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Inside Hokie Sports
A great aspect of my job is that I get to be
a part of two programs simultaneously. There
are times when the excitement of one can
intersect with the other, creating an adrenaline
rush that can last for weeks. And then there
was this past year, when the merging euphoria
of Justin Fuente returning Tech football to the
ACC Championship Game and Buzz Williams
guiding the men’s basketball team to its finest
start in years created what I have dubbed
“Holiday Hokie Hysteria.”
The greatest feeling in this profession is truly
feeling like you are a member of the team. This
comes with mutual trust, which generally takes
a while to foster. Fuente allowed Mike Burnop
and I to get there relatively quickly, and as we
got to know him and his family throughout
his first season, we found that our level of
emotional investment continued to rise.
Tech beats Duke, Duke takes out North
Carolina, Georgia Tech surprises Tech, and
Tech responds by beating Notre Dame at
Notre Dame Stadium. All those events added
up to what appeared to be a football game
against Virginia that would determine whether
the Hokies were Orlando-bound as Coastal
Division champions. NC State would have
a say in this later, but the Tuesday before
Thanksgiving, the hysteria began.
Enter men’s basketball. In my first season
as a part of Buzz’s basketball family, I had
discovered what it truly meant to be “in the
room.” You see, with Buzz’s program, every
single person is in the room for a reason. That
could be his/her background, work ethic,
unique skill set or personality. Acceptance
into the family isn’t earned easily or taken
lightly—certainly not by me. Once you are
in the room, you want to be in the room for
every step that the family takes. I feel that way
despite knowing that there were going to be a
few instances when scheduling conflicts would
be unavoidable. However, I told myself that,
if I could physically be somewhere, I would.
Mike shared that feeling.
This is why we drove to Dulles International
Airport on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving
to fly to Los Angeles. The team already had
departed for a 10-day, four-game road trip,
with the first three games to be contested
in Anaheim as part of the Wooden Legacy
tournament. Reflectively, I know I nearly wore
both of us out for the next six weeks, but I still
feel it was worth it. We called the opener, as the
Hokies beat a talented New Mexico team. I was
pleased we had called it, but what made the trip
worth it was the ability to have Thanksgiving
dinner that night with the family at a historic
restaurant in Anaheim. There was such joy and
camaraderie in that room. We drove straight
from the restaurant back to the airport, and the
hysteria was in full swing!
The “red eye” has its name for a reason, and
I’m sure Mikey and I could have used some
Visine when we landed at Dulles at 7:30 a.m.
on Friday. Driving back to Blacksburg, we
figured a win over UVA would send the Hokies
to the ACC Championship Game, and there was
enough adrenaline in that. NCState took care of
that Friday night, but that did little to dampen
the mood at Lane Stadium the next day. Less
than 48 hours after eating turkey with Justin
Bibbs and Seth Allen, I was snapping photos
of Sam Rogers and Ken Ekanem clutching
the Commonwealth Cup and the ACC Coastal
Division trophy. I’ll always remember Fuente
conducting his postgame interview with his
youngest daughter, Charlotte, on his lap. It
was a special day.
The hysteria had just begun. Mike and I
coordinated “TTL” on Monday night and then
hit the airport to head to Detroit, Michigan on
Tuesday. We had missed two hoops games in
Anaheim, but were going to meet the team in
Ann Arbor for the ACC-Big 10 Challenge. For
me, a follower of the “Fab Five” as a kid, it
was a bucket list trip. The trip, nor the team,
disappointed, as the guys opened the game
sluggishly, but roared back to claim their third
win on the trip. Michigan’s announcer asked
me if we—the football team—could beat
Clemson. The Wolverines needed Tech’s help.
I winked at him. Basketball was heading home
to spend the next month getting better and
ready for ACC play. Another memory for me
will be laying out my football spotting board
for Clemson on the team charter.
Mike and I weren’t home long. Andrew
Allegretta and I re-racked the equipment (five
trunks) for football and dropped them off for
Sam Nichols and the equipment guys (unsung
heroes) to put on the football truck. We then
made our way back to the airport to get to
Orlando.
We rendezvoused with the rest of our
football crew and spent Friday afternoon
setting up for the ACC Championship Game.
The stage felt big and energizing. I chatted
with ESPN’s Chris Fowler for a while during
Tech’s walk-through if I needed a reminder.
There is nothing like big-spot football, and
with
Jon
Laaser
Holiday Hokie Hysteria
