OT: Best feelings you have experienced playing sport

[USN_Panther]

My disclosures are that my football and basketball was high school AAAA back in the 80s, pony league baseball, regional golden gloves level boxing, and adult beer league ice hockey. The feelings may or may not differ based on level, not sure....

1. Left hook knockout punch. You feel this connect in the balls of your feet as the power is transmitted from rotational force. This is a beautiful feeling. A straight right is quicker and the ending more instant so you just don't experience it the same.

2. A home run that you just smash. The mid-barrel of the bat and pulled. Once again you feel that down in the balls of your feet.

3. These plays are now called targeting. Just launching and destroying a receiver coming across the middle. My favourite hit ever in FB was a block. I was WR and was wide open deep. The QB hit our huge TE over the middle who was being chased by a LB. I turned back upfield to block. As the TE turned upfield towards the end zone, the LB had no idea I was coming and he was absolutely KTFO near our bench. I stood over him out gave him a 10 count. We scored a TD, but our sideline went nuts about that block. (I was a little guy, fought at featherweight, but strong AF.)
A few years later at Pitt I dated a girl from that school, and she told me how someone injured her then boyfriend and stood over him and counted him out. I told her no way would anyone from our team do that. She had to be mistaken. Truth in relationships is important. That one was doomed from the start.

4. Kick back pass and swish. I usually bricked that, but when it went it was glorious.

5. One timer goal. Only did that once and was probably pretty lucky it went in. I play goalie now, and saves are pretty much expected, so not like you get to get crazy and celebrate.

So back in the day, what were your plays of glory? The ones where you still remember how they felt at the time....

 

[PeetWeet1]

My disclosures are that my football and basketball was high school AAAA back in the 80s, pony league baseball, regional golden gloves level boxing, and adult beer league ice hockey. The feelings may or may not differ based on level, not sure....

1. Left hook knockout punch. You feel this connect in the balls of your feet as the power is transmitted from rotational force. This is a beautiful feeling. A straight right is quicker and the ending more instant so you just don't experience it the same.

2. A home run that you just smash. The mid-barrel of the bat and pulled. Once again you feel that down in the balls of your feet.

3. These plays are now called targeting. Just launching and destroying a receiver coming across the middle. My favourite hit ever in FB was a block. I was WR and was wide open deep. The QB hit our huge TE over the middle who was being chased by a LB. I turned back upfield to block. As the TE turned upfield towards the end zone, the LB had no idea I was coming and he was absolutely KTFO near our bench. I stood over him out gave him a 10 count. We scored a TD, but our sideline went nuts about that block. (I was a little guy, fought at featherweight, but strong AF.)
A few years later at Pitt I dated a girl from that school, and she told me how someone injured her then boyfriend and stood over him and counted him out. I told her no way would anyone from our team do that. She had to be mistaken. Truth in relationships is important. That one was doomed from the start.

4. Kick back pass and swish. I usually bricked that, but when it went it was glorious.

5. One timer goal. Only did that once and was probably pretty lucky it went in. I play goalie now, and saves are pretty much expected, so not like you get to get crazy and celebrate.

So back in the day, what were your plays of glory? The ones where you still remember how they felt at the time....

Rugby 7s. I told our kicker to kick it left. He delivered a beautiful, high ball. My timing was perfect. At full-speed I drove my left shoulder through his exposed ribs resulting in a very loud, and glorious, scream. Even better, Granny, who had seen her fair share of knockouts, was there and made sure all of my aunts, uncles and cousins knew about it.

 

[USN_Panther]

Rugby 7s. I told our kicker to kick it left. He delivered a beautiful, high ball. My timing was perfect. At full-speed I drove my left shoulder through his exposed ribs resulting in a very loud, and glorious, scream. Even better, Granny, who had seen her fair share of knockouts, was there and made sure all of my aunts, uncles and cousins knew about it.

I think you're taking the piss out of me, and if so well done.

 

[PeetWeet1]

I think you're taking the piss out of me, and if so well done.

I assure you, I am not. Granny literally grew up with a boxing ring. Her brother had an amateur fight or two at MSG.

 

[CaptainMurphy]

I didn't play organized sports beyond junior high. But I would list two:

1. Hole in one from 130 yards.

2. Hitting six-eight 3s (memory is fuzzy) in a row in a pickup game at Fitzgerald Field House.

Those were freak events that I've never come close to repeating.

