I used to think being a field goal kicker in football would be the best job in sports. You don’t really have to be in shape, all you do is kick, you get cool helmets with one or two bar face-masks and you get paid thousands of dollars.

The fact is, kickers just don’t get respect.

They are often the butt of jokes, they are picked on by bigger players and comedian Adam Sandler even dedicated an entire song to this position called “The Lonesome Kicker.”

But this past football season has made me feel a great sympathy for kickers.

Even though they still don’t seem to get much respect, they have played a huge role in teams’ success over the season.

I’m not saying kickers weren’t important in other years. As a Vikings fan, I will never forget Gary Anderson, the all-time leading scorer in the NFL, missing a field goal that would have sent Purple Pride to the big game in the 1998-99 season.

Instead, my dad had to take his Super Bowl tickets and try to cheer on the Falcons.

Damn you Gary.

And one of my first Super Bowl memories as a full blown football fan was when Scott Norwood could have won the game for the Buffalo Bills in 1991, but he missed the 47-yarder cursing the Bills as they lost four straight Super Bowls.

But this year has been different for kickers.

I’ve seen them in the news more than ever, and it just seems they aren’t as automatic as they used to be.

The Pittsburgh Steelers kicker, Kris Brown, probably had the roughest season of kicking in the NFL.

After missing four field goals in a three point loss against the Baltimore Ravens, he came back the next week to a chorus of boos from his home crowd.

Quarterback Kordell Stewart had to walk onto the field for support in an attempt to change the fan’s emotions.

Brown did miss one field goal in that game against the Cleveland Browns, and the game went into overtime.

But his game-winning kick in that overtime could very well be what saved his job. Brown made just 30 of 44 field goals on the season, for an embarrassingly low percentage of 68.

Then again, Brown went to Nebraska, so what do you expect.

You can’t talk about NFL kickers without mentioning the forever annoying Gramatica brothers.

The older of the two, Martin, began making a bad name for himself last season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as he was seen talking trash and giving his middle finger to whoever wanted it.

Seeing him and his little brother Bill get injured this season was actually quite enjoyable.

After kicking a virtually pointless field goal in the first quarter of a game for the Arizona Cardinals, Bill jumped in the air in celebration and landed funny – tearing up his knee and causing him to miss the rest of the season.

It wouldn’t be near as funny if he wasn’t a Gramatica and if he wasn’t just as cocky as his older brother.

Another kicker worth talking about is the 255-pound Oakland Raiders kicker, Sebastian Janikowski.

He’s actually a pretty good kicker with a lot of power, but his love for sex and drugs has plagued him with a bit of legal trouble.

And as I am also a Raiders fan, his injury late in the season didn’t help matters as replacement kicker Brad Daluiso missed a field goal that would have given the Raiders a much needed first-round bye.

Even though I don’t follow college football kickers the way I do the NFL, there is one particular Independence Bowl that keeps coming to mind.

I’m not so bothered by the fact that Iowa State kicker Tony Yelk missed that last controversial field goal – that is a lot of pressure to deal with. It was the two he missed earlier in the game.

I’m sure he’s a great guy, and I know he is a phenomenal punter. But it’s my guess that field goal kicking just isn’t his bag.

Growing up I just assumed that kicking was easy. But after closer attention, I’ve learned that the kicker is one of the most complex positions in football. They have to line up the shot, connect in the right spot and have enough power to get the ball through those giant up-rights.

Either that, or they just all suck.

Kyle Moss is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Urbandale.