How that feel: you watch in wonder. You watch and wonder. What's it like to get hit in the eye with a puck? Almost throw a perfect game ? Be a long snapper?

Sporting News, The, July 12, 2004

We're here to show you, to bring you to your senses. Read this, our second annual "How's that feel?" package, and see, hear, taste and smell the sports experience through those who've lived to tell these tales.

... to just miss a perfecto?

By Mike Mussina Yankees pitcher

There are lots of different emotions. It's one moment in the game. I guess it's like losing a shutout, or even losing a close game on one pitch. You think, "If I had thrown something else, would it have changed it?" But you throw 100-some pitches in a game. Everything goes right. Do you sit there and second-guess yourself on one pitch? Eventually you just let it go.

I don't remember much of anything in both games until the last inning. In the first one, I remember Sandy got a hit to left. I struck out the next two guys. The one in Boston, Clay Bellinger made a diving play at first for the first out. The second out I don't remember. Then Everett got the hit. The third out was a ground ball to second. But everything else went so smoothly. I picked the pitch. I threw the pitch. It worked out. I didn't log it in as something worth remembering.

Probably the second one was more disappointing, having been there once before, then getting to two outs and two strikes. That was more frustrating. But after a little while, you realize how difficult it was to even be in that position in the first place.

The one in Baltimore, after the sixth inning, the crowd started to get into it a little bit. After the seventh inning, they were absolutely into it. In Boston, ironically, when I went to the mound in the ninth, I thought the place was buzzing quite a bit. But we didn't score until the top of the ninth. It was 0-0 in Fenway. After we had scored, the perfect game was still there and all this excitement started going on in the crowd.

Sure, I'd like to have the opportunity again. It's such a unique situation. There's a lot more to it than how a pitcher's doing, how your stuff is that night. There has to be a lot of other things working in your favor. Every mistake you make, they don't swing. Every ball they put in play is right to somebody. There are so many things that have to go right.

There have been a lot of baseball games pitched out there. Only 17 times this has happened. It's hard to do.--Ken Rosenthal

... to kick the winning field goal in the final seconds of a Super Bowl ... for second time in three seasons?

By Adam Vinatieri

Patriots kicker

People always ask me, "How can you kick a field goal with those cameras flashing in your face and people screaming all around you and knowing there are millions more watching on TV?"

I didn't even notice they were there. I'm sure there are people screaming and guys on the other team yelling things at me, but at the moment I don't realize it. MI I hear is the cadence of the holder and all I see are his hands. Everything almost feels like it is slowing down. We're on the right hash, so the block will come from the left, which is why he calls, "Left! Left! Set!" Anytime after he says "set" the snapper can send the ball. That's why I'm watching his hands, because once they move up from the spot, it's my signal to go.

I've done this a million times. It's like hitting a baseball; you don't think about it, you just react as your body just kind of takes over. I make sure I plant in the right spot. I just want to make good contact.

"Wow, I hit that really well," I thought to myself in Houston. Two years earlier, against the Rams in New Orleans, I remember thinking the same thing. "That felt really good." I look up, see that it's down the middle, and I know. That's why, when you look at the pictures, you can see me jumping up and down and acting crazy before the kick is even through the uprights. I'm happy, but I'm also thinking: "What a relief. Thank goodness we don't have to go to overtime with these guys."

When I speak to kids at schools, I always tell them, "Think of the most exciting thing you can imagine, whether it is waking up to a new bicycle on Christmas morning or getting something you always wanted like that. Whatever it is, multiply the feeling you have at that moment by about 100 times. Exciting. Relief. I can give you a thousand different words to describe how it feels, but the best one is probably euphoria. Absolute euphoria.--Mike Kilduff

... to drive the 2005 Ford Focus.

By Yours Truly The 2005 Ford Focus

Buckle up, pals. I'll tell you how it feels. Two words come to mind. Goose bumps, baby. I know, that's three words, but I am a car. I'm all about driving, not counting. Anyway, from the moment you put the key in my ignition, you're going to get everything that a car like me, can offer. For example, let's just say we happen upon some, oh, I don't know, wicked hairpin curves. Not a problem. I'm all over it, and so is my performance-tuned suspension. Like glue, baby. I was made for it. Literally. And when the need for speed strikes, let your right foot do the talking, because you're looking right down the barrel at over 150 horses of "get me outta here" type power. I am the most powerful Focus available *. Hey, it ain't bragging if you can back it up, and believe me, I can back it up. No. Really, I have a 100,000 mile powertrain coverage **, so if there ever was a problem, I'd be covered by my Ford dealer. If that ain't backup, then I don't know what is. Well, I'd love to go on about my new interior with cool features like a 6 CD storage bin, available tilt/telescoping steering column and new styling, but it's time to do a little less writing and a lot more driving. So why don't you put down that magazine and get out there for a little one on one with the pavement. You know where I live. Stop by and take me for a spin and you'll see what I've been talking about.