 

[UPitt '89]

My disclosures are that my football and basketball was high school AAAA back in the 80s, pony league baseball, regional golden gloves level boxing, and adult beer league ice hockey. The feelings may or may not differ based on level, not sure....

1. Left hook knockout punch. You feel this connect in the balls of your feet as the power is transmitted from rotational force. This is a beautiful feeling. A straight right is quicker and the ending more instant so you just don't experience it the same.

2. A home run that you just smash. The mid-barrel of the bat and pulled. Once again you feel that down in the balls of your feet.

3. These plays are now called targeting. Just launching and destroying a receiver coming across the middle. My favourite hit ever in FB was a block. I was WR and was wide open deep. The QB hit our huge TE over the middle who was being chased by a LB. I turned back upfield to block. As the TE turned upfield towards the end zone, the LB had no idea I was coming and he was absolutely KTFO near our bench. I stood over him out gave him a 10 count. We scored a TD, but our sideline went nuts about that block. (I was a little guy, fought at featherweight, but strong AF.)
A few years later at Pitt I dated a girl from that school, and she told me how someone injured her then boyfriend and stood over him and counted him out. I told her no way would anyone from our team do that. She had to be mistaken. Truth in relationships is important. That one was doomed from the start.

4. Kick back pass and swish. I usually bricked that, but when it went it was glorious.

5. One timer goal. Only did that once and was probably pretty lucky it went in. I play goalie now, and saves are pretty much expected, so not like you get to get crazy and celebrate.

So back in the day, what were your plays of glory? The ones where you still remember how they felt at the time....

My hole in one. 119-yard #3 at The Witch in Myrtle Beach.

Shooting 74 at Oglebay Speidel (Palmer Course) with birdies on four straight holes. To put it in perspective, I am a 9 handicap... and the odds of a 9 handicap shooting a 3-over 74 on that course are about 1 in 200.

Eagle on #9 at Cranberry Highlands from 105 yards out.

 

[King Of All Message Boards]

First time I ever broke par for 18.

 

[UPitt '89]

First time I ever broke par for 18.

Need more details than that, man. What course?

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Experienced that "sweet spot in time" (being in the "zone") skiing deep powder at Snowbird in Utah (one day circa 1982) far beyond my usual ability. A totally ecstatic experience!

 

[johnsbe3]

19k's in 7 innings.....walk off HR.....different games.

 

[King Of All Message Boards]

Need more details than that, man. What course?

Peek n Peak mountain course.

In case you’re unfamiliar it’s a resort not too far into New York. Web/Korn Ferry used to have an event there.

 

[Pitt1975]

1. Winning the intramural football championship as a Fiji at Pitt, in 1972. Beat the Dental school (a lot of x-jocks), to win it all.
2. Going to the state finals at Beaver stadium, running hurdles, for WMN.
3. 2 hole in one’s. #7 at Greensburg CC, and #7 at Ligonier CC.
4. Breaking the indoor hurdle record at the Fitz for intramural track.
5. Getting to play 140 rounds of golf as a retiree in HHI SC.

 

[upj87]

First time I ever broke par for 18.

was the windmill stuck on open?

 

[King Of All Message Boards]

was the windmill stuck on open?

Yep. Clown’s mouth was extra large as well.

 

[LeftCoastPanther]

Won the best foul shooter award in the summer of 1987 at YSU’s basketball camp. I was entering 8th grade and found a rhythm as the camp wore on. Beat two older kids who were a year away from heading to college in the final round on the last day.

The YSU coach, Bill Daly, was entering his first year and was diagnosed with cancer and died, never coaching a game for the Penguins.

Also that week at the camp, I told kids Gerry Cooney was beating Michael Spinks in the fight billed as The War on the Shore. Spinks with the KO.

 

[Tiger Paul Lives]

Scrawny 12 year old playing Little League hitting my one and only home run on a pitch 2 feet over my head. Why I even swung at that pitch, I have no idea. A guy I knew on the other team still talks about that every time I see him. That was 46 years ago.

Coming in as a relief pitcher, 15 years old, in a Little League All-Star playoff game and getting out of a jam to win the game.

This next one is probably the worst feeling I ever had....
Senior, high school, pitching a 3 hitter and losing in extra innings with the score 3-1 against our section champs.. The kicker was that I balked in the first and run in the first inning and balked in the 2nd run in the 8th inning. Never balked any other time that I pitched ever.

