Why do NFL kickers wear different colored shoes?

[ElwoodCuse]

I can understand wearing two different shoes (the one on the kicking foot would be different in structure for soem sort of advantage), btu why do some NFL (or even college) kickers wear two different *colored* shoes, like one white one black? I can't think of any names offhand but I know I've seen this, and quite a lot. It seems odd considering the NFL has fined people for wearing the wrong kind of socks or the wrong hat on the sideline.

[BobT]

Probably to make it easier for them to spot their kicking shoes if they are in a pile with other shoes.

[Izzardesque]

Didn't one guy have a solid metal block on the end of his leg for kicking?

A guy with a false leg being a kicker- how cool is that?

[postcards]

They need to be able to tell at a glance which foot they kick with.

I mean, they are football players after all.

[Philster]

Cleats for grass and turf shoes for fake grass increases the likelihood that the two shoes won't match:

These shoes vary in color...most shoes for artificial turf are white, while cleats for grass are usually black. So, while the kicker maintains a common kicking shoe (which is usually black), the shoe on the planting foot varies with the type of turf. Some fields have longer grass, muddier grass, sandier grass...some fake fields have thin turf, heavy turf, slippery turf.


So, while the kicker maintains a common kicking shoe on one foot, there are a number of possible shoe types that will wind up on the other foot.

If you pay attention, I think that you'll notice that kickers do sometimes have similar looking shoes on. But very often, by maintaining a common kicking shoe and varying the other shoe to fit the field, you'll find the shoes are different colors.

(A kicker who wears a size 10, might be using a size 7 old fashioned black cleat shoe on his kicking foot, while his planting foot is a size 10 in white...which might be a artificial turf shoe)

[Philster]

Originally posted by Izzardesque
Didn't one guy have a solid metal block on the end of his leg for kicking?

A guy with a false leg being a kicker- how cool is that?

Tom Dempsey had a half foot for kicking, and his shoe was rather blunt at the front. Dempsey held the 63 yard record as a Saint until Jason Elam tied it in the 90's for the Broncos.

Dempsey was 'old school' in that he kicked straight on with the front of his foot. I believe Mark Mosley was the last of this breed, and he played for Washington until the late 80's.

[Lao Tsu]

Things may have changed in the last hundred years, but when I played football kicking shoes only came in black. Because the people who make kicking shoes save money by only producing them in one color and as you can imagine there isn't a great demand for kicking shoes. So if your regular cleats are white you end up wearing two different colored shoes. Imagine trying to run with one shoe that's longer and heavier than the other.

[brad_d]

I've got an old (1993) version of Make the Right Call, which is basically a sold-in-bookstores copy of the NFL rulebook (much more complete than that accursed Digest that the NFL has on its website). Going on the assumption (valid?) that this section hasn't changed much since then, here's what it says about shoe color:

Rule 5, Section 3, Article 4
(j) - "Shoes" <stuff snipped>...All players on the same team must wear the same color shoe (either all white or all black, with all-white or all-black laces, whichever are applicable), and the selection of such shoe color must be reported by clubs to the League office by July 1 each year. Punters and placekickers are permitted, only on plays in which they line up to kick, to deviate temporarily from this rule, e.g., by wearing one black and one white shoe, or two black shoes while the rest of the team wears white.

While this may be enlightening, I'll admit that it fails to totally answer the question. My best guess is that a kicker may have a favorite "kicking shoe" - maybe some obscure black soccer shoe. (The vast majority of NFL teams wear white shoes. The Bears are the only ones I've noticed this season in black.) He could, if I read the rules right, wear that shoe on both feet. But, maybe he decides that traction conditions dictate something more suitable for his plant foot, so he hits up the equipment man for a standard team-issue shoe for his other foot.

Traction on one foot for the plant, kicking feel on the other foot. Different needs for different feet, hence the possibility of different shoes. The NFL seems aware of this, and allows kickers/punters some leeway from the otherwise pretty draconian uniform rules.