How about that... Hartley upstages old teammate Peterson
Published: 1/25/2010 7:27 AM
Last Modified: 1/25/2010 8:23 AM
In the moments before the end of Sunday's NFC Championship, I grabbed my 10-year-old son's shoulders and started wishing Garrett Hartley's 40-yard field goal through the uprights. A couple reasons for this:
1. Like many Americans whose favorite teams are out of the playoffs, I have adopted the New Orleans Saints. The city/team relationship is the obvious hook, but I'm pulling for Drew Brees, who I had the pleasure of interviewing the week he came to Tulsa to accept the Iba Award last summer. Pure class.
2. Hartley.
Every kicker/punter I have covered as an Oklahoma beat writer has been friendly, goofy and extremely quotable. Hartley, a laid-back Owen Wilson lookalike at OU from 2004-07, was certainly all of those. He was also very, very good, making 47 of his 58 field goal attempts to become OU's all-time percentage leader.
The only thing he hadn't done was make a last-second game-winner. He had a shot at Oregon in '06, but his 44-yarder was blocked and Gordon Riese officially went down in Sooner infamy.
In fact, I don't think any OU kicker has won a big game with a buzzer-beater since Tim Lashar at Nebraska in 1986. I could be wrong. I probably am. But that's the last one that comes to mind without researching.
So back to Sunday night, I wasn't exactly brimming with confidence while the Vikings called time out to freeze Hartley. That he stepped up made the biggest play in the history of his franchise, upstaging old college teammate Adrian Peterson in the process?
No offense to "AD," but wow!
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
