Tucson Citizen.com
AG's Wildcat Report - Dispatches on the Wildcats, from Anthony Gimino

Zendejas apologizes for gesture toward Oregon coach

by on Nov. 29, 2010, under Sports

Alex Zendejas doesn't figure to do more finger-pointing any time soon. (ESPN3 screenshot)

Arizona Wildcats kicker Alex Zendejas was iced — twice — and he didn’t think that was so nice.

Oregon coach Chip Kelly called two timeouts at the end of the first half as Zendejas lined up to kick a 29-yard field goal last Friday night at Autzen Stadium.

It’s certainly not an out-of-line strategy. It’s something coaches do on a weekly basis all across the country, playing a little mind game with the kicker, making him wait, making him think about it.

After the delay, Zendejas booted the ball through the uprights for a 19-14 lead, but then he turned and pointed at Kelly on the Oregon sideline as he was leaving the field — an unusually brash move, especially for a kicker.

“It was kind of disrespectful,” Zendejas said after Sunday night’s practice, talking about his gesture.

“I wouldn’t do it again, to be honest with you. … I don’t think he is going to hear this, but I apologize for doing that, Coach.”

Said ESPN announcer Brad Nessler after the finger-point: “Gutsy kicker … or crazy kicker.” Added ESPN game analyst Todd Blackledge: “Gutsy wouldn’t have been the word I would have chose.”

Zendejas said it was “emotion probably getting the best of me” as his kick capped a thrilling first half. The kicker added that special teams coach Jeff Hammerschmidt “got a little mad at me, but I apologized really quick, though.”

Kelly unsuccessfully went double-ice last year against Zendejas in the same situation. Zendejas kicked a 47-yard field goal to end the first half after Oregon called two timeouts.

Zendejas also made a 41-yard field goal in the third quarter Friday night, and he had a brilliant pooch punt, hitting one 40 yards out of bounds inside the 1-yard line. That’s two games in a row in which he has pooched a kick out of bounds deep in the opponent’s territory.

This is the way to celebrate: Alex Zendejas after beating ASU last season. Photo by Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

He’ll continue to handle those duties instead of regular punter Keenyn Crier.

“I actually like it,” Zendejas said of pooch punting.

“I don’t mind punting. I don’t find punting as hard as kicking sometimes. It might be just because I go out there and relax.”

The pressure is on this week, however. It’s Arizona-Arizona State on Thursday night, with the Zendejas’ family history entwined in the rivalry. Alex left his legacy by making a 32-yard field goal as time expired for a 20-17 victory at Sun Devil Stadium last year.

His uncle Max is a UA legend who twice kicked game-winners against the Sun Devils. Two other uncles, Luis and Alan, kicked for Arizona State.

“It’s always fun to play ASU, especially with all the family history behind it and I’ve had all my uncles talk about it already,” Alex said. “That’s pretty cool.”

This entry was posted on Monday, November 29th, 2010 at 9:15 am and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

RSS feed for this post (comments)

  • Pingback: Tweets that mention Zendejas apologizes for gesture toward Oregon coach - AG's Wildcat Report -- Topsy.com

  • Mark B. Evans

    What’s to apologize for? He got iced, he made the kick, he points to the opposing coach, which is a nonverbal statement of “take your ice and shove it.”

    Good for Zendejas. Shows he’s got some fire in him.

    Now, if he had flipped him the bird . . .

    • mark b. evans is a doosh

      Wrong Mark.  Your warped view on the subject explains why you still work at a car wash.  Real winners act like they’ve been there.  I played d-1 and I never once taunted the opposing coaches.  Stay classy Mark.

    • LongSnapper

      I think by calling the timeouts it helped the kicker not kick the ball at the back of the heads of the linemen like he always does!

  • James

    Nothing to apologize for.  No one on the Ducks’ sideline was paying any attention to him.

  • socalduck

    CMon Mark, pointing at the opposite coach is Bush League.  Especially a kicker doing it.

    Put down your Wildcat Kool-aid and admit it.

  • Eric

    Chip Kelly pointed to the scoreboard after the game. No harm, no foul.

  • Classy Duck

    This behavior is to be expected from Arizona as last year at their house they threw a water bottles at the Oregon Cheerleaders (injured one) and there mascot and two other students attacked the Duck Mascot and tried to tape his beak shut,,,,,real classy university!

    • Matt G

      Examples of Oregon’s class:
      LaMicheal James pleads guilty for harassment.
      Masolli steals laptops from a frat house.
      Blount sucker punches a Boise State player last year.
      Oregon fans boo at Arizona players who were legitimately injured.
      Oregon mascot gets suspended for starting a real fight with another mascot.
      Shall we continue?

      • Jeff Vando

        The difference Matty,
        All players were punished, fans dont throw &^%$ on the field, you can boo or cheer whatever you want.  I was at the game.  Loudest boo was when they helped #12 off the field after three personal fouls, including the one to James.  Second loudest, when Stoops brought in every player around him on the 30 yard line to celebrate while James was lying hurt on the field.  Just so you have the whole story , James pushed an old girlfriend to the ground who was keying his car, frat boys owed imbrie money for weed (not vindication Masoli lied), blount was called F’n N by the people in the stands and was baited into the fight,  Mascotfight was like fighting in sumo suits, are you kidding.  What else you got?? 

