier. The Nike Legend Elite SGs that Gould wore for the Green Bay game were made especially for softer ground, They penetrate the ground better and gives you better traction. They prevent slippage and sliding and allowed Robbie to maintain his form better. The advantages worked exactly as intended when Gould lined up for the potential game-winning field goal as the snow was falling and the field had become softer due to the wear and tear of an entire game. Angelo knew the shoes would be a perfect fit for the occasion. Angelo played soccer at the same school where Robbie's dad did in the early 1980s and later supplied Robbie with cleats during his time at Penn State and when he entered the NFL. But, Robbie almost didn't get the shoes in time for the winning field goal. Seems he wears a size 9 shoe, but decided he wanted a half-size larger after he had received them this past Tuesday. Angelo had to locate them and get them in the mail as quickly as possible before the team departed to Green Bay the following day. Once he received them, Angelo knew he was capable of making the difficult kick. "He's very, very composed. He's got ice running through his veins," Angelo replied. If I had known everything I just typed in the story, I'm not so sure I could have watched the kick. I would have been more nervous than I was. The final sentences in the newspaper story by Erik read, "It isn't always about the shoes, Zalalas said. "It felt good just knowing that he had succeeded." Hey...I'm ready for next Sunday when San Francisco plays at Los Angeles at 6:30 PM. Watch the game and see if you can see Robbie's soccer shoes when he runs out on the field to kick another field goal for the 49ers. I can hardly wait! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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