Written by Virginia Tech insider and award-winning writer Chris Colston, the HokieFootball Annual 2012 is "The Book of Tech." Colston presents 11 information-packed chapters on the past, present and future of the Hokie football program. We challenge you to find a single more comprehensive piece of literature about Virginia Tech football. At just $9.99, it's a no-brainer for any Tech fan. Here's one excerpt from the book, a follow-up to an in-depth profile of Bud Foster in Chapter Three.


HOKIEFOOTBALL ANNUAL: What is it about you that might surprise some people?

BUD FOSTER: I’m a huge music buff. I’ve got 4,100 of my favorite songs sorted on my computer. I tried ranking them, but the list always changes.

HFA: So if anyone wants to get you a gift, an iTunes gift card works.

BF: That would be the best gift anybody could give me.

HFA: What kind of music do you like?

BF: I like classic rock, old R&B, some of the older rap. I like the blues. Not the cryin’ blues but the Stevie Ray Vaughan kind of blues. Kenny Wayne Shepherd, guitar rock.

I love Eric Clapton. He’s an innovator, a creator. I like the Allman Brothers. Marshall Tucker was one of my favorites from back in the day. A new guy I like is Eric Lindell, He’s kind of a jazzy-bluesy, San Francisco-sound kind of guy. He’s got a unique voice. I’m getting into a lot of good contemporary artists. I don’t know if music is what it once was, but that’s the beauty of iTunes. You can find one artist you like, and it branches you out. My kids (Grant, 25, and Hillary, 23, and Amy, 32) turn me on to a lot of stuff.

HFA: You into Springsteen at all?

BF: Bruce Springsteen, I like him a lot. Bruce is one of those, you can really like him or you can really, you know…there are some of his songs I really like and some…but he’s Bruce Springsteen though. I just downloaded a concert he played in London a couple of years ago. It’s got Clarence Clemons and all that stuff on there.

HFA: What’s this I heard about you squawking like a chicken up at your house on Claytor Lake?

BF: That’s “Chicken Train” by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Growing up I was a big southern rock fan. These guys I hang with at the lake, they play music. I can play the shaker and some stuff. I can keep a beat. I’m the human metronome. At the end of the night, outside at the lake house around the fire, we’ll crank it up and play that song. When that chicken part comes in, yeah, we’ll squawk.

About every other year we’ll have a band for the Fourth of July. Last year was a bluegrass band. My buddies had their band, and they joined together and played “Chicken Train.” I think we get better and better every time we do it. I tell you what, you know we’re having a big time when we get into “Chicken Train.”

HFA: So what’s your favorite meal?

BF: I’m a steak and potato man. Grill out a steak, vegetables on the grill, onions and peppers. I have some good friends down there at the lake who are there all summer long and we’ll cook with each other.

HFA: Dessert?

BF: I’ve always been a cheesecake guy. My mom made a great cherry cheesecake.

HFA: Up at the lake, you have a fishing boat and a wakeboarding boat.

BF: The wakeboarding boat is a 22-foot Centurion. I used to wakeboard, but not anymore. One time I face-planted so hard it flipped my eyelids up. So I quit that. I’ve gotten into this surfing now. That’s the older man’s sport.

HFA: Surfing? On Claytor Lake?

BF: The boat has ballasts, called “fat sacks.” You fill them up with water to push one side of the boat down to create a bigger wake, a bigger curl. If you put four or five guys on that one side, it sets down even more.

HFA: So then what?

BF: You get on the surfboard, hold to the rope, and the boat pulls you up. Once you get going you fling away the rope. It took me a week to learn how to balance. You just have to do it a lot. It’s fun. The younger kids will get out there and spin around, but I just get up and ride it.

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