Adam Vinatieri Kicks Highest Altitude Field Goal

0:03 Calaroga Shark Media. Hey there, I'm Johnny Mac with five good news stories. Adam Vinatieri, he had a great NFL career. Legendary for game winners in three Super Bowls. Known for a snow globe field goal in Foxborough that gave a dynasty its beginning. But none of those kicks happened at 11,000 feet above sea level. Well, we have fixed that. You see, the former New England's Patriot kicker stood on a makeshift field at Jungfraujoch. And I'm sure I pronounced that right. The Swiss call at the top of Europe. It is a place in the Alps at 11,317 feet. The air is thin up there. Your heart rate changes. Your rhythm changes. And Vinatieri, who retired from the New England Patriots in 2021, put a 33-yard field goal right through the uprights. The Guinness World Records were watching. That kick earned Adam Vinatieri the record for highest altitude American football field goal ever scored.

0:55 This was organized by the Patriots to promote their game against the Lions in Munich. Vinatieri explained, Snow is simply part of my time with the Patriots, but kicking a field goal at 3,454 meters is something completely different from anything I've seen in the NFL. You feel the attitude with every breath you take. Your heart is different. Your rhythm is different. The fact we were able to set the record under these conditions makes me very proud. This is definitely one of the most special field goals I've ever made. I'm wondering what the previous record was, if there was one at all. Let's talk about the bird that changed a country. Back in the 1990s, a group of ornithologists were birdwatching in a remote cloud forest in Ecuador. They heard a call like no other. They followed her through the underground and found a large bird. The bird was gray, black, and brown, stood tall on stilted legs.

1:40 Locals had a name for it, Jokotoko. Scientists did not have a name for it. The man who organized that 1997 expedition was Robert Ridgely. He realized this bird lives somewhere specific, and that somewhere specific needs protecting. He secured funding and bought the land where they had found the bird. That purchase is now a reserve, the first in what would grow into a network of 19 private reserves protecting 123,000 acres of Andean cloud forest. The bird was formerly named Grelaria ridgely in honor of Mr. Ridgely. The Joko Toko Foundation, built entirely around protecting the habit the discovery revealed, now records 1,350 bird species across its reserves worldwide. That's 12.5% of all bird species on Earth in one connected landscape.

2:25 The reserves are also home to the condor, the Andean bear, the El Oro parakeet, and some species thought to have been lost to extinction. Very nice job, sir. Meanwhile, in Virginia, a woman was out shopping with her mother at the food line on North Main Street. You know, the one mom said, hey, let's buy a scratch-off lottery ticket. So they bought one. She scratched it off and said, mom, I think we won $ 500, 000. She was right. $ 500, 000. Her plan is to buy mom a car, she's going to get herself a car too, then she's going to remodel a bathroom, and they want to go to Dollywood. Now let me tell you about some people in prison raising butterflies. Every June through September, approximately 20 men at the Red Granite Correctional Institute in Wisconsin report to work in a room called a lapidotarum. The vocabulary is very hard on this show today, by the way. A purpose-built space for raising butterflies. The men's jobs are to collect data on the eggs, to add leaves for caterpillars, and eventually tag adult monarch butterflies before releasing the butterflies to begin the butterfly 1,000-mile migration to Mexico. The program was started in 2025 by Carrie. Carrie wanted to create something meaningful for inmates who couldn't participate in sports. She paired with Monarch Watch, a nearby breeding center that supplies the caterpillars, and with the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, helped construct the butterfly room.

3:43 Participants also receive educational materials on monarch biology, pollinator plants, and horticulture. This year, the program released 100 caterpillars, up from 60 the first year. One participant, Nathan, said, I enjoy being part of this program, being able to give back to the community. We can make a big impact from the inside. Once the butterflies emerge from their chrysalises, they need only two or three days to build strength before departing. The inmates tag them beforehand, small stickers on a wing, helping scientists track where they go. And in Burlington, Vermont, they opened a new high school and technical center this fall. Everybody was all excited. Students, staff, parents, community members and the sheep. What? What's going on here, John? Well, you see, a flock of sheep broke free from the nearby Episcopal diocese and wandered onto the grounds of Burlington High School. Ryan, the photographer, was there. He took some pictures of several sheep roaming the exterior of the newly constructed campus. The Burlington School District shared the photos on social media with a caption that said, It seems everyone wants to get a look at the new Burlington High School and Burlington Technical Center. School staff and other workers eventually found the sheep.

4:46 Everyone is good. The sheep did not give a statement for this podcast today. And those are your five good news stories for today. You have an awesome day.