Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 11 No. 5 | May 2019

10 Inside Hokie Sports I learned a lot about life through my years in professional baseball, and one of the most important lessons was learning how to let people and experiences go while maintaining the ability to appreciate their impact on me and being ready for the next chapter. Whoa, that certainly was a lot to take in to start a column! Hey, a lot has happened in the past few weeks! It was a perpetual cycle in baseball. Players and coaches ascended to the level where I was, and you forged relationships with them, all the while knowing that saying goodbye loomed on the horizon. You spent every waking hour together with this group — on a bus, at the ballpark, or exploring whatever city you happened to be in that day. They represented your very limited community, which made it bittersweet when someone got called up or called away. On one hand, you were thrilled at their taking a next step toward their big league dream. On the other, it was more than likely the end of seeing that person on a regular basis—and it happened a lot. Create a relationship, say goodbye, rinse and repeat. The end of every season played out the same way. If the season ended on the road, the bus would pull back into your ballpark and the group you spent every day with for the previous six months scattered, back to their friends and families spread across the world. We uttered a saying to each other, “Hope I don’t see you again.” It was our version of “break a leg.” Obviously, we didn’t mean that literally. It simply meant good luck. Hope you advance to the next level. Many did. Many didn’t. However, the team the following year would have a completely different feel. Hello, goodbye, take care. It always took me a few weeks after the season to be ready to move forward, but then it would hit me at some moment or another. It wasn’t loss necessarily, but opportunity — the opportunity for new dinner companions and golf buddies, new memories and achievements. Some teams would have the next big thing in the lineup, some wouldn’t, but there was always next. I got pretty good at looking at life that way. In some ways, though, it made me too good at saying goodbye. Onto the next! I realized it provided me with a self-defense mechanism to look only at now and the future and not back to the memories I made along the way and the people who shaped my life. It insulated me, but it wasn’t healthy. One of the things I most enjoy about college athletics as opposed to professional baseball is the perpetual re-creation, though it comes more gradually. The moments last longer. Players stick around for at least a few years and coaches oftentimes much longer. Our time together isn’t just another stop on the road to their future destinations. Their years here turn out to be formational and impactful. However, there is still re-creation, and it is sometimes jarring. As I wrap my mind around all that transpired over the past month, I continue to come back to my familiar postseason baseball feeling. I hope that my experiences in the past help all you Hokies working through similar emotions of the past month. Like everything, I have not perfected the blending of two emotions, but like everything, I continue to try to get better. I thought about this as the Hokies’ men’s basketball bus pulled back into Blacksburg after the trip to the Sweet 16. In that moment, I didn’t know the degree to which the scattering would occur, but I knew an era had ended. I knew that I had seen the last of Justin Robinson, Ahmed Hill, Ty Outlaw, and most likely, Nickeil Alexander-Walker inmaroon and orange. I knew inmany ways that their recent accomplishments also were tied to those who already had moved on—Seth Allen, Zach LeDay, Justin Bibbs, Devin Wilson and many others. I understood the complexity and difficulty of the climb to that night in D.C. Still coursing with some of the electricity of Capital One Arena the night before, I felt fairly confident that I had immersed myself in the experience. It had been an exhilarating ride, not just the NCAA Tournament, but the steps taken through the previous years to make it possible. But, it was over. with Jon Laaser Embrace it All