Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 9 No. 2 | October 2016

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the business of broadcasting and the game of
baseball buoyed me. In hindsight, I realized
that those thoughts were predicated on folks
tending to be nostalgic for that rapidly passing
era as well. I started to make compromises,
and in the latter years, tried to adjust my
broadcasting style to the simpler, more
formulaic style that seemed to be permeating
the highest levels of the business. It just never
seemed to take.
Then I began to look around, and it startled
me that the situations I was looking for no
longer existed in big-league baseball cities,
but they still did exist. They were on college
campuses, none more so than Blacksburg and
at Tech.
These days, when I attempt to explain my
role here, I discover that I describe the perfect
combination of what I wanted, and in many
ways, it equates to the essence of Tech.
This is a progressive community, in every
way on the cutting edge. But in many ways, it
still likes to slow down and absorb things in a
largely bygone way.
Justin Fuente, Buzz Williams and Whit
Babcock are perfect examples of this. You are
beginning to see the fruits of their labor, in
facility renovations, recruiting communication,
and even in the medium in which you receive
this magazine. All remain necessary to keep
pace in this highly competitive arena, and the
Hokies remain committed to doing that.
But at the same time, the core remains the
same, untarnished by the price of progress
that permeates many other places. Every
time I make a public speaking appearance,
or simply interact with members of the
community, I feel that level of importance
that I know those golden era voices felt. It is
not self-importance, but rather the level at
which the community, and the athletics that
represent it, holds itself.
Which is why, again, I remain so excited
about the future. I see the direction we are
heading, and that makes me conscious of the
changes. But I still feel the consumption and
interaction stay more on par with the way it
once used to be universally. One witnesses
more dedication and more patience.
I am confident that, much like a speeding
train vacating the station, the past level of
patience won’t be returning to other places
any time soon. Which is fine. They simply line
up with the norm.
As I walked down Washington Street the
other night on my way home from football
practice, the sun started setting behind
me. I became overcome by gratitude at my
situation.
Then I thought, ‘I should tweet a picture of
this’—and almost got ran over by a car while
I took it. OK, so I’m not as old as my soul feels
sometimes, and this isn’t Mayberry.
But Blacksburg stands the one of the last
remaining places that blends the past and
future together in a beautiful way. It doesn’t
take Vin Scully retiring to remind me of that,
but it certainly spurred this column. So I give
a hat tip to a man who performed his task in
the right way, as I try in my own small way to
do that here. In Blacksburg … a special place.
Tech football coach Justin Fuente has done a nice of job of implementing his philosophies for a
program, while remaining respectful of the traditions established in the past.