Yes, it’s finally time.

Any slightly frenzied Card fan knows of which I speak: It’s time for Unfair Catch UCONN !

The SOB that got away with that play –Larry Taylor– has very unfortunately graduated into the well hidden north waste lands of Canadian football, no doubt “messing” with other ref’s minds.

I can only hope a moose in heat messes with  Mr. Taylor at some point in his sojourn up yonder…

In the meantime, there is a game to play…and some business left unfinished.

After all:  It wasn’t just Taylor celebrating this obvious missed call.  His teammates,  the UCONN fans– heck, even his coach congratulated him–and gave him the game ball, I believe (although I’m a bit fuzzy on this “fact”,  which is not going to slow me or any Card fan down at this point.)

Tom Heiser at the C-J seems to understand the visceral feelings some Card fans have concerning this.  Hey, we want to rock SOMEONE’S socks! http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/cjcardsfan/blog.html

Of course, our coaches and team are taking the high road in pre-game interviews.  That Taylor thing is  all in the past,  the play really didn’t cost us the game, this is an important conference match-up,  yada, yada…

That’s all very true and good.

But…

Do YOU want some “proper” revenge on UCONN?

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I had a pleasant visit from someone unexpected:  Ryan’s mom, Debbie.  She had googled her son’s name, and arrived at my site.  She asked for the pics that we had taken of Ryan, and I was more than happy to oblige.  Of course, I had to ask for a little information on her son, which she was kind enough to let me share with you...

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Hi Frank,

Thank you the information about the “other” barefoot kicker!  Ryan
has quite an interesting story and I think it would be a great public
interest piece.  I’ll briefly share a bit how he got here…

Ryan has been a life long soccer player, having played at gold club
levels since the age of 8.  He played two years at Concordia
University in Irvine California.

He was still playing soccer and enjoying his sophomore year of college when a lifelong friend of his,
Colt Brennan who was the quarterback for University of Hawaii last
year, asked Ryan why he didn’t try kicking since he had such a strong
leg.

Well Ryan’s father started taking him out to the local school
where they kicked footballs.  Ryan’s dad called me one day and said,
“you know, I think he can really kick a football”.

Well of course Ryan’s dad thinks he can do everything well, so I insisted that he
get a second opinion from someone who knows what they’re talking
about.  As it turned out, Colt’s father knows Mike Lansford, who as
you may or may not know was a NFL kicker for the LA Rams for about 20
years, who was interestingly enough, a barefoot kicker.

Well anyway, Mike agrees to come out and take a look at Ryan.  After one practice,
Mike confirms that yes, Ryan has a “Sunday leg”, which I guess means
he could kick on Sundays … NFL?

Ryan initially used a shoe to kick but one day, just to kid around with Lansford, takes off his
shoe and makes a few kicks.  Well that was the end of the shoe!  He
added at least 5 yards to every kick and was much more accurate with
his placement.

Mike agrees to work with Ryan to help him refine his
skills since he’s never played football before, save being a wide
receiver his freshman year of high school.

After a few months of workouts, we make a video and send it out for
coaches to evaluate.  Many calls were received and some scholarships
offered from D2 schools.  Ryan was really under the gun as it was
time to re-enroll for his Junior year at Concordia.

Mike Lansford made a call to the Athletic Director at Louisville, Tom Jurich who he
knew from college.  Tom said they’d like to get a look at Ryan and
have him work for a year learning the trade from Carmody, which he
did. He wasn’t offered a scholarship but didn’t care as he was
excited to play at Louisville.  Ryan has worked hard and has
definitely been “under the radar”.

I so appreciate the pictures, living in California it’s impossible
for me to get to all or even most of Ryan’s games, so being able to
see him in action was priceless.

Warm Regards,

Debbie Payne-McLane

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Our current barefoot kicker, Ryan Payne, brought back a flood of memories from a time when Lee Corso was actually a fun, imaginative  guy who loved and coached the Cards–and who we adored as fans.