 

[lilspainishflea]

1. High school football. I was a skinny WR that wasn't great at beating man but I was awesome against zone (played on the basketball team and was a good zone buster since I can shoot) and never gave up through the catch. Our championship game, 4th and 12ish, we ran a trick jet sweep pass. Their LB read it well and kept the WR in the pocket. I see the WR/QB really panicking and I ran to the middle of the field that was vacated by the LB. WR/QB throws up a prayer and I tell myself "I'm coming down with this ball." Elevated and high-pointed it, came down and picked up another few yards for the first. We ended up winning and stunning the other team. I also had an INT in man coverage on a curl route in that same game and I yelled "cookies!" as soon as I picked it off lmao.

2. Any time I got a rebound and went coast to coast with the ball. Felt awesome to beat a few people at different levels on the court.

3. Any corner 3. No backboard so it has to be a perfect shot. Hitting just the net was always a great feeling.

4. Any long putt on the golf team for birdie or par. I once had a 30-40' birdie putt, double break. Just really difficult shot. My coach came up to me and said "drill this" and I put it in the cup.

 

[steelcurtain55.]

Plenty of great feelings..

The worst feeling was trying to dunk a mini-ball in 10th grade. I was a 5'11 190lb kid at that time running full boar from 1/2 court. I get up to the rim, throw the ball off the backboard, grab the rim and then all 190lbs comes crashing to the floor straight onto my back. I literally walked into the locker room and began to cry. My entire body hurt that bad.

I still didn't dunk it.

 

[anon_d97v9o3a8b6xr]

Finishing top 10 in a 100 mile ultramarathon tops anything I did as a high school or college athlete. Ive had game winning goals in soccer, but a top 10 in an ultramarathon when I shouldn’t was quite an amazing feeling.

 

[upj87]

My disclosures are that my football and basketball was high school AAAA back in the 80s, pony league baseball, regional golden gloves level boxing, and adult beer league ice hockey. The feelings may or may not differ based on level, not sure....

1. Left hook knockout punch. You feel this connect in the balls of your feet as the power is transmitted from rotational force. This is a beautiful feeling. A straight right is quicker and the ending more instant so you just don't experience it the same.

2. A home run that you just smash. The mid-barrel of the bat and pulled. Once again you feel that down in the balls of your feet.

3. These plays are now called targeting. Just launching and destroying a receiver coming across the middle. My favourite hit ever in FB was a block. I was WR and was wide open deep. The QB hit our huge TE over the middle who was being chased by a LB. I turned back upfield to block. As the TE turned upfield towards the end zone, the LB had no idea I was coming and he was absolutely KTFO near our bench. I stood over him out gave him a 10 count. We scored a TD, but our sideline went nuts about that block. (I was a little guy, fought at featherweight, but strong AF.)
A few years later at Pitt I dated a girl from that school, and she told me how someone injured her then boyfriend and stood over him and counted him out. I told her no way would anyone from our team do that. She had to be mistaken. Truth in relationships is important. That one was doomed from the start.

4. Kick back pass and swish. I usually bricked that, but when it went it was glorious.

5. One timer goal. Only did that once and was probably pretty lucky it went in. I play goalie now, and saves are pretty much expected, so not like you get to get crazy and celebrate.

So back in the day, what were your plays of glory? The ones where you still remember how they felt at the time....

Starting forward on 27-0 8th grade parochial diocese champ hoop team from the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese playing in the Catholic school state Championships at of all places Central Catholic High School in March '79. Stayed at the Conley’s Motel and Restaurant
in Monroeville. To a 14 year old from a steel town neighborhood it was the equivalent to a weekend at Mar-a-lago. Additional benefit was being 60 miles further west of Three Mile Island. Dropped a tough 3 point loss to Erie in the opener.

 

[neench]

#2 Running the Chicago Marathon from 1985 thru 1997

#1 At the age of 72, I finished 1st in the 65 and over age category for a 5k race in Nashville. And still running.

 

[pittzap]

1. Pick 6 my Senior year of football against a team that was ranked to keep us undefeated and ranked in the top 10. The QB went on to play at Princeton, and we went on to lose 4 of 5 games! But we were good up until that week.

2. Pitched a no hitter when I was 14. Didn’t even realize I had one until I had 1 out in the last inning. The opposing coached (ie. Dad of one of the players) bitched after the game as teams were shaking hands that they called an error on a routine ground ball to shortstop in the 2nd inning. It was booted, then thrown low where the first baseman dropped it. Would have been out with even a decent throw despite the SS fumbling the ball.

