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

Coming back, I didn't really have to relearn football, I just had to learn a different way of playing it. I was not limited physically, but I was different physically. Side-to-side motions, like cutting, regular players don't need to think about it. At first, I had to think about how to do it again.

My first game back was against Nevada, September 18. It was a night game and pretty chilly, but I didn't feel it. I wasn't sure if my brother was going to make it to the game because of his commitments with the Eagles, but he managed to catch a plane from Philly and got there in time. He was there at the top of the tunnel as I was coming back to the locker room after stretching. He gave me a big hug, and he told me good luck. It was a moment I'll never forget. He was the reason I was playing football.

I was on the punt return team, and I wasn't able to get onto the field until the fourth quarter. As soon as I ran on the field, the stadium erupted in "Par-ry! Parry! Par-ry!" At least that's what my parents told me. I didn't hear it; I was too busy concentrating on the game. I wasn't able to make a play that game, and I was pretty disappointed about that. Plus, we lost, 4230. But the next game, at Rice, I had a blind-side block on the 295-pound long snapper.

After the season, I was named to the West squad for the East-West Shrine Game, and playing in that game was one of the single-best moments of my life. During my first play on the kickoff team, I was in on a tackle, bringing down Arkansas' Lawrence Richardson. Plus, ESPN had me miked up and could hear everything I was saying. It was awesome.

Sometimes, people ask me to speak to kids and tell them my story. Hopefully my story touches lives. Sometimes, stories touch my life, too. One 9- or 10-year-old boy had a school project to make a poster with the words "I'm special because ..." and fill in the blank. He was an amputee who had seen my story. He wrote, "I'm special because I can play football now" He was the same age I was when I started playing football. His dad brought him to watch me play and meet me.

In an ordinary situation, I never would have met this kid. I always tell kids never to give up, and I think it means a lot coming from me because, hey, I'm living proof.--Jessica Daues

... shake your tailfeather?

By Chris Bertolino the Saint Joseph's Hawk

The best way to get in shape for flapping your wings through an entire college basketball game is to just sit there and do it until you're ready to do it for the two hours you need for the game. I used to just watch TV and do it. I started with 5-pound dumbbells, and I was only able to do it for about five minutes. It was very painful; my arms and shoulders would be burning. But it's a lot more mental--the strength you have to have to really just ignore the pain--because it's not going to go away.

Getting ready for last season, it helped that St. Joe's had a new president and we had numerous inauguration events. Any time they had an event, they asked me to do it. It'd maybe be a half-hour to an hour, but it got me used to it.