To a moribund program, he introduced winning football, with  youthful pizazz, enthusiasm,  and a willingness to try anything….even a barefoot hippie kicker.

Scott Marcus was a true, flower-child free spirit from New York–and a hell of an all-around athlete.

He was beaded, bearded…and barefoot- most of the time really, and definitely when he was punting the ball for the Cards or booting extra points.

He also was Jewish and had a thick brownish mop of a ‘Jewfro” that he was barely able to stuff in his helmet.

A "Jewfro" according to Wikipedia.

If he got enthused about something, he’d go for it.  After his first football season, he decided he wanted to…be a cheerleader.  It was becoming gymnastic at that time, you see.  So Corso let him do that.

Then it was tennis.  OK, ok…and he became one of our better tennis players.

He ambled out on the track field to see what was going on, picked up the shot, and threw it 51′ !!  The track coach offered him a scholarship on the spot–but track, naw, he was just messing around.

Actually, he had come to Louisville expecting to play his favorite sport: soccer.  One problem:  U of L had no soccer team back then.

So that’s how all this got started…

Some of the guys at ITV helped me find the following great Sports Illustrated article and link on Scott.  Here is an excerpt of how Corso “recruited” what would become an All-American kicker for the Cards:

“….I was walking out of the student union,” says Corso . “I’d just made a speech to the freshman class, calling on them to rally behind our program, to dedicate themselves to the university. ‘Follow football,’ I said. ‘Participate. If you can’t participate, support!” And I’m walking out and I hear, Psssst. Hey, coach.’”

“I turn around and I don’t see anybody except this hairy guy in the phone booth, looking like maybe he was living in there. He says, ‘Hey, pssst, over here.’ I am captured by a vision of bare feet and beads and hair and I say to myself, ‘No way. No way I’m going over there.’ I don’t have anything against long hair. I’ve known some crew-cut bums. But this guy is too much. I motioned him to meet me halfway. Maybe he just doesn’t want to embarrass me.

“He says, ‘Coach, I want to help the team. I heard what you said and I was impressed. I want to help the team.’ Yeah. Right. Terrific. I said, “What exactly did you have in mind?’

“He says, ‘I’m a punter. I punt barefoot. And I placekick. I can help you.’ I looked at his hair. No way to get all that in a helmet. ‘What about that?’ I said, motioning.

“He says, ‘Like I averaged 35 yards a kick in prep school. If I show you I can average 40, can I keep my hair?’

“Well, hell. I called for help and here’s a guy wants to help me. I am willing to try anything. Especially when I’ve only got a 40-man varsity and a handful of freshmen and am desperate for bodies. I said, ‘If you can average 40 yards a kick, you can have hair all over your body for all I care.’

“I told him to meet me at the office at 12:30 the next afternoon. I figured everybody would be out to lunch then. I didn’t expect to see anything exceptional, but I wanted to see him kick barefoot. It would liven up the lunch hour. He comes out and, sure enough, he flubs the first punt. Wobble, wobble, wobble, plunk. Then—pow, whooossssh. He kicks one about 90 yards. All the way to the Ralston Purina sign behind the field.

“Well, I want to tell you something. Hair grows on you. I’m beginning to think Scott Marcus wouldn’t look as good if he cut his hair short.”

Marcus was indeed more than just a pretty head. He averaged 41.6
yards punting for the freshman team. He also kicked extra points. He
resisted playing a position. “The coaches look at my size and say,
‘Hey, I have a linebacker position for you. Hey. I’ve got a guard
position.’ I tell them, ‘Save it, man.’ ” The curls cascaded out of his
helmet. Corso asked only that he keep himself neat around the football office and that he wear shoes to the training table…

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1084273/2/index.htm

BTW, Scott made second team All-American in 1972 (note Tom Jackson too!)

http://uoflsports.cstv.com/trads/lou-trads-all-americans.html