Sport: Setting the Record Straight

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A sturdy leg and strong confidence are Moseley's only equipment. Though the Dallas Cowboys and other interested parties have inquired about the size and mythic qualities of Moseley's right foot, he is not a Sasquatch. His 10½B swaddled in six sweat socks merely appears oversize in a hard, square-toed but lawful boot. The longest N.F.L. field goal on record, 63 yds., was punched by a man with half a foot, New Orleans' Tom Dempsey; Moseley's longest is 54 yds. Asked if he would like a swipe at Dempsey's record, Moseley replies, "I couldn't kick 63 now. Those days are over." Not that he feels older at 34, but the ball feels harder, even through six socks. "On snowy days," he says, "those barefoot kickers," like Philadelphia's Tony Franklin, "make me wince." He made the record on a snowy day in Washington, though no plowing was necessary to bare a spot. In New England, convicts are used for this detail. ("What can they do to me?" said the affable burglar who cleared the way three games ago for a protested 3-0 Patriots victory over Miami. "Put me in jail?") Moseley has almost been good enough to be illegal. —By Tom Callahan