Today's Tidbit... When The Shoe Isn't On The Other Foot

Kickers have always enjoyed their quirkiness, even before specialist or dedicated kickers exacerbated the problem. There's just something about thumping the ball that brings out unconventionality.

An example of kicking eccentricity is the barefoot kicker, a species many recall emerging in the 1970s and 1980s when the NFL saw Tony Franklin and a few other soccer-style kickers booting the ball without a boot on their kicking foot. Barefoot kickers variously claimed that connecting skin to leather e...