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Getting his kicks
Rookie kicker Steve Gostkowski was a kid without a pro team to root for when his family moved from Buffalo to Mississippi in the early 1990s.
“There aren’t a lot of [pro] sports down there,” Gostkowski said last month at the Patriots’ rookie minicamp. “Some people were [New Orleans] Saints fans, and that was about it.”
Gostkowski’s father, however, had hitched his allegiances to the Boston Red Sox. So like many impressionable youngsters, Gostkowski did the same. He was a big Roger Clemens fan, and today he rates Tim Wakefield among his favorite Sox players.
Last week, the Patriots’ likely successor to Adam Vinatieri got up close and personal with his favorite team. Gostkowski visited Fenway Park for the first time, watching the Red Sox beat the Devil Rays, 4-1, on May 25.
Gostkowski is one of a handful of Patriots players with an impressive baseball-related resume. He was a pitcher in college for Memphis, clocking as high as 93 miles per hour on the radar gun.
Quarterback Tom Brady was an 18th round draft choice (as a catcher) of the Montreal Expos in 1995. Fellow quarterback Matt Cassel was a 36th round draft choice of the Oakland A’s in 2004, while running back Patrick Pass was selected by the Florida Marlins in 1996.
Gostkowski said there are similarities between being a football kicker and baseball pitcher.
“You’re out there by yourself on the mound. The ball’s in your hands. It’s the same thing when you’re kicking a field goal. It’s just you out there -- you have a snapper and holder helping you out, but the eyes are on you. If you throw a ball right down the middle and they hit a home run, they’re looking at you. You miss a kick, they’re looking at you. I like putting that pressure on my shoulders and knowing that I’m in control of what happens.”
EXTRA POINT: These two articles -- from the Canton Repository and Cleveland Browns’ official web site -- detail how the Cleveland Browns considered selecting cornerback Ellis Hobbs before the Patriots in the third round of the 2005 draft. The Browns ended up selecting quarterback Charlie Frye.
