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NEW YORK -- Dr. Scot Refsland didnt know he was standing on hallowed ground in the aviation world. He was just looking for a scenic backdrop (and more importantly a legal area) to hold the U.S. National Drone Racing Championships in New York City. His journey eventually took him to the picnic point on Governors Island, with the Statue of Liberty to the left and the Manhattan skyline to the right, painting a picture-perfect postcard of the city.What Refsland didnt know at the time was that this was the same location where Wilbur Wright (of Wright brothers fame) built the first aerial canoe in 1909. Wright, wanting to fly over water for the first time, slung a canoe underneath the lower wing of a Flyer and made a historic 21-mile, 33-minute flight in front of a million onlookers in what would be his last public flight. He circled the Statue of Liberty and passed Grants Tomb, flying north over the Hudson along the west shore of Manhattan before safely returning to Governors Island.When I found out that this is where the Wright Brothers had their first flight over water, I got chills, said Refsland, the co-founder and chairman of the Drone Sports Association (DSA). That was the first realization of the dream of flying over water, and now were here realizing the next generation of human flight.The next generation of human flight isnt so much humans actually flying, but feeling as if theyre flying. First-person-view (FPV) drone racing has caught on as a popular recreational sport over the past two years and is now being talked about as the next emerging sport on the heels of this past weekends national championship in New York and the first world championships in Hawaii in October.It taps right into an inherent DNA structure in humanity where we all have had the dream of flight, Refsland said. Weve always wanted to fly. What flying first-person-view has given us is give us superpowers and made us superheroes. Now you can literally fly.There was a reason Refsland wanted to hold the U.S. National Drone Racing Championships in New York. Hes still selling the sport and his league to Madison Avenue, and what better way than going right up to the doorstep of prospective sponsors to do that. He would have held it in Times Square or Central Park if New York Citys rules and regulations on drones werent so strict. So he ended up getting as close as possible and inviting as many companies as would listen to him out to the races.Ive met with 20-30 investors, and the first question I ask them is, Have you ever flown FPV? And they say, no, so I take out a little kit that I bring with me that I fly in boardrooms, Refsland said. Its a little tiny drone and its got a camera on it, and I put it right on the boardroom table. And I give everyone in the room goggles and I take off, and half of them fall off their chairs right away. Then I fly down the halls and all the employees are on their feet and excited and it causes this huge buzz, and thats when they get it. They suddenly have experienced the dream of flight that has been embedded in their brains. Ive unlocked that understanding of why people are attracted to it and why this is growing so fast.GoPro was the title sponsor of the U.S. National Drone Racing Championships, which was the first event aired on ESPN as part of a multiyear, international media distribution deal with DSA. Other sponsors included AIG, Ernst & Young, Vizio and Ecko Unltd. Many executives from other companies were invited to make the trek to Governors Island, where they got their first taste of drone racing. The execs were hosted inside a white hospitality tent near the finish line and treated to an open bar and hors doeuvres, and plenty of FPV goggles. On top of each table in the tent was a Harvard Business Review study on drones and drone racing.This drone race was designed to build the business and build the model, Refsland said. Its in New York City and a 10-minute ferry ride from Wall Street, and a lot of CEOs from Fortune 500 companies are here that are investors and scouts looking at this. We told our pilots that this is your golden moment. Put on your best Sunday suit and fly your best, and were going to match you with companies and kick-start the money flow.The money has already started flowing into drone racing, but theres not just one pot for that money, as a few leagues have popped up. In addition to the Drone Sports Association, theres the Drone Racing League and the International Drone Racing Association. Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has invested $1 million in the Drone Racing League through his investment firm RSE Ventures. CAA Ventures, the venture capital arm of talent firm Creative Artists Agency, has also invested into the league. Were in the golden hour, and were all in the jockeying position of whos going to control what, Refsland said. Its an exciting time for everyone.Zoe Stumbaugh was in tears as she explained the way she feels when she puts on her FPV goggles and races. A series of medical complications and surgeries led her to being bedridden for two years and unable to ride her motorcycle. One day a friend suggested she find another hobby; she bought a drone and her life hasnt been the same since. I could get outside of my own body and be like a bird and be free, she said. It gets my adrenaline going. Its a very surreal, deep experience. Its an escape. Ive been able to fly and its given me my life back. Otherwise, Id be in pain all the time and I wouldnt want to do anything.Stumbaugh, 25, lives in Sana Cruz, California, and she is not only one of the few female pilots in the sport but also one of the best in the country. Her ability to outperform men is one of the reasons she hopes the sport will catch on with other females.There are not enough women in this sport, and this is one of the few sports where you have an even playing field with the men across the board, Stumbaugh said. It all comes down to your brain and finger movements. I know some very dexterous ladies out there that could do this sport just as good as any of the guys. Im hoping well start seeing more women competing in the next year.The beauty of drone racing during this infancy period is that just about anyone can compete if they have the means to drop about $1,000 on a fast drone and then start practicing. Thats how Conrad Miller, 37, and his son, Sorell, 12, who live in Boise, Idaho, ended up at the nationals not as fans but as competitors. They are first and only father-son tandem to compete at the two-year-old event.It feels like were back at home, said Sorell. We compete against each other every Sunday, and doing it here at a race like this is different because there are other people involved, but it makes me feel like Im at home competing against my dad. I dont know what it feels like to be as old as everyone else here. Im just having fun.FPV video on YouTube turned many hobbyists into full-fledged drone addicts because they could see what drone operators were capable of with their machines. Suddenly, a drone that was used by many simply to fly around in a park on the weekend was flying through deserted buildings and near cliffs too dangerous to navigate by foot.The big kick-starter for us was a pilot named Charpu, Carlos Puertolas, Refsland said. Hes a Spaniard who lives in the U.S., and he got to the same place many hobbyists were in, where its not that fun flying circles. So when FPV came, he saw that it gave a breath of fresh air into the sport. He came to one of our shows two years ago and did all these tricks nobody had ever seen before and was flying this airframe nobody had ever seen before, and everyone started copying him. That was the real catalyst that started this whole thing.Puertolas, one of the head animators for DreamWorks Animation in Glendale, California, has been posting videos on his YouTube page for the past two years and has almost 4 million views. In an infant sport void of legends, hes as close to that status as possible; he took pictures and signed autographs while walking around Governors Island before the races.Its a great feeling when someone says they started doing something that they love because of you, Puertolas said. The first time you try FPV it feels like an out-of-body experience. When you get good it becomes second nature, and at that point it does feels like youre able to switch into a different body that is much more agile and can do things you cannot do physically. You have this freedom of movement and can go superfast without getting hurt. Its really like youre a superhero with a superpowers.The most popular comparison to drone racing is auto racing, only smaller and in the air. At least thats the dream of league organizers and sponsors, who would love to see the fledgling sport become that popular and lucrative someday.We want to build the next NASCAR of drone racing, Refsland said. Up to this point, this has all been run by nerds standing in a field flying gnats. Now were thinking about the fans and the spectators. We have a barrier that is 5 feet from the netting, and the netting is 5 feet from the racing. We have huge JumboTrons showing the races and showing who is in first. Weve numbered all the racers and color-coded them. When Dale Earnhardt Jr. walks out, you know its him. We want to have the same thing here. Were going to rank them so if Las Vegas wants to create odds and take bets on the races, they have the rankings.The biggest issue at the moment for drone racing is that what makes it so addictive for the pilots is also what makes it so hard to enjoy for casual spectators. While the FPV goggles make pilots feel as if they are sitting in the cockpit of a plane they are flying, soaring over and around obstacles, many of the spectators on Governors Island over the weekend had a hard time deciphering which pilot was manning which drone and had no idea who was in first place. From afar, it looked like eight oversized bugs buzzing around in circles, with one occasionally splattering on an iron beam or Plexiglas wall. The fans who put on goggles to see what the pilots