Having been a VT season ticket attendee for at least 27 of my 31 years on this Earth, watching the games recently has led to some puzzling questions. Such as:

We still have 11 players on defense, right? You'd think that SOME of them would get in the way SOME TIMES even just on accident, right?

The performance seems almost inexplicable.

Hear me out:

Bud Foster worked for Frank Beamer ostensibly his whole life. This had to have been the best job ever, right?

All of a sudden, Frank's gone. Now, it's "just another job."

Bud Foster is a multimillionaire. And, if you've paid enough attention or grown up in the area and/or can tell butter from margarine (like Bud can)- you know he's a very heady dude.

The crux of this is- what's in it for him? Why would he keep doing this? He's set. His home is in Blacksburg. He doesn't need to work any more in his whole life. Especially not for somebody else.

So, Bud's done. He's out. And why quit? That wouldn't be prudent. I don't know contract specifics, etc., but I presume getting fired is better than retiring. Even if I'm wrong there, that's irrelevant.

But see, we all know that Bud Foster isn't that selfish. He's not going to just cut his ties and ride off into the sunset. Everyone knows that Bud has been holding the whole damn thing together the whole time. Beamer and Vick, yeah. No loss of credit there. But the whole thing is and always was built on Bud Foster defenses.

So, Bud, being the selfless, caring, loving creature that he is, has decided that he would never just abandon us like that, but that he is, in fact, going to take all of us with him. He knows that we'd continue to hold on to what was, for far too long, if the whole thing weren't Nuked.

This is Bud Foster screaming at the world EVERYONE! GO HOME! THERE'S NOTHING TO SEE HERE!

GO HOME! BE WITH YOUR FAMILIES! GRILL OUT AND HAVE A BEER! SPEND TIME IN NATURE! THAT'S WHAT I'M GOING TO BE DOING!!

We had a good, what, 25-ish-year run?
Stop holding on to it.

The Hokie football that I grew up with was special.
It is dead now. It does not exist.

If you sat in that stadium for the 2018 Notre Dame game and also sat in that stadium for the 2003 Miami game. Or the 1999 Syracuse game. Or- I could go on. If you can't see the contrast, you're in denial.

And this was apparent before Sandman was even done playing, it had/has nothing to do with the result, per se.

The crowd is gentrified.

We lived through something special. I will always love it.

Lane Stadium is nothing but memory lane now, and I will always love it for that.

But this is Bud Foster's opus to the world. There's nothing to see here. It was a good run. There's no reason to work for The Man when you already have everything you'll ever need in this world.

You saw how Bud Foster reacted when faced with Beamer's death, a few years ago, whatever bowl game that was when Frank fell ill prior, or something along those lines. He knows what's important in this life and what's not. He's tired of enabling the rest of us.

It's time to go home now. Be with your families. Be in nature.

I sat in section 11 row ww for years and years and years with my family. And my extended Hokie family. It was like church. The memories created with my father will never be forgotten.

Lot's of them were created at events like going to see Kids Day games against the likes of a Cincinnati or a Rutgers, only to lose the game. Without these experiences, appreciation for the beauty and awe of the whole thing is lost.

This cycle can spring anew, and it surely will, and I hope it is happening over the coming years for new fathers and young tikes all over the commonwealth. Spending time outdoors, being with their family, etc., at Hokie football games. And that will be beautiful, too.

But for now- for the bulk of us- it is time to let go and make room for new growth. And Bud Foster was the life-giver of the whole "thing" and now, fittingly, is the reaper here to usher in the new era.

All that is left now for us is to stand by gracefully as the colors change.

"Let life be beautiful like summer flowers, and death like autumn leaves"

And remember, it is still ... another Great Day to be a Hokie!