Minnesota Vikings kicker Blair Walsh made more field goals than any other kicker in the National Football League this year, but he will not be remembered for this. Instead, Walsh will now live in Bill Buckner-
Yesterday's NFC Wild Card game pitted the debatably cursed Vikings against the Seattle Seahawks. The Vikings led 9-0 for most of the game. Then Seattle rallied in the fourth quarter, put up ten unanswered points, and found itself sitting with a one-point lead with mere minutes left in the game. The season was on the line. The Viking offense proceeded to march down the field and left Walsh, who had already made three field goals that day, in
Instead, Walsh missed left.
Naturally, it turns out Walsh is from the cursed lands of South Florida, where any professional athlete who touches a football is, for whatever reason, sentenced to a thousand years of ineptitude.
He is from Boca Raton and went to Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale. According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Walsh, like many NFL kickers, began his athletic career as a standout soccer player for Cardinal Gibbons before a friend recommended he try kicking field goals. "I had never kicked a football, never even thought about it," Walsh told the paper in 2012. He was later named to USA Today's All-USA First Team. His father, Joseph Walsh, is a dentist in Boca Raton.
After graduating, Walsh played for the University of Georgia's football team, where he set an NCAA record after
Despite the accolades, it seems Walsh will, however, have some trouble living this down.
Earlier today, Fox Sports reported that YouTuber "
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But Floridians, however, seemed to have a lot more sympathy for him online.
Props to Boca Ratons Blair Walsh... Stood in front of those cameras showed raw emotion
— Armando in Miami (@LakersCanes305) January 11, 2016
Blair Walsh is from Florida, as am I. This is what we do in cold weather. We fail.
— Kevin Clark (@KevinClarkWSJ) January 10, 2016
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