Lucky *******...
All in the family for Lawrence Tynes
BY MELISSA GRACE and and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Tuesday, January 22nd 2008, 4:00 AM
AP Say hello to the little fans of Giants hero Lawrence Tynes, seen in July pic, newborn twins Caleb (l.) and Jaden, who's held by wife, Amanda.
Phillip/AP A jubilant Tynes after kicking the Giants into the Super Bowl.
The victory party was underway when Lawrence Tynes, still savoring his dramatic 47-yard field goal that put the Giants in the Super Bowl, called one of his biggest fans - his mother.
"He said, 'Mom, you're going to the Super Bowl,'" Margaret Tynes said Monday. "I was still in shock."
And exhausted from praying.
"I prayed to every saint I could," Tynes told the Daily News, the burr of her Scottish accent still strong after nearly 20 years in Florida.
"You know what would have happened if he lost the game for the Giants? He would have been in the bad books for a long time."
The proud mom, who lives in Milton, Fla., said she agonized over the two field goals her youngest son shanked in the fourth quarter - but never doubted he could win the game.
"The coach was angry after the second miss," she said, referring to Giants coach Tom Coughlin. "It upset me. That's my son."
The 29-year-old kicker - who is called L.T. by pals - was holed up Monday at his Clifton, N.J., home with his wife, Amanda, and their 6-month-old twin boys, Caleb and Jaden.
While Tynes was Mr. Cool on the frigid field in Green Bay, he wasn't feeling well Monday and couldn't talk with reporters. So Giants quarterback Eli Manning sang his praises.
"He missed two kicks early on, but when he got the opportunity at 47 yards in the cold he ran right out there," Manning said. "He has great confidence in himself."
The son of a former Navy SEAL and a Scottish lass, Tynes spent his first 10 years in soccer-mad Scotland before moving with his parents to the Florida Panhandle.
Locals mistook Tynes for Irish and teased him and his two older brothers, Jason and Mark, about their accents, calling them the Lucky Charms.
The teasing stopped when Tynes showed he could kick a football through the uprights and became a star at Milton High School.
Place kickers often get the call when the game is on the line. As a result, they are prone to quirky habits to deal with the stress.
Tynes would carefully wash his car by hand before every game. "I know it's a strange thing, but it helped him stay calm," his mother said.
Tynes went on to earn a criminal justice degree at Troy University in Alabama and considered going to law school or becoming a cop like his dad, Larry.
"He's always got something to fall back on," his mother said.
After graduating, Tynes returned to Scotland and played for the Scottish Claymores in NFL Europa for a year. He played in the Canadian Football League for two years before hooking up with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Tynes joined the Giants this year and got plenty of grief about his nickname, which also belongs to retired Giants great Lawrence Taylor.
Although Tynes' playoff heroics are now part of Giants lore, his private life has had some drama.
He had a minor brush with the law in 2005, when he broke a bouncer's nose in a bar fight, and his brother Mark is serving 30 years in prison for peddling marijuana.
Still, Tynes manages to tune out the turmoil and concentrate on kicking field goals for Big Blue.
"He's been great for us all season," Manning said. "He's got a great attitude."
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/fo...nce_tynes.html
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Originally Posted by hermhater
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