Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 11 No. 3 | January 2019

18 Inside Hokie Sports If you’re a person of my age (39) or older, then you probably remember television commercials from the 1990s with Miss Cleo, who promised the answers in advance to all of life’s upcoming pressing questions. Your personal fortune, if you will. I thought of those commercials, as I sat courtside during a men’s basketball practice two days after the Hokies defeated Notre Dame in their ACC opener. Knowing things in advance is enticing and even fringes on intoxicating. Miss Cleo and her cohorts made a fortune (pun intended) during that decade. We knew it was a ruse, and we called anyway. We did a lot of dumb things in the 1990s, or at least I did. Am I going to meet my soulmate? Is a financial windfall in the near future? Did I already ask if I would be making the acquaintance of my soulmate any time soon? Will she be nice? I possess a curious and non-linear mind. So I hit the rewind button on my past path of fortune tellers and 1990s nostalgia. It came to me relatively quickly. I spent that practice observing the Hokies running their offense “around the horn”—rapid ball movement drills, in other words, from a team that goes through those particular paces at a much faster clip than most teams in the country. If you call yourself a basketball enthusiast and you recognize the game’s significance, it can be breathtaking, or mind-taking in this case. I know this particular team very well, and I am extremely grateful for that. Justin Robinson, Kerry Blackshear Jr. and Ty Outlaw all arrived in Blacksburg about the same time as I arrived, with Ahmed Hill already on campus. I now know their personalities along with the staff that leads them, and I sincerely pull for good things to happen for them. Maybe that makes me a homer. I honestly don’t care. I momentarily fell into the trap of daydreaming about the future for the group. Things, save for a trip to Happy Valley, had lined up close to perfectly heading into conference play, and the group delivered in its first ACC contest. At that moment, they stood at No. 10 in the country in the polls and preparing for the Boston College Eagles. I know the guys and the staff don’t have the luxury of looking ahead. That is dangerous for any team—in any sport at any level. But fans look at such things from an entirely different perspective, and I oftentimes fall into that category. The difference, though, is I own the rare privilege of witnessing a lot of the work behind the scenes that goes into the process. That privilege only makes me more emotional about it, which set me on this mental path on this particular day. I got to thinking about the best-laid plans, and the potential experiential rewards that hopefully follows for this group. That, in turn, led me to Miss Cleo. I wondered to myself that, if I had the option of knowing the outcome of the season, would I opt to learn it? Would I make that call to Miss Cleo if her commercial promised me the outcome of the Commonwealth Clash at John Paul Jones Arena, or what it would look like when Duke comes to the Cassell in late February? I knew the answer if I had the ability to give the guys those experiences. Absolutely. I love those guys. But in terms of knowing the outcome of the season in advance? I quickly realized the answer to that—no. There’s no way to mimic the thrill of the unexpected. It’s the inherent beauty of athletics competition. I walked into the Cassell on New Year’s Day feeling pretty confident that the Hokies were primed for a strong showing against the Irish, and I wasn’t surprised that they won the game—something a lot harder to do in the ACC than many people realize. But there was also the moment at halftime when Notre Dame trailed by two that you paused for a minute and wondered what lie ahead in the next 20 minutes. Which, of course, leads to the genuine joy in the second half when the Hokies found the next gear and pulled away. Those moments keep me in this business. That’s intoxicating. Not the knowledge of the future, but the lack of knowledge of the future and trying to do everything possible through preparation to provide yourself a leg up once those moments arrive. So I watched the end of practice that day and wound up back in my office writing this column. I originally planned on writing about something else, but that’s the terrifying, exhilarating and ultimately draw of this business—the unknown. Even if you predicted beforehand the Hokies taking down the ’Hoos in Charlottesville last year, you wouldn’t have been able to imagine the with Jon Laaser Embrace the Unknown Since 1969, G&H Appliance has been serving the New River Valley & beyond. At G&H we have experienced professionals you can trust, an extensive selection and competitive prices. Nobody does it better. 1290 Roanoke Street, Christiansburg, VA 24073 • 540-382-7500 • www.gandhappliance.com Find us at G&H Appliance