Much brouhaha was made this week over a supposedly overqualified fan kicker whom the Jets excluded from their $100,000 halftime kicking contest.
After a fervent internet backlash, the Jets relented and let Ashley Castanio-Gervasi kick in the contest.
The results? She missed from 30 yards out.
Castanio-Gervasi was initially disqualified because she is a high school soccer coach.
Of the three fans who competed in the contest, only one made the 30-yard try. However, that fan failed to convert the next attempt, a 40-yard kick.
There are lessons to be learned from the experience. First, being a high school soccer coach apparently doesn’t make one a lock to make a 30-yard field goal. After all, even professionally trained NFL kickers sometimes miss kicks from that range. Also, the Jets might want to do some careful consideration the next time they think about excluding someone from the kicking contest.
Castanio-Gervasi intended to put the money toward a house and a cancer charity. Was it really worth canceling her and turning the whole saga into a public controversy?
In any event, it’s not the first time the Jets made a bad personnel decision, and it’s unlikely to be the last.
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