were looking at quickly took them off because of the quality. The FPV footage for live races is still mostly in standard definition and looks like grainy footage shot from an old home video camera in need of tracking adjustment.I think it could be a good sport for TV if the FPV was high definition, said Juan Pablo Montoya, who has won races in Formula One, CART, IRL, IndyCar, Grand-Am and NASCAR. I think visually you have to come with goggles to be able to appreciate it because theyre so small and they fly so quickly. I think as the sport grows, the drones will be bigger and tougher and easier to see, but I think the potential is there. I think it could potentially be huge and a fun spectator sport to watch.Montoya, who has his own drones and has been into remote-controlled cars, boats and helicopters for years, attended the races on Governors Island last weekend and talked to pilots as they put the final touches on their planes.I love the technology behind it and how it has evolved over the years from the goggles to the radios to the equipment, he said. This is a great hobby that can become a great sport.A few hours before the Cleveland Indians were scheduled to play the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Friday, Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer was walking around the pilots tent at the nationals. Wearing a backpack with his three drones hanging from the outside, Bauer looked more like a competitor than a spectator.I just enjoy flying, so anytime I can come out and be around other pilots and see what they do, its a good time for me, said Bauer, who majored in mechanical engineering at UCLA. I actually design my own frames on the computer and 3-D print all the parts I need. Im very involved in the whole engineering process. Its the most fun I have. Its the closest thing you can get to flying. Anytime anyone asks me about it, I have them put on the goggles and try it. Thats the only way you can understand the feeling. Bauer, who travels with his drones and flies them on the road as well as at home, said he had a rush similar to being on the mound when he flew his drone through Devils Bridge in Sedona, Arizona, during spring training earlier this year.I really enjoy that feeling, Bauer said. That feeling is one of the things I enjoy most about baseball, so its cool to be able to put on goggles and experience that feeling. I think the more people that try it, the bigger this sport will get. Theres nothing quite like it.As Bauer walked around the tents meeting many of the pilots he follows on social media, Refsland thought about all the fans and pilots he would be reaching during the nationals in New York and how many new fans and pilots could become hooked on drone racing in the immediate aftermath.Were hoping so many people watched or heard or read about the races this weekend that Amazon will be sold out of drones by next week, Refsland said. Were hoping everyone gets involved. Who wouldnt want to realize their dream of flying?Jari Kurri Oilers Jersey . Galatasaray said in a statement on its website Monday that Mancini signed a three-year contract and will be paid 3.5 million euros for the upcoming season, with his salary upped to 4. Boyd Gordon Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. http://www.officialoilersfanstore.com/authentic-connor-mcdavid-oilers-jersey/ . There was no hesitation from the 40th-ranked Pospisil, from Vernon, B.C., who admitted that he cut back on his training sessions over the last few days to conserve energy as the long ATP season finishes next week at the Paris Masters. Edmonton Oilers Jerseys . Schenn scored the game-winning goal and added two assists to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday. Oscar Klefbom Oilers Jersey .Y. -- Injured Buffalo Sabres forward Marcus Foligno did not practice with the team Monday and head coach Ron Rolston said its unlikely hell play in Wednesdays season opener in Detroit.Before the night of Oct. 22, 2011, Keith Nichols name did not resonate far beyond the borders of the Great Lake State, and certainly not for any particular play on the football field. If anything, Nichol was known as the guy who had lost the starting quarterback job to Michigan States Kirk Cousins three seasons earlier and been moved to wide receiver instead.In an instant, however, Nichol and Cousins would become inextricably linked for collaborating on one of the most unlikely, heart-stopping, game-winning catches in college football, which vaulted itself into the stratosphere of Michigan State lore. A Google search for Nichols name immediately yields the YouTube clip of the play that has been viewed more than 149,000 times online and countless other occasions on television replays -- one even his opponents havent been able to shake.Ive watched that video and that clip every now and then just to wonder like, Wow, so close, yet so far away to change your whole season like that, former Wisconsin linebacker Mike Taylor said.Added former Badgers co-defensive coordinator Chris Ash: It was one of the most