3. In high school baseball, we were losing 1-0 and getting no hit in the last inning. With 2 strikes and 2 outs, my buddy hit a game tying, no hitter ending HR. The next pitch, I hit a double and advanced to third on a bad throw. Two pitches later I scored on a passed ball and we won! No hitter gone, game over, we stay in first place. We faced that pitcher a few weeks later and blasted him for 5 or 6 runs in 3 innings.

4. Made the Final Four in basketball my senior year of high school. The whole season was fun, but was really awesome once interdistrict play began and we started beating teams we were supposed to lose to. Actually, we lost in double elimination district play to a team we faced again in the state playoffs a few weeks later. That team was the team I had the pick 6 against listed above, and I got the QB I picked off fouled out of the game. Didn’t really realize that until now. He fouled me to get his third and they kept him in. I took the ball right at him and got 2 more quick fouls to get him out of the game before they could sub for him. He wasn’t even covering me.

 

[prez41]

Finishing top 10 in a 100 mile ultramarathon tops anything I did as a high school or college athlete. Ive had game winning goals in soccer, but a top 10 in an ultramarathon when I shouldn’t was quite an amazing feeling.

Same here. I was a terrible athlete in school. Smoked and drank instead. I have a couple top 10s in decent size ultras and have finished Eastern States twice. I didn’t start running until I was 36 and didn’t run my first 50k until I was almost 39.

edit- all three of my kids have paced me in ultras, and my wife always crews for me. Having the whole family involved is an awesome experience.

 

[Hailpitt]

Incredible talent on this site🙄🙄

 

[JokePa]

Finishing top 10 in a 100 mile ultramarathon tops anything I did as a high school or college athlete. Ive had game winning goals in soccer, but a top 10 in an ultramarathon when I shouldn’t was quite an amazing feeling.

F'n hell.

I would be happy driving 100 miles straight

Seriously, I was going to write winning a 5k here until I read your story (cue the Brian Regan joke about Neil Armstrong here)

 

[Pantherguy4]

In gym class in 10 th grade I pinned a kid in a wrestling match. Sounds crazy but this kid would talk smack in me all the time. He stopped that after I kicked his butt on the mat.

 

[PatMac59]

Senior year of high school, first round of the WPIAL football playoffs. My team scores with about 3 minutes left on the clock in the 4th quarter to cut a 14 point deficit in half. We try for an onside kick. Ball bounces off the chest of a kid on the other team and I dive on it for the recovery. I felt like I was floating when I ran off the field. We ended up losing, but at least I'll never forget the last game of football I ever played.

 

[upj87]

Senior year of high school, first round of the WPIAL football playoffs. My team scores with about 3 minutes left on the clock in the 4th quarter to cut a 14 point deficit in half. We try for an onside kick. Ball bounces off the chest of a kid on the other team and I dive on it for the recovery. I felt like I was floating when I ran off the field. We ended up losing, but at least I'll never forget the last game of football I ever played.

let me guess, you got up and jumped up and down yelling "Mama, I got the football"

 

[LfthandGolf]

There are so many, but I guess the one that stood out to me was 8th grade Gym class playing "Murder ball." Remember "dodgeball is a sport of violence, exclusion and degradation" anyways, I had this crush on this one girl and I promptly threw the red ball of fire and smacked her right in the face and then caught my foe's ball for a "two player swing" as he tried to avenge her honor... (remember you pay double for that.) I often sit in my tree stand and think about that great play I made... I became a legend

 

[PatMac59]

let me guess, you got up and jumped up and down yelling "Mama, I got the football"

Ugh, missed opportunity of a lifetime.

 

[prez41]

F'n hell.

I would be happy driving 100 miles straight

Seriously, I was going to write winning a 5k here until I read your story (cue the Brian Regan joke about Neil Armstrong here)

Man, I’ve done a few 100s and a bunch of other ultra distances, but I won the Outer Banks 8k a couple of years ago and I was flying high afterwards. Brag that 5k win up!

 

[ProvoSpain]

Starting forward on 27-0 8th grade parochial diocese champ hoop team from the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese playing in the Catholic school state Championships at of all places Central Catholic High School in March '79. Stayed at the Conley’s Motel and Restaurant
in Monroeville. To a 14 year old from a steel town neighborhood it was the equivalent to a weekend at Mar-a-lago. Additional benefit was being 60 miles further west of Three Mile Island. Dropped a tough 3 point loss to Erie in the opener.

