UVA Basketball on the sidelines for me as I pursue broadcasting

UVA Basketball is in Louisville for the Sweet Sixteen, and I’m not there, because I’m pursuing a dream that isn’t going to come true.

I know this already, and yet, I’m still trying.

The dream is broadcasting. I’m entering my fifth sports season doing ESPN3 broadcasts, primarily of games involving teams at VMI, which has become a sort of second home for me since my debut doing a handful of baseball games back in 2015.

The goal all along has been to build a resume that would get the attention of folks somewhere in the chain up the ladder at ESPN in advance of the ramp up toward the launch of the ACC Network, which will finally go live this fall.

I’ve done baseball, football, men’s and women’s soccer, wrestling, women’s water polo, all aiming to show my versatility, and most importantly, that I will show up.

It’s the show up part of things that was key to me this weekend.

I’ve also been a beat writer covering UVA Basketball dating back to the late 1990s, and for Augusta Free Press dating back to our founding in 2002.

I’ve covered the ‘Hoos through thick and thin – and a lot of thin. Losing seasons, NITs, CBIs.

This is the second Sweet Sixteen that I’m missing to answer the call on an early-season baseball assignment.

Back in 2016, I was scheduled to go to Chicago to follow UVA to the Midwest Regional, where the Cavaliers advanced to the Elite Eight, before falling to Syracuse.

There was a plan in place that spring to go to the Final Four had Virginia advanced.

There is no such plan in place for me this time around.

I have another assignment next weekend.

I’m doing it because I’m trying to prove myself, though I’m still not sure to whom.

The launch of the ACC Network promises to expand the amount of live sporting events available to viewers, meaning, by extension, an expansion in the number of opportunities to broadcasters to flesh out the people wearing headsets.

I’ve got a couple of big things working against me.

One, I’m kinda old, at 46, turning 47 this summer.

Elephant in the room there for me. There’s plenty of talent that is younger, trained – I’ve still never taken a journalism or broadcast class, much less earned a degree in either field.

Mid-40s is ancient for a guy trying to work up from the lowest rung of the broadcast ladder, which is where I am now.

Two, I’m not a former player, which, for me, and my strength, being as a color analyst, not good.

That this is a limitation was made abundantly clear to me a couple of years back. I was getting ready to start my second full season doing ESPN3 broadcasts of Southern Conference baseball, and I happened to be in the press box at an early-season UVA baseball game, when I overheard the play-by-play guy on the UVA broadcast tell a reporter that they were desperately looking for a color guy to work upcoming games that were to be broadcast on ESPN3, because otherwise he was going to be doing those games solo.

After the game, I introduced myself, offered that I’d done a full season of ESPN3 broadcasts the season before, had six years of experience doing summer college baseball on the radio, and would be glad to help in any way I could.

Sorry, I was told, but, they were looking for a former player, so, thanks, but, no thanks.

I dialed up the next couple of broadcasts to see what had been done in terms of a solution, to see that the play-by-play guy was working those games alone, which, that right there should have been the writing on the wall to me, right?

Here I am, doing every baseball game, soccer match, wrestling meet and water-polo contest I can do to prove my worth, and the people I’m trying to impress would rather not hire anybody than hire me, even for one game.

And yet, here I am, writing this column from the comfy confines of the home office, while my colleague, Scott German, is on his way to Louisville, to cover the Sweet Sixteen for AFP.

I have baseball Friday-Sunday, and then again next week, Tuesday, then Friday-Sunday.

If UVA Basketball makes it to the Final Four, I’m not going. I’m calling the action for more SoCon baseball, and rushing home to catch the basketball on the TV.

All so that I can impress people who don’t even know that I exist.

Don’t get me wrong: I love baseball, and as I said earlier in this piece, VMI has become a second home to me.

The folks there actually seem to want me there, which, you know, makes you feel good.

If this is where I end up topping out as a broadcaster, and odds are, this is almost certainly going to be the case, I could have done a lot worse.

They gave me a chance, multiple chances, to pursue my dream, to get better, to hone my craft.

I’ve had the chance to do play-by-play, color, sometimes both at the same time, for going on 100 live broadcasts, and counting.

But I’d be lying if I said my head isn’t in Louisville right now. I’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunity the past 20 years to cover UVA Basketball from the ground up, and it feels odd, with the program on the verge of doing something special, to be watching whatever is about to unfold from afar.

The strong feeling that I have that none of what I’m doing is going to pay off the way I want it to makes it all the more difficult.

Column by Chris Graham