gut-wrenching plays of my career. Whenever people show special situations of how not to defend end-of-game plays like a Hail Mary, I see it a lot.The scenario that night: BCS No. 6 Wisconsin, led by quarterback Russell Wilson, running back Montee Ball and nine future NFL draft picks on offense, against Cousins, LeVeon Bell and No. 16 Michigan State in a primetime matchup with ESPNs College GameDay crew on hand. In all, there were 17 starters who became future NFL draft picks in the game. Score tied at 31. Michigan State ball. Third-and-one from the Wisconsin 44-yard line with four seconds left.What happened next in Spartan Stadium ultimately altered the course of the season for two teams and changed Nichols life.Wisconsin was probably going to the national title game if they win that, or at least it looked pretty good for them, Nichol said. Michigan State needed that win to kind of solidify their national stature there at the game.The stunning last-second loss ended the Badgers national championship dreams, but they extracted a measure of revenge by beating the Spartans 42-39 in the Big Ten championship game to earn a trip to the Rose Bowl. Michigan State ended up in the Outback Bowl, where it beat Georgia.This Saturday, No. 11 Wisconsin travels to face No. 8 Michigan State at noon ET to open Big Ten play. It marks the first time the Badgers have ventured to East Lansing since that fateful play five seasons ago. The 2011 regular-season game also represents the last time Wisconsin was an undefeated, top-15 program that late in the year.It all came crashing down from 44 yards away, when Cousins heaved a pass into the air and into history as the clock ticked down. Four ... three ... two ... one ... zero.Here is the story inside the play.Michigan State wide receiver Keith Nichol:?If you were to look at it the way a diagram was shaped when you were writing it on paper, the play looked like the shape of a rocket.Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins: There was no other play to call in that moment. It came in, and we were going to run it to the left. It was going to be 62 Rocket. Coach (Mark) Dantonio, whos a defensive coach and rarely gets involved in the playcalling, decided when Coach (Bret) Bielema from Wisconsin called a timeout, once he saw the formation we aligned in, Coach Dantonio said, I want Kirk to roll to his right since hes a right-armed quarterback. So we aligned it to the right and called a 63 Rocket. I ended up rolling out to my right.Keith Nichol:?We put it into the boundary, which is the short side, to consolidate the bodies. We felt like if we had more bodies in a small area that we had a better chance to come up with it.Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio: They called a timeout, so we switched it. We sort of rolled out to the boundary and bought ourselves some time. I knew that we had a big body going down there in (tight end) Dion Sims, who now plays for the Dolphins, Keith Nichol and a couple of other guys. I knew Cousins was going to put the ball in the end zone. Beyond that, the play is diagrammed to work, but they have plays that are diagrammed to defend as well.Wisconsin linebacker Mike Taylor:?In 2011 during training camp, our defensive calls for a play like that where the team has to throw a Hail Mary to either tie the game or win the game, for whatever reason, we changed it from the year before. The year before, we would want to cover the guy downfield and be between the ball and him to help box him out like in basketball. For whatever reason, we changed it going into 2011 where we were coached to trail the receiver. Obviously there wasnt really a reason to switch it. Im not sure why we tried to fix it.Wisconsin cornerback Antonio Fenelus:?Theres no easy way to cover a Hail Mary. You just try to execute as best as possible. I dont know if the other way wouldve stopped that situation from happening. Who knows?Keith Nichol: That play is literally the last play of every single Thursday practice that we have in just shoulder pads and shorts. We would usually just jog it. We dont even run that hard down, maybe 75 percent. The point of it is to land it about two yards into the end zone, and that there would be bodies surrounding it. Every time we practiced it, the point man would always tip it up in the air to be funny or goof around. It was practiced almost identical to how it was performed in the game, except at practice we never had any bodies rush on you at the goal line to score for the touchdown.Wisconsin safety Shelton Johnson: We ran our normal victory play. It was just a play that we had practiced every week up until then for last-play situations like that. A prevent defense with three deep safeties. We always called it victory because thats what its supposed to do. Its supposed to be just for last-ditch efforts like that. We werent talking about anything specific other than knocking the ball down and getting to overtime.Kirk Cousins: LeVeon Bell did a good job helping me get the edge and we just practiced it every week and let them get