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Someone on PantherNation mentioned (perhaps in jest), putting the band and/or rowdy students in endzone seating to distract opposing kickers from making FGs.

But that got me thinking: would rowdy students and/or a loud band positioned behind the goalposts really distract a kicker?

I'm not a kicker, and can't claim to really understand their psychology (I mean, can any non-kicker really understand kickers? honestly.... ). But I would think that their focus during the kick is more on the ball (the snap, placement of the hold, etc.), their approach/plant/foot angle, and the like. Yes, they do survey the goal posts to determine the angle and whatnot, but I wouldn't think they would really be paying much attention to the seats behind the endzone enough to be that distracted by those behind it.


Man, I hate the offseason as I'm forced to resort to thinking about piddly stuff like this....

Not a kicker but a friend of mine from high school was a very successful college kicker (still has the NCAA record for most 50+ yard FGs in one game) and runs a kicking academy in Charlotte which has had a number of Army All-Americas and DI kickers.

According to him, kicking is very much like hitting a golf ball. All about keeping your head down and creating a muscle memory that exactly the same everytime.

More like golf and less like shooting a free throw, where you would be looking at the basket and not the ball.

Most of you know that I punted in college. On road games is where you'd get most of the "abuse". I had a pretty good knack of cutting out anything except for the upback's cadence. We never went on the same count, but while I focused on watching the ball, I listened for that. Occasionally I would hear the usual, "don't fuck up"..."pussy", things like that. Didn't seem to affect me. Only thing that could get in my head was myself.

danefan wrote:Not a kicker but a friend of mine from high school was a very successful college kicker (still has the NCAA record for most 50+ yard FGs in one game) and runs a kicking academy in Charlotte which has had a number of Army All-Americas and DI kickers.

According to him, kicking is very much like hitting a golf ball. All about keeping your head down and creating a muscle memory that exactly the same everytime.

More like golf and less like shooting a free throw, where you would be looking at the basket and not the ball.

Al Del Greco is a scratch golfer and says the two are identical. With kicking he would take 3 paces back and 2 to the left, ook up at the goal posts, take a deep breath, and the only thought in his mind was to make solid contact. His golf pre-shot routine is very similar.

Kickers are often as flaky as relief pitchers. What affects one's head might not affect another's. This move MIGHT affect PATs, chip shots, and punts from the back of one's own end zone, but likely wouldn't affect a long FG very much. What's more likely to have an effect is crowd noise, and that might have more of an effect on the long snapper and the holder.

Realistically, this has more chance of affecting free throw shooting than FG kicking.

Kickers do their job or lose the game. I hate them.

andy7171 wrote:Kickers do their job or lose the game. I hate them.

Depends on the kickers, I guess. I love these kickers:

The Montana marching band sits in the south end zone, just to the left of the uprights (if you're looking from the kicker's perspective) and the rowdiest section is in the north end zone, right behind the uprights. Does it affect opposing kickers? Hell if I know, but if it does the kicker should probably find a different line of work, because that's part of the job.

I was a kicker... Nothing along those lines would bother a kicker. You are taught to keep your head locked on either the block in HS or the holders finger in college. You don't look up until AFTER the kick.

SouthDakotaGrizzly wrote:The Montana marching band sits in the south end zone, just to the left of the uprights (if you're looking from the kicker's perspective) and the rowdiest section is in the north end zone, right behind the uprights.

Same thing with ODU, except the band is on the right (from kicker's perspective). Anyways, I occasionally kicked and punted in high school, and you're taught to never leave your eye from the ball when kicking. So the answer should be no...it doesn't matter.

edit: should've read guinzone's post.

JayJ79 wrote:Someone on PantherNation mentioned (perhaps in jest), putting the band and/or rowdy students in endzone seating to distract opposing kickers from making FGs.

But that got me thinking: would rowdy students and/or a loud band positioned behind the goalposts really distract a kicker?

Rowdy students?...distracting opposing kickers?....that is so bush-league. Show some fucking class.
Right, youngterry?

BTW, I think Sports Science did something about visual vs. audio distractions, and found that audio distractions (louder noises, chants, taunts, etc.) are highly more effective than visual distractions. Just food for thought...

∞∞∞ wrote:BTW, I think Sports Science did something about visual vs. audio distractions, and found that audio distractions (louder noises, chants, taunts, etc.) are highly more effective than visual distractions. Just food for thought...

Willie already said he was immune to his own teammates calling him a pussy and telling him not to choke.

∞∞∞ wrote:BTW, I think Sports Science did something about visual vs. audio distractions, and found that audio distractions (louder noises, chants, taunts, etc.) are highly more effective than visual distractions. Just food for thought...

What if you waved those crazy things in college basketball behind the hoop, but stayed silent as a mouse. That would mess with your head for sure.