A national radio audience learned Wednesday that Roanoke is a poster city for March Madness.

Syndicated talk-show host Dan Patrick went searching for an employee who wanted to skip work in order to watch the NCAA men's basketball tournament and came up with Nathan Libassi, director of social services for Avante of Roanoke.

Libassi's boss at Avante, a skilled nursing facility in Roanoke, is fellow Cave Spring graduate, Jeff Walrond. They were guests on the third hour of Patrick's program on Fox Sports Radio.

Patrick began the interview by asking Libassi, "How valuable are you at your place of employment?"

"Um," said Libassi, hesitating for a moment. "They can't survive without me."

Then, Patrick asked Walrond if he would describe Libassi as a good employee.

"He's average," Walrond responded.

Walrond didn't know he was going on the air until 30 minutes before air time, when he took a call from Patrick's producer. But, he was ready.

"Six-three, 240," said Walrond, a frequent Patrick listener who knows Patrick's habit of taking a caller's height and weight.

Patrick discovered Walrond and Libassi from an e-mail Libassi sent to the show's Web site.

"I already have two boys ages 5 and 22 months," Libassi wrote. "My wife gave birth to a baby girl on March 2. On March 10, I had to trade in my car for a brand new minivan. On March 12, I had a vasectomy.

"I'm operating with a lot of stress in my life and am barely hanging on to my Man Card. ... It will give me a chance to rub in my wife's face that her alma mater, Virginia Tech, didn't make the tournament."

Libassi, 28, isn't sure why he was chosen from a group of five respondents but figures the minivan and the vasectomy, a family-planning procedure, were the clincher.

"What's more painful, the vasectomy or the minivan?" Patrick asked.

"Oh, the minivan," Libassi said.

"That's what I thought," Patrick said.

Libassi is a Kentucky fan and Walrond was willing to let him take Thursday off. However, the Wildcats play Thursday at 9:30 p.m., after the end of Libassi's work day. So, he's opting for Friday as his off day.

"I'm probably going to go over to the local Buffalo Wild Wings and get a bucket of beer," Libassi said.

"Now, will you sit on the bucket of beer or drink the bucket of beer?" Patrick said.

Libassi was thoughtful enough to let his wife, Mandy, know that he had e-mailed the Patrick show and had provided details in making his case.

"She thought I was an idiot," Libassi said.

Mandy Libassi took a break from her child care to listen to her husband and his boss while they yucked it up with Patrick.

"I was thinking that it was me that needed the day off and not him," she said.

Walrond said Libassi complained about his impending vasectomy for a month.

"He's a bit of a whiner," Mandy Libassi said. "He complained about the minivan, but I'm the one who has to drive it. He had to get rid of his car, but I'll be driving the minivan."

Walrond said Libassi would be paid for his day off.

"I figured, if he has the guts to talk about his surgery on the radio, I'd give him the day off," Walrond said.

It wasn't as if the Libassis won the lottery. To hear the excitement in Libassi's voice, the national radio appearance might have been the highlight.

"I'd definitely agree with that," his wife said.