Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 12 No. 5 | May 2020

10 Inside Hokie Sports In recent weeks, I have heard a lot of different ways to describe the societal times that comprise our current global pandemic—unprec­ edented, unparalleled, uncertain, surreal, terrifying, devastating. They are unfortunately all accurate. I would be lying to you if I said I knew what life looks like beyond the destruction, or how the global way of life changes following reconstruction. I only know that we all live in this together. Everyone’s life has been affected. The levels of impact vary from person to person, but all of those impacts, great or small, are disturbing and frightening. Millions are mourning, or will mourn, a loved one. Millions more will have their financial core shaken, if not destroyed. And it is certainly not hyperbole to recognize that the entire economic and medical model that has framed our lives will be forever altered. On March 10, I felt invincible. The end of that night marked the conclusion of my fifth season as the “Voice of the Hokies.” I felt great about that. Taking on this role in2015 representedan immense challenge. In 2020, I felt established and embraced. Although the basketball season had just ended, I was incredibly excited about the future. What can I do? What did I do to deserve this? How did everything I had worked for evaporate so quickly? Will we be okay? I continue to ask myself those questions. They are disturbing, but justified. I also have experienced much of the same doubt and anxiety that I experienced during my long journey to Blacksburg—a journey that I reflect upon often while holed up at home, attempting to lean on the reminders of past adversities faced as reassurance that I will once again triumph on the other side. If you have met me in my five years at Virginia Tech, then you know the most secure version of me. Financially and otherwise. Married, well compensated, etc. That hasn’t always been the case, and actually, my security in life remains very much a work in progress. Most probably relate to this. I was still working on digging out of the hole I dug while spending nearly two decades attempting to ascend to this level. COVID-19 recently forced me to put the shovel down temporarily and return to survival mode. I laid it down reluctantly. I began my career in 2000 as an intern at KFAN in Minneapolis. An unpaid intern, I lived in my parents’ basement. I stayed for three years. My first job in baseball was in St. Cloud, Minnesota. I made $75 a game—the best I would do monetarily for a long time. In 2005, I advanced, but was unpaid again as a broadcast intern for the St. Paul Saints. In 2006, I gained an opportunity in affiliated baseball and earned $1,200 a month in Yakima, Washington. In the offseason, I returned to Minneapolis and made $10 an hour as a part-time producer. In 2007, I rose to Double-A in Altoona, Pennsylvania—and took a loss for the season on $1,375 a month. But that opportunity led to my first full-time baseball job in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, making $25,000. I felt rich. I wasn’t. I got my car repossessed that season on the Grand Strand. A month later, I got it back. The Montgomery Biscuits gave me the lead play-by-play chair in Double-A in 2009. It wasn’t full time and compensated me $2,000 a month. A season later, I reunited with the management group from Myrtle Beach, as they opened a new franchise in Richmond, Virginia. The yet-to-be-named Flying Squirrels lured me with a $30,000 annual salary. Five years later, I earned a raise to $37,500. I worked many side gigs along the way to make ends meet. As I tallied my scorecard in 2014, my career added to seven teams, six states, four old cars, thousands in debt and a credit score well south of the “Mendoza line.” When I received the call on June 23, 2015 that offered me the role of a lifetime at Virginia Tech, I accepted immediately. And then I grabbed that shovel and started digging out of the financial and medical hole I had descended into during the climb. My story is not unique. Insert student loans, internships, entry-level jobs, climbing the corporate ladder, taking on the financial burden of children, saving for a home or opening your own small business, and maybe it sounds like yours. I hadn’t gotten soft, but certainly stable. In mid-March, my wife made the final payment on her car. On April 1, I mailed in the final payment on my wife’s engagement ring. We were getting close to ground level. We started building up some savings and looked forward to traveling during the summer to weddings for some Tech colleagues. Paltry compared to many, but proud moments for us. On April 2, I received the call from my company, Learfield IMG College. I was being furloughed for at least three months. No pay. No access to the sports network I had maintained. I immediately felt uncertainty and isolation. Crushed would be an understatement. In the hours after, I felt anger and defiance. Dumbfounded and scared. I’m the Voice of the Hokies. How can you do this to me? My mind went a million miles a minute for the next 24 hours. How much had we saved? How long does that last us? What if something happens with football? I imagine many of you know the feelings. Unfortunately, we share that bond. Then I settled down. I stepped back and realized that, while I may feel important on gameday, there weren’t going to be games any time soon. My company was trying to prepare for an uncertain future. My dad always served as my security blanket before his passing, but it turns out my mom possesses the same reassuring qualities. Renee, my wife, with Jon Laaser Uncertainty in Numbers Providing Teamwork and Fast Forward Document Technology to Virginia Tech Athletics ... and your company! MFPs I Document Management I Managed Print Services I Production Print VBS VT ad 2018_Layout 1 7/26/18 10:28 AM Page 1