Copyright Men's Journal
Graham Gano has been an established, well-known veteran kicker among countless dedicated NFL fans over the years. If, for nothing else, Gano’s name has become quite a familiar one via the fantasy football waiver wire for 16 seasons and counting. So yes, even though he’s “just a kicker,” as some onlookers might say, Gano—the Florida State Seminoles Hall of Fame legend—has seen a thing or two since entering the NFL after signing with the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2009. Graham Gano Shares Harsh Reality of Playing Modern Day Professional Sports Given that noted rookie year of ’09 with Baltimore, things have certainly changed a whole lot for Gano as it pertains to the sports gambling landscape, considering it officially became legalized eight NFL seasons later following New Jersey’s triumphant win in Supreme Court in 2018, in what has increasingly, and unsurprisingly, grown exponentially ever since. When Gano first began playing in the NFL, sports gambling was of course very much a thing, but legally limited to just the state of Nevada. For the last eight years, however, he’s been kicking the football for the Carolina Panthers and, currently, the Giants, with fans having the incredible convenience of the ability to gamble on sports with a login and the push of a couple buttons. Gano, who has been in and out action due to various injuries this season, expressed the effects of that stark reality in rather blunt fashion on Thursday, Nov. 6. After being asked a relatively standard question about unfortunately getting hit with the injury bug once again, Gano dove a whole lot deeper into his general frustration, and did so pretty quickly. “I mean, shoot, ever since sports betting started happening, I get people telling me to kill myself every week. Because I’ll hit a kick that loses them money, and I’ll miss a kick and it loses them money,” Gano said. “It was the other day, somebody told me to get cancer and die.” So whether the kick goes crisply through the uprights or sails left or right, it sounds like an impossible-to-please scenario for Gano and his collective “fans.” Despite Harsh Criticism, Graham Gano Still Offers a Positive Outlook Despite all of that, a positive attitude seems to be the prevailing mindset while dealing with a neck issue that is likely to keep him from seeing any Week 10 action for the Giants against the Bears in Chicago. “I just want to make the fans happy, help the team win games and so not being able to do that is hard,” Gano continued. Still, somewhat sadly, Gano also added that after playing as long as he’s played in the NFL, he’s become used to “that stuff” by now. But, as Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk aptly put it, it’s safe to say things like this will not be changing, where “the players have become the cubes on the craps table, the steel ball on the roulette wheel.” Perhaps the craziest thing of all here is that when Gano has been healthy and on the active game day roster for the Giants, he is a highly efficient 9-for-10 on field goal attempts, paired with a perfect 9-for-9 on extra point attempts. Based on the chaotic state of kickers in general, there are likely several NFL teams across the league that would love to be able to state such stats about their own kicker as they enter Week 10 of the season.