down to the end zone and then let it go. I threw it as high and far as I could to make sure it landed in that 10-yard end zone space.Mike Taylor: Our pass rush wasnt that great. I think we rushed three. Really there were only two guys that got any pass rush. By the time he threw the ball, he probably had four or five seconds and just had all the time in the world to throw the ball.Wisconsin co-defensive coordinator Chris Ash: Everything started out well, but we lost contain on the quarterback. We didnt box out at the launch spot.Shelton Johnson: I was one of the deep safeties to the field. They lined up three receivers into the boundary. I do know it was to the opposite side of me. I was just right there on the goal line when I saw the ball go up.Keith Nichol:?I was always the point man, being the individual two yards in the end zone to get my hands on it first. Getting up to the football and meeting it at its highest point was something I did well when I was playing. But B.J. Cunningham was actually having a phenomenal game against Wisconsin, and everything he touched, he was catching. If anyone was to get their hands on the football, coaches wanted it to be him at that moment.Shelton Johnson: Coach Bielema made a last-minute change to put Jared Abbrederis in back there instead of one of the defensive backs. He was probably one of the guys with the best ball skills on the team at that point, especially at the high point of the ball. So I cant say it was a bad move. But I think it definitely did surprise everybody when he decided to do that.Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema:?When you have a very special player that can do certain things better than others, even if its on the other side of the ball, you try to maximize it. Abby had a really good ball sense. We were really depleted that year. That year in particular, we had a corner, Devin Smith, who unfortunately became injured in our second or third game. If hed stayed healthy throughout the year, I dont know if we wouldve lost another one. But it was one of those years where if you had the wrong guy get injured at the wrong position, it could be devastating.dddddddddddd. And we were just kind of constantly trying to find a roster spot to fill that void.Mike Taylor:?A lot of things went wrong on this play. Starting with our defender, we had Jared Abbrederis in the game to kind of be an extra defender. Jump, catch the ball, knock the ball down. He mistimed his jump, had a poor jump and just barely ending up tipping the ball.Wisconsin wide receiver Jared Abbrederis: The ball was in the air. It just felt like it floated forever. I went up to jump. I misjudged it, and that was it.Michigan State wide receiver B.J. Cunningham: He went up for the ball and I was like, Oh man, hes about to catch it, and it went right through his hands and hit me in the visor. As soon as it hit me in the visor, Im reaching for it. I was like, Oh my God, I just messed the game up for us. The ball hit me in the face. This is crazy. Im about to throw up. It was bad. I felt terrible. I didnt know what to do. Were going to watch this on film. Im going to look so un-athletic. Then I see the ball still in the air.Keith Nichol: To miss the football the way Abbrederis did by half an inch and to go through his hands into B.J.s facemask and then pop up in slow motion the way it did, somehow I found it. B.J. ended up tipping it to the position that he would have been in had the roles been reversed. What I thought in my mind was when I caught the football that I would fall or walk into the end zone no problem. And then that actually ended up being the opposite of what happened. What caught me by surprise was not necessarily catching the football. It was the wrestling motion at the end that caught me off guard.Shelton Johnson:?I assumed that Abbrederis was going to knock the ball down and we were going to go into overtime. But then I saw him kind of misjudge the ball and fall into a pile of bodies. I just ran over there as fast as I could to try to make sure the ball was down and move the pack back out of the end zone.Mike Taylor:?I was out of position. A lot of guys were out of position. Jared falls off the tackle. Shelton Johnson gets a bad attempt at a tackle, and the guys got forward momentum going to the goal line from one yard out. That left me versus him one-on-one while hes falling into the end zone with like a one-yard head start. You can kind of feel the season in your arms at that point as youre trying to keep him out of the end zone so it doesnt change the whole season. You get that sense of panic and that adrenaline rush where you just cant let this guy go in the end zone. They marked it at the two-inch line.Keith Nichol:?There was a moment when I leaned over the goal line, and I felt like half of my body was in the end zone. I felt like if my chest crossed the goal line, then the football had to come with me as well. But when youre thinking things through, you dont know if the football is there enough with you or if there was indisputable evidence