        • Matt G

          Nice. James resorts to violence to solve a situation when a simple phone call to the police would have been the correct solution.
          Blount has can’t take crowd taunting so he resorts to violence.
          If the mascot fight was so innocent then why was he suspended?
          I guess violence solves everything huh?
          Spoken like a true brain washed duck fan.
           

        • Matt G

          Oh yeah Frat boys owed money for weed? So substance abuse is also going at Oregon? Just another beautiful Eugene success story.

          • Jeff Vando

            Again matty boy, we punish our offenders, how are things at the drive thru?

          • Matt G

            Ah flames. The last resort of an internet tough guy. LOL

          • Jeff Vando

            Yeah Matty, no flames in your posts, what a tool, keep on laughing till next years smack down

          • Phil P

            Sure. Coming from the guy who goes onto a Tucson newspaper and bring up past incidents then gets all offended when someone points out his team isn’t all miss little innocent? I will keep laughing at you! :)

          • Jeff Vando

            Wow Matty, review the tape of who brought up the past incidents, I believe this story was about your kicker and you go off on some tirade about Oregon.   I pointed out that every player in the incidents mentioned, by you, were punished. Keep on laughing we will continue to laugh at the 9-2 record you have posted against us in recent history. We are not innocent, but we are winners. Your kicker can wag fingers, that means you settled for a FG instead of a TD.

        • Kyle Arps

          Stoops didn’t call all of his players in. He was yelling at the refs the entire time James was down on the field. They were rallying around Adam Hall and he was pushing everyone to play harder. If you watched the replay on tv, you would clearly see that Stoops wasn’t calling anyone to rally, but he was blasting the refs.

          • Jeff Vando

            I was at the game, happened in front of me, characterize it however you like, we know what we saw

  • thepar

    Will at least your very few fans that came to the game,DIDNT THROW BOTTLES TIS YEAR,wise choise they were out nunbered.Just like your team was no match for the “DUCKS”!! HAVE A GOOD TIME IN WHAT LITTLE BOWL YOU GET!LOL “GO DUCKS”"O”

    • fraser007

      So what are you going to say when Auburn kicks your ass??

  • Chris

    “I wouldn’t do it again, to be honest with you. … I don’t think he is going to hear this, but I apologize for doing that, Coach.”
    Funny, I don’t remember him saying that after he did it in last year’s game.

    • Kyle Arps

      He didn’t point at Kelly last season. He taunted some of the players, which led to the little scuffle at the end of the half.

  • ang

    Nice to apologize but probably not necessary.  I thought Zona played a great game and I was really impressed with Foles.  Hope you beat ASU and can go to the best bowl possible.

  • Vince

    We accept your apology and we apologize for booing your injured players who were NOT faking injuries like Cal, Tennessee, ASU, etc. . . .  The person I am interested in hearing from is your Mr. Hall, who ended James Rodgers’ season at OSU and nearly ended LaMichael James’ season with the unnecessary head shot.  He’s playing with people’s lives and he should be suspended by the UofA and the Pac 10.

    • https://sites.google.com/site/firealexzendejas/ Phill P

      Vince.
      You should watch the hit again on ESPN3.com. It’s pretty obvious Adam Hall didn’t lead with his helmet.
       

    • zoescout

      Adam Hall did not almost end LaMichael James’ season with a headshot. That was a terrible call by the ref. He hit him with the shoulder not the head. James was bent so low to the ground the only place for him to hit him was close to his head. If you look at the replay, it was NOT a dirty play.

      • Vince

        You seem to be delusional.  It was obvious to all that LaMike was wrapped up and the play was over. He was unprotected and down and Mr. Headhunter went after him in a cheap shot.  This was right after another personal foul committed by Mr. Cheapshot on another Duck player.  In my opinion, he’s endangering people and he should be suspended.  James Rodgers would still be playing this season if it weren’t for Mr. Seasonender.

        • Phil P

          Vince
          You seem brain washed. Are you saying that ESPN announcers were wrong? They seemed to think the hit was legal.

          • Duck Fan Ken

            Yes, I watched the game again on a different channel with different announcers and they commented, with clear replays, that the hit was a a head shot.  It may be up on Utube, check it out.

  • Duck Fan

    I’ve been a duck fan for too many years to count. I didn’t feel like that was out of line at all. It felt like gamesmanship. I was at the game, however, and I don’t know if offended is the right word, but I can’t imagine a university putting up with the grandstanding, language and just acting like an all around….well I’m sure Stoops would have no problem finishing that sentence after seeing all the blurs the ESPN had to do when showing his replays.
    Stoops puts a good product on the field. Too bad he can’t live up to that personally. Yelling at his assistants, players, fans, refs or whoever is close to them. Running out on the field screaming obscenities. I’ve observed this for a number of years now, and it’s Not good! Even if he were winning more games, it should not be tolerated by fans or the University of Arizona.

    • Matt G

      Yeah Chip Kelly would never yell at his players right? BS.
       