Nice. Which school? I played for OMOS in Johnstown some years later but we lost to the Altoona team in the Diocesan playoff.

 

[upj87]

Nice. Which school? I played for OMOS in Johnstown some years later but we lost to the Altoona team in the Diocesan playoff.

if you played at OMOS and knew your local history you would know it was the mighty West End Hornets...do you remember if you lost to McNelis? They were the Altoona power back in the day and who we beat to advance... We were good and very well coached (helluva lot better than my days with Paul Litwalk at J-town high) but we knew eventually our days were numbered in Pittsburgh when we saw half the kids from the Philly diocese team dunking in warm ups and realized we were not in Kansas with Toto anymore...

 

[JS School]

Incredible talent on this site🙄🙄

Hitting a home run in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. Impressed?


Seriously, though, the two things that just always felt great to me:

1) hitting a crisp iron that skips forward once, then draws back close to the pin.

2) hitting a pull up jumper that is nothing but net, then getting that little snap that the bottom of the net makes when you had perfect rotation on the ball.

 

[anon_d97v9o3a8b6xr]

Same here. I was a terrible athlete in school. Smoked and drank instead. I have a couple top 10s in decent size ultras and have finished Eastern States twice. I didn’t start running until I was 36 and didn’t run my first 50k until I was almost 39.

edit- all three of my kids have paced me in ultras, and my wife always crews for me. Having the whole family involved is an awesome experience.

Eastern States is a tough race for sure and on my future list. I’ve been recovering from an Achilles rupture approaching two years in January. It’s such a long term recovery and I finally tested an ultra this summer and it held up. But it’s a daily tight and never normal issue.
I don’t usually like pacers and really prefer doing races on my own. But running under 20 hours required a pacer to keep me moving when it was late and I needed someone to keep me awake. I do enjoy having a crew, but it’s always been friends and not family.

 

[pittdan77]

3rd and 7. Needs a first down to kill the clock and win the game. Run gets called to my side. I pancaked the SOB.

Always enjoyed downfield blocking when the RB would cut back. Those DB’s got their rocks off thumping a WR but they didn’t like getting ear-holed when they didn’t see you coming.

 

[anon_d97v9o3a8b6xr]

F'n hell.

I would be happy driving 100 miles straight

Seriously, I was going to write winning a 5k here until I read your story (cue the Brian Regan joke about Neil Armstrong here)

The 100 miler was such an amazing accomplishment, until a friend of mine went out west and finished 3rd in a 200 plus mile race. We have a running group called the Bad Idea Club. Basically we find dumb stuff to run and we run it.

 

[ProvoSpain]

if you played at OMOS and knew your local history you would know it was the mighty West End Hornets...do you remember if you lost to McNelis? They were the Altoona power back in the day and who we beat to advance... We were good and very well coached (helluva lot better than my days with Paul Litwalk at J-town high) but we knew eventually our days were numbered in Pittsburgh when we saw half the kids from the Philly diocese team dunking in warm ups and realized we were not in Kansas with Toto anymore...

Absolutely! West End finished 2nd to us in my 8th grade season and also qualified for Diocesans. I played in ‘90, so Visitation was gone but most of the rest were still around and it was still a viable league.

We lost to St Marys in Altoona, though they were nothing special.

I would have loved to make the State Tournament. It definitely had a mystique, especially with no public school equivalent.

 

[prez41]

Eastern States is a tough race for sure and on my future list. I’ve been recovering from an Achilles rupture approaching two years in January. It’s such a long term recovery and I finally tested an ultra this summer and it held up. But it’s a daily tight and never normal issue.
I don’t usually like pacers and really prefer doing races on my own. But running under 20 hours required a pacer to keep me moving when it was late and I needed someone to keep me awake. I do enjoy having a crew, but it’s always been friends and not family.

70 miles and under I go without pacers. Once I get to the 100 mile distance I like having pacers to keep me awake.
My wife runs as well, and likes the race environment, so she more or less volunteers to do it. She does an awesome job, too.
ES100 is an awesome course, but it is tough. I was about 8 hours faster at Burning River than I was at Eastern States. Hope the Achilles keeps healing and you can continue holding up!

 

[JS School]

From reading the OP, I thought he was talking about more of a physical sensation than an emotional moment.

I never felt good after running a race. And I was a sprinter, not a distance runner.