to overturn the call.Kirk Cousins:?I had no perception of how close he was to the goal line or not. I thought maybe he was on the 4- or 3-yard-line and didnt even come close to the goal line. As I ran down, I saw a teammate of mine, Keshawn Martin, No. 82, who shows no emotion, never reacts to anything, is very deadpan, going crazy. With his hands like this talking to the ref. And I knew that if he was that emotional, it meant something.Keith Nichol:?That was to define a season for both teams at the time. So you just kind of wonder, OK, is it going to be enough for them to change it? If it was close, the refs were going to just go into overtime in my opinion and not live or die on that one call.B.J. Cunningham:?I didnt know if he crossed the line or not. They had to go to instant replay. When I saw or heard the crowd, Im like, Dang, he mightve really scored. Antonio Fenelus:?I had a bad feeling when they went to review.Kirk Cousins:?I went over to an ESPN cameraman on the sideline, who had the headset on and I just said, What are you hearing from the producers in the booth outside in the truck? He said, Were hearing that its going to be ruled a touchdown. I said, Well thats good enough for me. So we waited, but I was pretty hopeful.Mark Dantonio:?When Keith made the catch, and then they had the ruling on the field and everything, everyone was just sort of hanging. I was calm and waited for the ruling. Everyone was starting to say that were in, they have to give it to us, so I sort of felt it was going to go our way before the official ruling.Kirk Cousins: Sure enough, the ref came out and said the player did cross the goal line, and from there, it was pandemonium.B.J. Cunningham:?It bounces off my facemask, right into Keith Nichols hands, and he catches it, and we win the game? That was the most crazy play Ive ever been a part of in my life. Its like really how a Hail Mary is supposed to be coached. Thats how we ran it.Mike Taylor:?Instant replay is supposed to be conclusive evidence to overturn the play. You can assume the ball crossed the goal line, and it most likely did. But to say there was clear evidence of the ball crossing the goal line, I dont think you ever see the ball cross the goal line. You just assume based on where the guys hands are that the ball did cross the goal line. He probably did. But you cant clearly see that.Shelton Johnson: Looking at the replay, he got in. But in the heat of the moment, you hope that he didnt. I know everybody was a little upset when we heard the final call. I was like, Man, this shouldnt have been this close. Thats not something that you expect to happen. I think everyone on the team was getting mentally prepared for overtime.Bret Bielema:?That came down to an unbelievable execution by them and lack of it by us. Sometimes that ball just bounces the wrong way, and eventually you persevere.Jared Abbrederis: Thats why you play, especially something like that. Its just a backyard ball and if you end up in the right place, obviously crazy things can happen.B.J. Cunningham:?To end it on a play like that was amazing. Youll never forget that. Ill never forget it. I know it changed Keiths life. He went from quarterback to receiver to catching the winning touchdown in a homecoming game against a top-5 team in the country. Not too many people do that.Keith Nichol:?That kind of cemented myself as a player in that program. That moment did, at least. And I say that just because of the experiences Ive had on the street or out in the public. How often its brought up, things like that. Ive been in a restroom at a very nice restaurant in the metro Detroit area. Somebody said hello and brought that game up. What do you really say? Youre not going to shake their hand. Youre in the restroom, right? Ill be out and talking to somebody, and someone will pull up the YouTube video. This is him. People are just weird about it. Its been interesting.B.J. Cunningham:?I think about the play every week when we go over our Hail Mary drills in practice (with the Montreal Alouettes in the CFL) before the games. I always tell teammates to be ready because all of a sudden we practice it, the jump guy, a guy in the back and the middle, theyre all important. I tell them that in college, that exact same thing happened to me.Mike Taylor: It really messed up our season and our plans. If Im ever in Madison and seeing old pictures of teammates or teams, you think about it. Like what would have happened if we wouldve won that game? What wouldve happened if that ball didnt get deflected? What wouldve happened if I was able to keep him out of the end zone? Its not like I feel burdened or anything or I let my team down. Its just one of those things like, dang, you wish you had one more yard. You wish he wouldve caught the ball at the two instead of the one.Antonio Fenelus: I wish it wouldve gone the other way. But we got the last laugh. Thats one thing I will say. We got the last laugh against them in the Big Ten championship game.ESPN.coms John Keim and Rob Demovsky contributed to this story. ' ' '