He told a "small world" story about Mike Young, and though I've told this story a couple times, I'll tell it again. (It's not nearly as good as his, though.)

I lived in Radford as a kid, from 1969-1974, and made friends with the Davis brothers (Richie, Bev, Bob) and Phil Williams, who all lived within a block of me. My family moved out of Radford in 1974 and went to Charlottesville, where I would graduate high school in 1983.

In the springs of 1981 and 1983, Radford High School made the 2A state final four, which was at that time played at University Hall in Charlottesville. Phil of course starred for Radford, both in 1981 as a sophomore and 1983 as a senior. I was still friends with the guys and went to see them play both times, hung out with them, etc.

In 1981, Radford lost in the semifinals to Harrisonburg, who was led by Pee Wee Barber. Radford was good, but Pee Wee was unstoppable.

That was just the sophomore year of high school for me, Phil, and Pee Wee Barber. I of course later went to Tech, as did Phil, where he played for VT from 1983-1987. Pee Wee went to Ferrum for two years, then he played for Florida State and tortured Virginia Tech for a couple years: 1985-86 and 1986-87.

Pee Wee eventually got thrown into prison for drug offenses under the "three strikes and you're out" rules. Phil by that time worked in probation and parole, and he "processed" Pee Wee for at least one of those offenses, so the former high school stars and Metro Conference basketball players encountered one another yet again.

I've told that story a bunch of times, but one of the things I find most interesting is to think back to that Radford-Harrisonburg game in the spring of 1981. If you had tapped me on the shoulder and told me what would happen to Phil and Pee Wee, I would have found it interesting and completely possible.

But if you had tapped me on the shoulder and said, "See that senior guard for Radford, that guy you don't know? His name is Mike Young, and he's going to be the head coach at Virginia Tech one day. And you're going to start an Internet business called Tech Sideline and write about him and talk about him on podcasts."

I would have said, "Wow, really .... *that guy's* going to be the head coach at Virginia Tech? ... And what's the Internet? And what's a podcast?"