Chris Kluwe Christopher James " Chris " Kluwe ( ; born December 24 , 1981 ) is a punter for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League . He was originally signed by the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent in 2005 . He played college football at UCLA . High school . Kluwe played three years of varsity football for coach John Barnes at Los Alamitos High School in Los Alamitos , California and was selected to play in both the California - Texas Shrine game and the CaliFlorida Bowl . He also made the " USA Today " first - team All - American as a punter . He kicked an Orange County and CIF Playoff record 60 - yard field goal vs . Loyola to force overtime in an eventual 30 - 23 victory . Averaging 46 . 6 yards as a punter , he had 10 punts of at least 60 yards and placed six kicks inside the 10 - yard line . As a placekicker , he made 16 of 22 field goal attempts and 39 of 41 PATs . Prior to his senior year , he won the punting competition at the National Kicking Invitational with a 63 - yard punt that had 4 . 98 seconds of hang time . Kluwe also played one year of baseball as a pitcher . College . Kluwe developed into one of the top punters in the Pac - 10 while playing for UCLA , graduating in 2003 with a double major in political science and history . He set school records for both total punt yardage and total number of punts in a season in 2003 . In his senior year , he ranked 4th in the Pac - 10 and 26th in the NCAA in yards per punt ( 42 . 9 ) . He was selected as special teams player of the game in the Silicon Valley Football Classic against Fresno State after averaging 44 . 3 yards on nine kicks . He also tied the bowl record with his nine punts and placed three kicks inside the 20 - yard line . NFL . Kluwe was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Seattle Seahawks in 2005 . He was released by the Seahawks for the final roster cutdown and was picked up the next day by the Vikings . Kluwe became one of the most surprising pickups for the Vikings , finishing the season with an average of 44 . 1 yards per punt , ranking second in the NFC and sixth in the league . He punted 71 times during his first season . During a Week - 13 game in Detroit , Lions safety Vernon Fox dove towards Kluwe during a punt and collided with Kluwe ' s plant foot . Tests showed Kluwe had a sprained ankle and would be out for 1 – 2 weeks . Kicker Paul Edinger was the punter for the remainder of the game , but a few days later the Vikings signed 42 - year old veteran Darren Bennett temporarily until Kluwe ' s ankle healed . On October 25 , 2007 Kluwe signed an $ 8 . 3 - million contract extension through 2013 . The deal made Kluwe , who would have been a restricted free agent in the 2008 offseason , one of the 10 highest - paid punters in the NFL . On December 20 , 2010 , Kluwe had the dubious distinction of punting the ball that the Chicago Bears ' Devin Hester would return for a touchdown , breaking the all - time NFL record for combined punt and kickoff returns for touchdowns . Previously in the game , Kluwe had successfully kept the ball out of Hester ' s hands on four punts . In 2011 Kluwe changed his jersey number when the Vikings acquired quarterback Donovan McNabb . McNabb previously wore # 5 for the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles , and requested the same number when he arrived in Minnesota , which was then being worn by Kluwe . Kluwe agreed on the condition that McNabb make a $ 5 , 000 donation to charity and to mention Kluwe ' s band Tripping Icarus during a press conference . Kluwe took up # 4 which had been worn by quarterback Brett Favre in 2009 and 2010 . Following McNabb ' s departure from the team , Kluwe reclaimed his old # 5 for the 2012 season . 2011 NFL labor dispute . During the 2011 NFL lockout , the " Boston Globe " reported that an agreement between owners and the players ' union was being held up by special considerations for a few top names , Peyton Manning , Drew Brees , Vincent Jackson , and Logan Mankins . Kluwe tweeted his frustration at this impasse , assailing their greed and calling them " douchebags " . After Nate Jackson wrote an article for the sport website Deadspin , excoriating Kluwe for talking " out of turn " , Kluwe responded with his own article , highlighting the contrast between his own fruitful career and Jackson ' s lack of statistics , while reiterating his opinion that four people endangering the livelihoods of the 1 , 900 affected by the dispute was " pretty much the definition of greed " . Personal life . Kluwe and his wife Isabel had their first daughter in July 2008 , and their second in 2010 . He also wrote a blog named " Out of Bounds , " which appeared on the website of the " St . Paul Pioneer Press " until 2012 . He quit the column in protest over the paper ' s editorial in support of the Minnesota Marriage Amendment which would have amended the state constitution to ban same - sex marriage . Kluwe is well known as an avid " Guitar Hero 2 " player , having once made an appearance on Minnesota ' s 93X radio station while playing the game with Andy McNamara from " Game Informer " magazine . He is also a frequent guest on Minnesota sports station KFAN for " Video Games Weekly " on Wednesday nights . During a KFAN interview on the PA and Dubay show , he admitted he was not very good at sports games . Kluwe has also immersed himself in the MMORPG " World of Warcraft " , playing a troll rogue named Loate and has been a member of one of the formerly top - ranked US guilds , The Flying Hellfish , for over four years . Kluwe is a Libertarian . Music . In addition to his full - time job as punter for the Vikings , Kluwe is the bassist for the local Minneapolis alternative / progressive rock band , Tripping Icarus . Kluwe formed the band in 2009 with friends Andrew Reiner ( guitar ) and Matthew Marshall ( drums ) , and later recruited Jesse Revel to join on lead vocals . Tripping Icarus recorded their debut EP , " The Sideshow Sessions " , in the summer of 2009 . A year later , they recorded their first full length LP , " Perfect Citizen " , which was slated for an early 2011 release . When Donovan McNabb was traded to Minnesota before the 2011 season , Kluwe offered McNabb the number 5 jersey in exchange for mentioning Tripping Icarus in at least 5 press conferences , as well as donating $ 5 , 000 to Kluwe ' s charity , and an ice cream cone . McNabb didn ' t mention the band in five separate press conferences , but Kluwe concedes that " in his very first press conference , he mentioned it like twelve times " . Same - sex marriage activism . On September 7 , 2012 Kluwe released a letter via sports website Deadspin he had sent to Maryland state assembly delegate Emmett Burns , defending the opinions of Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo and sharply criticizing Burns on his attempt to stifle Ayanbadejo ' s free speech . Ayanbadejo has been a vocal supporter of same - sex marriage and Burns had sent a letter requesting that the Ravens ownership " inhibit such expressions " by their employee . On October 1 , 2012 , Kluwe published a letter to the editor that responded to a video statement released by former Minnesota Viking Matt Birk . In the letter , Kluwe outlined six principal reasons why he disagreed with Birk ' s statement . Kluwe was also featured in a documentary called " The Last Barrier " which aired on NBC Bay Area on December 8 , 2012 at 3 p . m . PST . During this interview he spoke about his feelings towards equality . On the January 18 , 2013 The Ellen Degeneres Show , Ellen Degeneres inducted Kluwe as the first inductee in her Hall of Fame for his support of Marriage Equality . Kluwe and Ayanbadejo filed an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court on February 28 , 2013 regarding Hollingsworth v . Perry , in which they expressed their support of the challenge to California Proposition 8 . Protest against Pro Football Hall of Fame . On December 9 , 2012 during the game against Chicago Bears , Kluwe covered the logo of Pro Football Hall of Fame with a post - it note with a message " Vote Ray Guy " as a slant against the Hall ' s 50th Anniversary celebrations due to the lack of pure punters in the Hall . Radio . Kluwe talks almost every week in the sports section of " The Half - Assed Morning Show " , a radio show on the Minneapolis - Saint Paul radio station KXXR " 93X . "