New life kicks in for Seattle’s Mare

KIRKLAND, Wash. – It took nearly a decade for Olindo Mare to build his dream, and another year to build his dream home.

Moving out took only a matter of months.

The veteran who is battling to replace Josh Brown as the Seattle Seahawks kicker used to have the kind of stability that most NFL kickers envy. But after 10 years with the Miami Dolphins, and a mere six months after moving into his dream home, Mare saw his tenure end.

Now he’s living the life of an NFL vagabond.

Instead of inhabiting a spacious home in South Florida, Mare is living in a small apartment on Seattle’s Eastside. Later this month, his wife and three young children will join him.

“It’s a nice place, but it’s not the same,” Mare said. “We’re a close family. We don’t care. They’re all in our bed anyway in the morning, so it doesn’t matter. There are five of us in the bed every single morning. I could live in a one-bedroom apartment. It would be the same thing.”

These days, with about as much job security as a salesman for dial-up providers, Mare won’t be building any dream homes. The 35-year old is mired in a battle with rookie Brandon Coutu for a single roster spot, so he’s living life on a day-to-day basis.

“They say you’re only as good as your last kick,” Mare said.

Through the first three weeks of training camp, Mare has made enough of an impression that the Seahawks like the full body of work.

He and Coutu have been consistent on field goals throughout the camp, but Mare might have an edge because of his experience and ability to kick off into touchbacks.

That, Mare said, might be what has helped keep him in the league for 12 seasons.

“If you put all of us out on the field, at the 30-yard line, 99 percent of the guys are going to make it,” he said, referring to NFL kickers. “We’re all that good. So you have to stand out on kickoffs.”

During his NFL career, Mare has 174 touchbacks on 774 kickoffs. His touchback percentage of 22.5 is nearly three times that of Brown, who had touchbacks on only 8.9 percent of his kickoffs with the Seahawks.

Mare has also been consistent converting field goals, hitting at a clip just less than 80 percent.

But the Dolphins parted ways with him after the 2006 season, trading Mare to New Orleans for a sixth-round draft pick. The veteran spent just one year with the Saints. He said he asked to be released after a frustrating 2007 season that was plagued by a hip injury.

Mare said his reasons for asking to be released were “private,” but he added that his main objective was to get the hip fixed.

Hasselbeck back

Piece by piece, the Seahawks are beginning to look like themselves again.

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and defensive end Patrick Kerney were among four starters who returned to practice Thursday morning, and more could be on the way next week.

Coach Mike Holmgren did not rule out the possibility of Hasselbeck playing in Saturday’s preseason home opener, even though the quarterback has missed four practice days this week while nursing a sore back.