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Here’s a Fan Who Wanted His Kicks Too

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So a kid realizes his dream one day, and plays in the Super Bowl.

Better not mess up.

In “Buffalo ‘66” the quirky, terrific movie by writer-director Vincent Gallo starring Gallo and Christina Ricci, an ex-convict is obsessed with a former kicker for the Buffalo team.

The character went to prison, in a roundabout way, after betting on Buffalo in a game that was lost on a missed field goal.

Not just any missed field goal.

A big field goal in the championship game.

A 47-yarder, to be exact.

Wide right.

The kicker, “Scott Wood,” later is portrayed in retirement as the fat proprietor of a topless bar and the subject of the ex-con’s fantasies of a murderous attack.

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Talk about someone holding a grudge.

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Trivia time: Which Buffalo kicker missed a 23-yard field goal on the last play of a 1966 regular-season game against San Diego?

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Just visiting: John Robinson was back on a football field the other day, wearing a gray Washington Redskin T-shirt and burgundy shorts at the Redskins’ training camp in Frostburg, Md.

Robinson reiterated to the Washington Post what he’d said before leaving to see Redskin Coach Norv Turner--that he isn’t looking at any job with the Redskins.

“I came back here just to see him and root for him,” Robinson said. “Even as a pimply faced kid, Norv had a feel for football. Norv had a wisdom about him, about the game. And as an assistant he always had an ability to see an overall perspective, rather than seeing the game through the position he coached.

“A lot of assistant coaches say, ‘This is what’s best for the linebackers,’ or whatever they’re coaching. I could always go to Norv, and he could see everything.”

Sounds as if Robinson ought to be in somebody’s broadcast booth.

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For the record: Add Charger punter Darren Bennett to the list in Wednesday’s Morning Briefing of NFL players who never played college football. Bennett played Australian Rules Football in his native country but had no college experience.

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Trivia answer: Booth Lusteg. The game ended in a 17-17 tie.

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And finally: The Washington Post’s Michael Wilbon doesn’t believe NBA players will be willing to miss much, if any, of the season.

“A great number of the NBA’s high-profile players are committed to one thing and one thing only: getting paid,” he writes.

“To do that, you’ve got to play.

“They’re in it to be famous, to have commercial endorsements, to live large. Players such as Buck Williams, Charles Barkley, Charles Oakley and Michael Jordan are just about extinct. And I don’t see any Curt Floods coming up behind them. Solidarity through thick and thin? I’ll believe it when I see it.”

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