There was a time when I was younger, that my Hokies losing a game might affect me for a whole week. I would be irritable at work, short at home, and generally unhappy...my expectations weren't met.

Later in life, the losses stung that night, and by the time the sun rose, I was on to life's daily chores and while disappointed, I moved on.

This season though has affected me at a very quiet yet deeply interesting way. The best way to describe it is "fear". I am afraid of the type of fan I will be...or perhaps after multiple years of mediocrity, maybe wont be. I think I "fear" if I will be the fair weather fan. I have no basis for that feeling, and since I have an RV currently sitting at the VT Airport, waiting to host me for the Miami game this weekend, I am fairly all in these days.

Part of all this is the speed at which it's happened. I am sure this fall was easier for Hoo's as they were the proverbial frog in the frying pan...it was a slow decline. This has been precipitous, almost like loosing your breath - shocking - and scary in it's speed - and there's a bottomless feeling about - like when's it gonna end - LOL.

Then a thought occurred to me while reading Will's thoughts...I have been going to Hokie football games since the late 70's when I was just 7 years old. We come in the late summer, set up that first tailgate, with all the possibilities, the hopes, and the eternal optimism that comes with that first game. We plow through the season, dreaming up fantastic tailgate menu's to excite the palate and show our remote cooking muscle (like our Texas State Fair tailgate where we fry anything we can find - the more odd the better). We play games, throw the football, watch the other games, make fun of Hoo's, and all the while my now two teenage kids have grown up around all this.

So at the end of the day, what transcends all of what we see on the field, all the plays we question, all the missed tackles and the general shock and awe of this season, is that at the BC game, we jumped, we screamed, we sang Enter Sandman (a new wrinkle I love btw), we lost, my daughter cried (as she does everytime we lose), but WE WERE THERE. We have always been there...

Regardless of how this ends, we will be there Saturday afternoon, we will jump, we will scream, we will sing Enter Sandman - we will let Miami, and the rest of college football, know that we aren't here to be gratified by touchdowns and wins - we are here because this is home...this is where we are supposed to be. The folks that sit around me, some are literally family, and others are my 5 year family (thanks to reseating). But they are family - as are the young men on the sidelines in Orange and Maroon. We are the program - and as far as I can tell - WE are having one of the best seasons ever - cooking tailgate food - playing games - making fun of Hoo's and enjoying the company of our friends and family.

This didn't start because of wins and it doesn't end because of a lack of them.

As with all things in life, looking back on our "history", the dark periods will be as important to the picture as the lighter, it's part of our story, and we are living it and we will retell it just like we re-tell the 1995 Sugar Bowl, the Hurricane Ivan game, the Nebraska Game, the BC 1999 game - on the field (maybe on the goal posts...not sure). These will be part of the story and tapestry, and now my kids will carry that forward too when they go to Tech (or not to college at all).

This too we will survive - this too will pass - and this too is part of our story.