Reggie Love's athletic aspirations are on hold.
Long gone are the days captaining Duke basketball and also starring on the football team. And the 26-year-old's NFL dreams are long over, having been cut by the Green Bay Packers and released by the Dallas Cowboys.
Then, rather than accepting a lucrative offer from Goldman Sachs, he took a gamble and elected to take a job paying under $30,000 per year in the mailroom of freshman Senator Barack Obama.
A year later, Obama selected Love as his personal aide. Saying that Love is "like a little brother to me," Obama and Love were rarely apart during the 21-month campaign that ended with Obama being elected President of the United States.
Now, as a part of President-elect Obama's transition team, I spoke with love via phone to go "In Depth":
Bensinger: Prior to being part of the transition team, your most recent role was as the personal aid/body man. How would you describe your duties?
Love: The job doesn't come with a description. It depends on the candidate and who had the job before you. For me, during the campaign, it was pretty simple. After time and practice, and after doing it for 22-consecutive months, you kind of get the hang of it. For example, I was responsible for making sure he had his briefings or knew where he was going or that he packed enough clothes for a 10 day trip or that he was eating breakfast and lunch and dinner or making sure there was a place for him to get in a quick workout when we got up in the morning. Also, when he's really tired, I sometimes had to wake him up in the morning which is not always a lot of fun!
Bensinger: What did that entail?
Love: It really depends -- some days are easier than others. Most of the days are pretty easy, but some days, you try to call him a couple times and the phone is off the hook. So you have to stumble into his room and say, "Excuse me, sir, we gotta get going!" But usually, he pops right out and says, "Hey, another day, gotta go to work!" He's a great guy to campaign with.
Bensinger: I want to go through some moments and get your thoughts on what first comes to mind. I would imagine the hardest part is simply the daunting schedule, but what about the best perk?
Love: For my 26th birthday, I actually got to spend a few hours backstage at the Jay-Z concert with Jay-Z, Beyonce, and Mary J Blige. It was right after the Pennsylvania Primaries so that was a real treat even though the next day we had to be up and on the plane at 6 a.m. It was really nice of my boss to look out for me and to set something up like that for me as well.
Bensinger: The most stressful moment for you, personally.
Love: The most stressful moment is definitely the moments when he asks me for something and I know before I even start looking for it that I don't have it. But I still give a good search around for it!
Graham Bensinger is an NBC Sports Correspondent. His website is www.GrahamBensinger.com. Email Graham at: Graham@TheGBShow.com.