Source: Dave Hyde, South Florida Sun-Sentinel [ Full Article ]
They made the rounds each day with a kicking tee and two footballs. If Griffin Field was too busy, they'd go to Miramar High's football field. If that was closed, they'd try the Cooper City High field.
If they couldn't get on there, they'd jump the fence at Brian Piccolo Park. That was where Gino Mare was holding the ball for his son, Olindo, a decade ago when a policeman approached and said they'd have to leave.
"But I'm trying out with the Dolphins tomorrow," Olindo said.
"Sorry, rules are rules," the policeman said.
This is the story that needs to be told now. Jay Feely is a nice kicker. He has a regular gig on ESPN's Cold Pizza and used the word "ancillary" in proper context in his first Dolphin interview.
So we can all agree Feely is talented and will build any team's vocabulary.
But is he really an upgrade over Olindo Mare? And, at the very least, shouldn't there be some Ode to Olindo as the Dolphins' all-time leading scorer, and a local kid to boot, awaits the coming boot?
Far be it from a big Dolphins fan to introduce these topics, because that wouldn't be their style. Most fans put a target on Mare a while back and never found it convenient to take it off. Hey, it happens in pro sports, especially with NFL kickers.
There's some merit to this idea, too, if the issue is that Mare isn't the kicker he was five years ago when he was making 90 percent of his field goals in successive seasons. He's an average field-goal kicker now. He has off days, notably at New England last year, as any of these fans will tell you.
But let's have a reality check here. Let's not watch Mare go without some head-scratching (at least by me) over why Feely is better or without some appreciation for what Mare has done.
Mare was the Cooper City High kid who didn't touch a football until 16. Whose dream was to play pro soccer. Who sent videotapes of his kicking to 75 college football programs hoping for a scholarship. Who ended up at Syracuse, ultimately with the Dolphins and for the past 10 years has been the anti-kicker -- the only one in an interchangeable position to be with his team this long.
Soon he'll be gone. And this is a weird one. It can't be about field-goal kicking. First of all, it's impossible to predict what a kicker will do from one year to the next. As proof, the five NFL kickers with the best field-goal percentage this year were completely different from the top five last year. Only Baltimore's Matt Stover and San Diego's Nate Kaeding made each season's top 10.
Neither Mare nor Feely made the top 10 either season. Two years ago, each converted 83.3 percent of his field goals. This past year, Feely made 85.2 percent to Mare's 72.2 percent. Seems like a lot. But throw out field goals over 50 yards (Feely was 0 for 1 and Mare was 1 for 6) and it's a closer 88 to 83 percent.
This shouldn't be about dollars, either. Mare is due to make $1.5 million in the final year of his contract next season (plus the $250,000 bonus the Dolphins already paid him). Feely got a $2.5 million bonus and a contract that totals a little more than $5 million. Break it down and the Dolphins might save a few pennies, but nothing to base a decision on.
What this should be about is kickoffs. The New York Times had a statistician do a geeky study of field-goal kickers this season and the conclusion was this: "Instead of wasting money on high-priced field-goal kickers, teams would be better off signing kickers who can be counted on to help their teams consistently by affecting field position with long kickoffs."
Mare led the league this season with 24 touchbacks on kickoffs. Feely had 12. The Dolphins were second in the league by having opponents start at their 24.9-yard line last year. The Giants' opponents started at the 26.9 (16th in the league).
What's 2 yards? You can bet every special-teams coach in the league is thinking every hour how to get 2 more yards from every play.
Mare or Feely won't decide whether this new regime rises or falls. But just like Nick Saban seemed to make some penny-wise, win-foolish decisions, this seems to be the case here.
In each decision that has come so far, you can understand where General Manager Randy Mueller and Coach Cam Cameron is coming from. Until this one. The only way it works is if they receive a mid-level draft pick for Mare. But why would any team offer that?
A decade ago, after Mare's first Dolphin game, I stood in the Mare's home and heard of his youthful soccer passion.
"He broke that window there," Gino said, pointing to one. "And he broke that window there."
Mare has since married and started a family that added a third child this week. But everyone leaves. That's the only truth about sports. Even a local kid. Even a productive player. Maybe even when he really shouldn't, as looks to be the case here.
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