The photo greets Lawrence Tynes at work each day.
It sits on a shelf in locker No. 9, tucked between the showers and the trainer's room in the bowels of Giants Stadium. Five faces smile earnestly, a handsome, perfectly nuclear family -- brothers Mark and Jason, mother Maggie and father Larry surround Tynes, who's wearing a graduation cap and gown and clutching his diploma.
"For that moment in time, they all came up for the weekend," Tynes says. "I graduated college and had already signed with the Chiefs, so I was going to leave from there and go to training camp. It was a good time.
"That is the way I want to remember it."
The 2000 photo following his graduation from Troy State University also has a place on the bar of his suburban Kansas City townhouse. His memory of family is deeply comforting, even if it's no longer his reality. Once his anchor, the family has disintegrated. His parents divorced after 28 years, his mother's health deteriorated, and his brother, Mark, sits in a federal prison cell in Arkansas, sentenced to 27 years for dealing drugs.
Kicking at the NFL level requires a clear head. Focus is essential. All of these family issues already were swirling in Tynes' mind when he was traded to the New York Giants last May. And then, while he was competing for the place-kicking job during training camp, his wife, Amanda, went into labor two months early. The last three weeks of her pregnancy, he spent every minute with her in the hospital and didn't kick a single ball. Somehow, twins Jaden and Caleb were born healthy and, somehow, Tynes entered the 2007 season as the Giants' kicker.
Considering the distractions, Tynes' poise during the regular season was remarkable. He made 23 of 27 field-goal attempts -- 85.2 percent, the best of his career.
CLICK to read the rest, you hardly ever get good solid, write ups on kickers~enjoy!!
Original Story:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story....
It sits on a shelf in locker No. 9, tucked between the showers and the trainer's room in the bowels of Giants Stadium. Five faces smile earnestly, a handsome, perfectly nuclear family -- brothers Mark and Jason, mother Maggie and father Larry surround Tynes, who's wearing a graduation cap and gown and clutching his diploma.
"For that moment in time, they all came up for the weekend," Tynes says. "I graduated college and had already signed with the Chiefs, so I was going to leave from there and go to training camp. It was a good time.
"That is the way I want to remember it."
The 2000 photo following his graduation from Troy State University also has a place on the bar of his suburban Kansas City townhouse. His memory of family is deeply comforting, even if it's no longer his reality. Once his anchor, the family has disintegrated. His parents divorced after 28 years, his mother's health deteriorated, and his brother, Mark, sits in a federal prison cell in Arkansas, sentenced to 27 years for dealing drugs.
Kicking at the NFL level requires a clear head. Focus is essential. All of these family issues already were swirling in Tynes' mind when he was traded to the New York Giants last May. And then, while he was competing for the place-kicking job during training camp, his wife, Amanda, went into labor two months early. The last three weeks of her pregnancy, he spent every minute with her in the hospital and didn't kick a single ball. Somehow, twins Jaden and Caleb were born healthy and, somehow, Tynes entered the 2007 season as the Giants' kicker.
Considering the distractions, Tynes' poise during the regular season was remarkable. He made 23 of 27 field-goal attempts -- 85.2 percent, the best of his career.
CLICK to read the rest, you hardly ever get good solid, write ups on kickers~enjoy!!
Original Story:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story....
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