Olindo Mare
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No. -- Free agent
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| Placekicker | |||||||||||||
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Personal information
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| Date of birth: June 6, 1973 | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth: Hollywood, Florida | |||||||||||||
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Career information
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| College: Syracuse | |||||||||||||
| Undrafted in 1996 | |||||||||||||
| Debuted in 1997 for the Miami Dolphins | |||||||||||||
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Career history
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Career highlights and awards
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Career NFL statistics as of 2012
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Olindo Franco Mare (born June 6, 1973) is an American football placekicker who is currently a free agent. He was originally signed by the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent in 1996. He played college football at MacMurray College and Syracuse.
Mare, who was selected to the Pro Bowl in 1999, has also played for the Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, Seattle Seahawks, and Chicago Bears.
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Early years [edit]
Mare attended Cooper City High School (Cooper City, Florida), and was a student of Michael Manning, lettering in football and soccer. Olindo Mare graduated from Cooper City High School in 1991. Olindo played at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois and finished his college career for the Syracuse Orange.[1]
Professional career [edit]
Starting his career in 1996, Mare has a career field goal percentage of 81.1%. He is considered to be one of the best in the league at kickoffs, with a career average of 63.8 yards.
New York Giants [edit]
He was originally signed by the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent in 1996. Then he was released before the season.
Miami Dolphins [edit]
Mare played the first 10 seasons of his career with the Miami Dolphins.
In 2001, Mare attempted his first, and thus far, only rushing attempt on fake field goal against the Carolina Panthers. He was stopped for a 5 yard loss.
While in 2004 season, when Mare was out with a calf injury, current New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker replaced him and became only the second player in NFL history to return a kickoff and a punt, kick an extra point and a field goal, and make a tackle in a single game.
During the 2005 season, he scored 25 of 30 on field goals, averaged 67.0 yards per kickoff, and had 16 touchbacks in 73 kicks. Mare also recorded his first career fumble recovery during the season on an onside kick.
New Orleans Saints [edit]
On April 3, 2007, the Dolphins traded Mare to the New Orleans Saints for a 2007 sixth-round draft pick.[2] He inherited the position from kicker John Carney, who was released from the team a day after.
He missed his first field goal attempt of the 2007 season against the Indianapolis Colts. At the midway point of the 2007 season, Mare had made exactly half of his field goal attempts. He also missed 3 field goals in the final preseason game. Early in the season, it was revealed that Mare injured his groin muscle, and punter Steven Weatherford took over on kick-offs for a few games. While playing the Jacksonville Jaguars, Mare missed his second attempt of the game, and ended up being called on again only a couple minutes later after the Saints intercepted and drove back into field goal range. Fans booed Mare as he walked on the field to attempt the long shot (over 50 yards), which he missed. Despite the reaction of fans, and his extremely poor play, head coach Sean Payton continued to stand by the kicker until he was injured in the second game against the Atlanta Falcons, and replaced with Martín Gramática.
On February 27, 2008 he was released from the Saints after only one season.
Seattle Seahawks [edit]
On March 27, 2008, Mare signed with the Seattle Seahawks to a two-year contract worth $3.5 million.[3] He won the kicking battle during training camp and pre-season against Brandon Coutu. He had a superb 2008 season as he finished the season kicking 24/27 field goals and making all of his PATs.
In 2009, Mare faced significant scrutiny after missing two field goals in a week 3 game against the Chicago Bears. The misses resulted in a 6 point loss for the Seahawks. In a post-game news conference, Head Coach Jim Mora Jr. called Mare's playing "not acceptable".[4] Olindo Mare had a fantastic 2009 season as he finished with 24/26 field goals with a franchise record 21 straight. He earned a 2009 Pro Bowl Alternate honor and a franchise tag that will give him a base salary of what the top 5 kickers make in the NFL or a 20% salary increase, whichever is more.
Dick Stockton's inability to pronounce Mare's last name correctly has resulted in the nickname Mar-AA. Mar-AA is a reference to a Seattle drinking game.[5]
Chicago Bears [edit]
On December 11, 2012, the Bears signed Mare to a 1-year deal due to an injury to Robbie Gould.[6] Mare beat out Billy Cundiff and Neil Rackers for the job.[7] Mare played his first game as a Bear on December 16, 2012 against the Green Bay Packers. Mare was successful on both of his field goal attempts but the Bears would go on to lose 21-13.
Personal [edit]
Mare is married to his wife Sandy, with three sons, Hayden, Rylan, and Landon, and one daughter, Kayla.[8]
Mare is mentioned in Wale's song "TV in the Radio" in the line "I kick it, kick it like Olindo."[9]
Mare is a fan of the Italian soccer team Juventus since his father was born in Turin.[10]
Mare is briefly featured in the music video for "Jigga Jigga!" by Scooter (band) during a game against the San Diego Chargers in the 2003 season for the Miami Dolphins. He is shown momentarily about 8 seconds into the music video.[11]
References [edit]
- ^ "Olindo Mare". Carolina Panthers. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
- ^ Topic Galleries - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
- ^ Mare signs deal
- ^ Mora royally miffed at Mare's missed field goals
- ^ http://blog.thenewstribune.com/seahawks/2009/11/21/guess-whos-announcing-sundays-game-drink-up-friends/
- ^ "Bears' Gould out for season". Yahoo! Sports. 2012-12-11. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
- ^ Gantt, Darin (2012-12-11). "Olindo Mare wins Bears kick-off, may get a contract". Profootballtalk.com. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
- ^ Seattle Seahawks bio
- ^ http://www.songlyrics.com/wale/tv-in-the-radio-lyrics/
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUnXwhF9OhY
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtiXUrQ-iD4
External links [edit]
| Preceded by Robbie Gould |
Chicago Bears Kickers 2012-present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
- 1973 births
- Living people
- People from Hollywood, Florida
- American football placekickers
- Syracuse Orange football players
- Undrafted National Football League players
- Miami Dolphins players
- New Orleans Saints players
- Seattle Seahawks players
- Carolina Panthers players
- Chicago Bears players
- American Conference Pro Bowl players
- Players of American football from Florida
- American people of Italian descent
