Sebastian Janikowski is a left-footed Polish

Poles

thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

 placekicker

Placekicker

Placekicker, or simply kicker , is the title of the player in American and Canadian football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals, extra points...

 who plays for the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

's Oakland Raiders

Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

. He is nicknamed The Polish Cannon because he is considered to have one of the strongest kicking legs in the league, and leads the NFL in kickoffs for touchback

Touchback

In American football, a touchback is a ruling which is made and signaled by an official when the ball becomes dead behind or above a goal line and the team who is attacking that goal line is responsible for the ball being there. Responsibility is determined by which team gave the ball the impetus...

s. He lives in Castro Valley, California

Castro Valley, California

Castro Valley is a census-designated place in Alameda County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, it is the fifth most populous unincorporated area in California, and the twenty-third in the United States...

. On September 12, 2011 in a Monday Night Football

Monday Night Football

Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...

game against the Denver Broncos

Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

, he tied the NFL record for the longest field goal at 63 yards, sharing the record with Tom Dempsey

Tom Dempsey

Thomas Dempsey is a former American football placekicker in the National Football League for the New Orleans Saints , Philadelphia Eagles , Los Angeles Rams , Houston Oilers and Buffalo Bills . He attended high school at San Dieguito High School and played college football at Palomar College...

 and Jason Elam

Jason Elam

Jason Elam is a retired American football placekicker. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the third round of the 1993 NFL Draft. He played college football at Hawaii....

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Sebastian Janikowski was born an only child to Henryk and Halina Janikowski in Wałbrzych, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

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