If your TV market feeds you the Bucs-Panthers game on Sunday, do not despair. You are going to see the rarest of football sights.

Hintâ€”Justin Medlock.

Hint No. 2â€”Panthers kicker.

If youâ€™re still stumped, do not adjust your set when Medlock trots onto the field. He really is African American.

It wonâ€™t quite be like spotting Halleyâ€™s Comet, since like clockwork that comes around every 76 years. You never know when youâ€™ll spot a black kicker. But there have been more Swedish kickers in NFL history than black ones, and the NFL is a bit more popular here than in Stockholm.

What gives?

â€œItâ€™s not a racial thing,â€ Cedric Oglesby said.

He was the last black kicker before Medlock. Oglesby wore No. 1 for the Cardinals in 2001. A more appropriate number would have been 3, since he was the third black field-goal kicker in NFL history.

That makes Medlock No. 4. Think about that.

African Americanâ€™s make up about 65 percent of NFL rosters. Thatâ€™s a remarkable statistic considering they comprise 13.1 percent of the U.S. population.

The NFL began in 1920. Yet only four black players have kicked field goals for a living.

That defies mathematical probability, Freakonomics and historical trends. Heck, Augusta National now has more women members than the NFL has black kickers.

Is it a problem that cries out for some sort of Rooney Rule, or just a confluence of innocent factors that adds up to great curiosity?

The Rooney Rule requires NFL teams to interview minorities for coaching jobs. The difference is there were plenty of candidates being ignored when the rule began.

Black kicking prospects arenâ€™t being ignored. They arenâ€™t turned into defensive backs or wide receivers, like promising black quarterbacks used to be. Nobodyâ€™s pulling a Jimmy the Greek and saying they lack the leg strength or other â€œnecessities.â€

There simply arenâ€™t many out there.

â€œThe hard part is finding a kid whoâ€™ll stick with it,â€ said Oglesby, who runs a kicking camp in Atlanta. â€œI come across kids who have the talent, but either theyâ€™re not interested or donâ€™t have the money to attend camps. Or they play on a team that doesn't put any emphasis on it.â€

Almost all young kickers played soccer, which is not popular in black communities. They get specialized training and don't depend on high schools developing their skills.

Thatâ€™s a good thing, since kicking is often an afterthought on the high-school level. And even if a kicker is a young Sebastian Janikowski, the position doesnâ€™t have much sex appeal to an impressionable kid of any race.

â€œPeople tend to do what they think is attractive,â€ Oglesby said. â€œKicking is not very attractive.â€

No, but it sure pays well. The average NFL kickerâ€™s salary is just under $900,000. Janikowski signed a four-year, $16 million contract in 2010. The odds are against anyone becoming a professional kicker, but you have no chance if you donâ€™t even try.

A lot of it is a self-fulfilling cycle. There are few black kickers because there are few black kickers. Everybody simply accepts thatâ€™s the way it is, even thought thatâ€™s not the way it has to be.

When Oglesby showed up for a tryout in Dallas, the other players figured he was a kick returner. Then he pulled out his soccer cleats and suddenly became Halleyâ€™s Comet.

â€œOh man, you kick?â€ players said.

Oglesby was used to the shock. The only kicker of color in anyoneâ€™s memory was Donald Igwebuike, but he was from Nigeria.

As best as anyone can tell, Gene Mingo was the NFLâ€™s first black kicker. He doubled as a halfback and return man for five teams from 1960-70. Cookie Gilchrist kicked for the Bills in 1962, then he became a full-time halfback.

Danny Kight was a kickoff specialist for the Colts and Ravens from 1999-2001, but he never attempted a field goal. And for trivia buffs, Chad Johnson (then Ochocinco) made an extra point for the Bengals in a 2009 preseason game.

When it comes to full-time kicking, Oglesby was the first in more than three decades. He went 3-for-3 for the Cardinals before being released.

It took an atypical path to produce an atypical performer. Oglesbyâ€™s parents didnâ€™t let him play football, so he played soccer and other sports.

He got to high school and scored a touchdown in a football game during P.E. class. For grins, he stuck the ball in the ground and kicked it through the goal posts.

A friend saw it and talked him into trying out for the football team. His parents approved, and Oglesbyâ€™s kicking talents quickly evolved.

It helped that he played at Southwest Dekalb High, which emphasized kicking. The school even had a black punter, Rodney Williams.

Talk about a statistical improbability. Black punters are every bit as rare as black kickers. Williams went on to punt for the Giants in 2001, becoming the fourth black punter in NFL history.

What are the odds two of the nine black Americans whoâ€™ve booted footballs for a living would attend the same high school?

â€œI just happened to be in the right place,â€ Oglesby said.

It was a place where black kids didnâ€™t automatically buy into the notion they werenâ€™t supposed to be kickers.

Medlock was a soccer player and went to a California high school where players apparently didnâ€™t realize they were supposed to be players.

The school went 1-9 his senior season and dropped football as a varsity sport the next year. By then, Medlock was on his way to an All-American career at UCLA.

The Chiefs drafted him in the fifth round in 2006. Medlock bounced around the NFL, CFL and UFL. He made 49 of 55 field goals last year for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. That got him invited to Panthers camp, where he beat out Olindo Mare.

â€œHe should do well,â€ Oglesby said.

Just not well enough to make black kids across America find a kicking tee, go to a park and aspire to be the next Janikowski instead of the next Calvin Johnson.

â€œThey just donâ€™t want to do it,â€ Oglesby said.

So if youâ€™re getting the Panthers-Bucs game, maybe you should even record it. The door is open for black kickers. Thereâ€™s just no telling when youâ€™ll see another one walk through.