Weekend's Football Hero

I saw the Weekend sports hero in action with my own eyes. It was amazing.

My selection comes from the first Monday night game, the Patriots vs the Bills. Tom Brady? Benjamin Watson? No way! They will get the glory, but they weren't the heroes. DA MAN was Stephen Gostkowski, the Patriots' kicker.

Here's the scene. With the Patriots down by two scores with a little over two minutes remaining, Tom Brady hits tight end Benjamin Watson with an 18 yard touchdown pass. The Bills now led 24-19. Instead of trying an onside kick, Gostkowski kicked deep. Bills' returner Leodis McKelvin brought the ball up the middle and at about the 30 yard line the ball was stripped and rolling free.

A fumble in the NFL attracts a crowd; a motivated and angry crowd, much like a group of MSM reports discussing Sarah Palin.

What goes on within an NFL fumble pile is legendary. Somehow there are about 57 bodies entangled in there which means 1,824 teeth agnashing upon flesh. 570 fingernails scratch, stab, and rip the selfsame flesh and bone. 114 fists punch whatever is in range and 114 feet in shoes with cleats stomp, rake, and kick groins, noses, and shins.

Stephen Gostkowski is a kicker. Kickers are usually very small men in a game of giants. They are the last line of defense during their play. They will try to make a tackle only after the cheerleaders and hotdog vendors fail to make the tackle.

During the McKelvin fumble Gostkowski was the last man standing. But when he saw that the ball was still squirting around in the aforementioned mass of mangling and mangled large humanity, he ran up and dove right in... and recovered the fumble.

Of course, Brady then threw the game winning touchdown pass to Watson and they became the media and fan heroes. But it was the team oriented action of Stephen Gostkowski that made it all possible.

I salute Patriot kicker, Stephen Gostkowski. You may be number 3, but today you are number 1.