       

      • Duck Fan Ken

        Have YOU ever seen him yell at a player, at least during a game?  If so, point it out and I will agree.  I have watched every game televised, and several on site Autzen and never noticed him yelling at anyone.  Don’t just make a statement, present some proof.  I agree with the comments about Stoops, he and his brother are crybabies and yell at everyone, players, assistants and officials.  Maybe one of these days he will be flagged.  Still, Arizona is a good team and I complement you for a good season, third after Stanford.

    • Duck Fan Ken

      I agree with this fan and did not really take offense to the kickers pointing, Chip would never say anything, and appreciate the apologies on all sides for trying to make college ball more enjoyable.

  • Dave

    Pointing at the opposing coach is no big deal, just like taking the timeouts is no big deal. It’s legal, you deal with it. However, just remember that the opposing coach is thinking that he can mess with the kicker by taking the timeouts, whether affecting him mentally or just going for a percentage miss. I feel that any time this situation presents itself the kicker has the right to acknowledge the coach and his strategies. If I were a kicker who someone tried to ice and I made the kick, I would love to point right at him. Make him know I beat his little strategy.

  • Tom Carrera

    Matt is right. This is just trash talk.
    Instead, let’s talk about how Arizona got their asses kicked Friday night.
     
    Also, does anyone know Stoops’ therapist. Mike deserves a refund, it ain’t workin’ for him.

  • http://waterthebamboo.com/blog/press/what-does-water-the-bamboo%C2%AE-have-to-do-with-a-heisman-candidate/ chip kelly

    As a Duck fan, I actually thought it was kind of funny. He’s the kicker! Who cares, it’s not like he went up and pushed Chip Kelly. He was amped and into the game. (ps. I think my little sister could take Zendejas down anyways.)
    Chip Kelly has a strong strategy for this team anyways, and will eventually be crowned National Champs. It should be a non-issue.

  • Jeff

    Masoli doesn’t play at Oregon, Blount doesn’t play there either, and as far as the booing goes, try having your gameplan jobbed every week by pansy’s that can’t keep up. I did see one UA player (safety?) writhing around obviously near death, only to come back two plays later to defend a pass. Whatever, UO paid AZ back.

    • Kyle Arps

      Joe Perkins was out for about 13 plays or something.

  • oregonwildcat

    I’m just glad at least one of the Wildcat players showed some fire. I find it peculiar that the Duck camp howled so much about what Cal did when they themselves bend the rules so significantly by not letting the defense substitute. That’s why there is a 35 second clock. Their offense has all of the advantage. How do we ring up 500 yards of offense and lose? Chip Kelly craps all over the spirit of the game by coaching the way he does. They have outstanding atheletes, but the only reason they’re undefeated is Kelly’s slimy tactics.

  • oregonwildcat

    Chip Kelley could never, ever, ever coach in the NFL.  He’s a gimmick.  Watch for future rule changes and see the Ducks relegated to mid-tier Pac-12 status.

  • Kevin

    The offense has the option to run any offense they want, and anyone that is going to play them has a minimum of a year’s advance notice that they are playing them (exept the bowl team, which still has 5 weeks to prepare), so they should plan for it.  No one says the defense can’t substitute, they would just have to hustle, after all, they do have about 15 seconds.  To change the rules to slow an offense down would be crazy.  I’m 58 years old and I could run 20 yards in 15 seconds!  And while I know that some of the AU players were really hurt, after what happened in the Cal game, who could help but be suspicious?   To change the rules to slow an offense down would be crazy.  Do you want your school to lose the ablitly to run a 2-minute offense when they’re behind at the end of a close game?

    The Spread Offense isn’t only run at Oregon, I know of several other schools that use a version of it.  According to a friend of mine who is a college offensive coordinator, it will never be used in the pros because it is harder on offensive position players than almost any other scheme, and with a 16-20 game schedule, pro players are too valuable and play too good opposing teams that are too fast to make it work.  Also, a college has to have to have great atheletes to run it at that pace.  Hey, these college players are getting a $100K education to play football and need to be in shape.  If they’re that tired, maybe the opposing coaches should look at their own conditioning programs instead of criticizing Oregon.

    Also, for those of you “new-comers” to the Pac-10, I had to endure the days of Oregon getting beaten by San Jose State 52-0, so let us long time fans enjoy a few years of success!  You guys would probably complain if the Cubs beat the Diamondbacks and then won the world series!

  • Kevin

    Oh, and on the subject of the 35 second clock, it has nothing to do with allowing the defense to substitute, and everything to do with preventing the offense from taking two minutes between plays!  Oh, and I suppose you would like to see the 25 second clock eliminated in baskeball too… I wonder how you AU people would like to return to the days when the schools with mediocre teams would just hold the ball, playing 4-corner offense and could hold a running team to 20 points for the entire game?  Hey, the Ducks play an exciting game, sooner or later someone will figure out how to play defense against it.  Oh, and the ducks have been playing it for a few years, so it’s not exactly a surprise to anyone. 

  • Pingback: It’s Civil War Week and Here’s the Secret: Don’t Get Riled about Things that Don’t Matter- News Robot

«
»