Sports are, at their core, about joy. Celebration. Community. Personal best.
So when a kid in lace-less shoes, partying with no sleep, kicked a $100,000 field goal on ESPN for the first-ever College GameDay at Cal, it brought everybody smiles and cheers.
Yes, you read that right.
Enter Daniel Villasenor. The Cal civil engineering student had gotten to campus — and his spot to possibly be in the background of TV shots for ESPN’s College GameDay — at about 11pm the night before.
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With reportedly no sleep, and after eating just a donut that morning, Villasenor was picked to attempt a five-figure kick.
He actually missed his first field goal attempt for $75k.
That’s when co-host Pat McAfee — a former NFL punter — offered the kid another chance. But this time, it would be for $100k. Also tied to his kick: An additional $100k donated to Hurricane Helene relief.
That’s when Daniel stepped up and stepped into Cal football lore.
Welcome to Berkeley.
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For people who don’t understand sports… this is why people love sports. It’s the beauty of never really knowing what is going to happen, what outcome there will be, when something seemingly impossible is going to happen, and who will rise as a hero.
You may never see or hear the name Daniel Villasenor ever again. Yet on Saturday, and for a couple days after, he has put a smile on the faces of millions of people with his laceless shoes and his utterly improbable field goal that will send him, and Hurricane Helene victims. some money.
“As soon as I saw it had a chance of going through, I went crazy,” Villasenor told the San Jose Mercury-News.
With no sleep, no shoelaces, and after eating just a donut, Daniel landed in ESPN and college football lore.
Deservedly so.
While we have no reason to believe Villasenor is LGBTQ, his fun feat is a reminder that anyone can step up and succeed in sports. And life. It’s a reminder so many of us need from time to time.
For his part, McAfee has made a name for himself as a somewhat over-the-top media host. Yet almost a decade ago, as the punter for the Indianapolis Colts, McAfee not-so-subtley criticized then-Indiana-Governor Mike Pence and his signing of a discriminatory anti-LGBTQ bill.
By the way, Cal blew a big lead and lost to the No. 8 Miami Hurricanes in the game.
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