Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 11 No. 2 | October 2018

10 Inside Hokie Sports This wasn’t included in the range of possible outcomes. Those were my thoughts as I stood on those steps. People ask me a lot if I keep a list of predetermined calls that I use during broadcasts. The answer to that is no. However, I do take onto the air with me a range of what I consider the possible outcomes. That means that, even if the Hokies go into a particular game as heavy favorites, I prepare myself mentally for the possibility that things go a different way. The counter to that is, of course, when the odds seem stacked against Tech, I try to be prepared for the possibility that they pull the upset. Those are the best nights—like when the men’s basketball team upset then- No. 2 Virginia in Charlottesville last year. More often than not, though, games follow somewhat closely to the expected narrative. That’s fine. I still prepare for the opposite to occur. Win dramatically, or win big. Come up well short, or fall in a heartbreaker. The idea is not to be caught off guard in the moment. It’s not a perfect science, and sometimes, the beauty of sports is the completely unexpected. Or the complete opposite. I still need to be prepared. But as I stood on those stairs at Foreman Field in Norfolk, I realized I hadn’t prepared for this outcome, and I was mad at myself. I felt that Mike Burnop and I had handled the obvious shock of the night on the air as best we could. However, to expand upon my previous explanation, I always need to plan for outcomes. Had the Hokies beaten Old Dominion, I knew the structure for Tech Talk Live! onMonday, andbeyond that, for theweek following, should they defeat Duke. I also was ready in case they had prevailed in the 757 and been defeated at Duke. If it sounds calculated, it is — to try to make the tumultuous rhythm of the season line up regardless Mike and I stood on those stairs as we tried to make our way from our radio booth to the locker room to conduct postgame interviews. We failed to make much progress. Blissful and vocal, Monarch fans, understandably, weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Clad in our Tech gear, we became pretty easy targets for verbal taunts. Good natured for the most part, but not helping me settle from the shock—and I was still mad at myself. I lacked a plan for when we got to the bottom of the stairs, let alone when we got back to Blacksburg. As we finally began making progress, pushing through on our way to the locker room, it became fairly obvious that pretty much nobody had prepared mentally for this outcome, including stadium security. Efforts were being made, but it was chaos. I’m sure that filling a lot of Hokies’ minds was something similar to what was filling mine. What will come next? How will the pieces be picked up? In my case, it’s what we call in the business “throwing out the rundown.” That means we wing it and rely on each other and the relationships we have fostered. Mike has seen just about everything in his lifetime around this program. He handled the postgame brilliantly. Bud Foster tried to take all the blame. That was predictable because Bud is a stand-up guy, and Mike is a pro’s pro. But this didn’t feel like a post-loss routine—it with Jon Laaser The Range of Outcomes felt worse, arguably because of the magnitude of the upset, and as I would argue, because of the uncertainty. What’s next? When you have streaks and continuous success, you also have pressure. I’m around it, and I understand it, but I don’t shoulder it. Justin Fuente, Foster, the staff and these players do. When you create relationships with people, you go beyond rooting for them. It hurts to see them lose. In my case, it is hard to describe those setbacks and more painful to see them seemingly vulnerable. This felt like that. The drive back to Blacksburg passed in a fog and with plenty of rain. It seemed fitting. But when I woke up on Sunday, I felt an odd comfort. Sure, the Twitter trolls and keyboard quarterbacks enjoyed their field day through the night, but I felt an odd confidence about our core and how this program would use this experience. I refused to hide under the covers like I had after some of the earlier deflating defeats in my time here. I felt like fighting back. I felt like admitting that I hadn’t been prepared to wake up on this morning after that result, but acknowledging that, “Here I am, and let’s go forward.” I decided to try to foster positivity. I admire Fuente and the way he handles himself and his program through adversity. The ODU postgame had been no different. He stood up, answered questions honestly and gave credit to the opponent—and rightfully so. But I also know him well enough to understand how much respect he gives toward his obligation to this community. He takes it very seriously. My