{"id":2468,"date":"2011-05-26T21:00:29","date_gmt":"2011-05-27T01:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=2468"},"modified":"2011-05-26T21:02:15","modified_gmt":"2011-05-27T01:02:15","slug":"bridgeforth-stadium-claims-its-first-victim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=2468","title":{"rendered":"Bridgeforth Stadium Claims Its First Victim"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/stadium.jpg\"><img data-attachment-id=\"2469\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?attachment_id=2469\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/stadium.jpg?fit=720%2C538&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"720,538\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"stadium\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/stadium.jpg?fit=300%2C224&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/stadium.jpg?fit=720%2C538&amp;ssl=1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2469\" title=\"stadium\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/stadium.jpg?resize=576%2C430\" alt=\"\" width=\"576\" height=\"430\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/stadium.jpg?w=720&amp;ssl=1 720w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/stadium.jpg?resize=300%2C224&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The above picture was posted to Facebook by Todd last Friday afternoon. Nobody has seen or heard from him since.\u00a0As many of you know, Todd was really excited about the new stadium. Really, really excited. He&#8217;d been looking forward to\u00a0last week&#8217;s\u00a0trip down to campus for months. He claimed that he was just stopping through the &#8216;Burg on his way to some race he was running in West Virginia. The truth was that he just had to see the upper deck with his own two eyes before last Saturday. You\u00a0know,\u00a0in case that whole rapture thing came true.<\/p>\n<p>Todd set out for JMU last\u00a0Friday morning with bright eyes and a clear mind. It was a drive he&#8217;s made hundreds of times.\u00a0He probably arrived on campus about lunchtime, parked his car,\u00a0and headed directly to the steps to take the picture. I can just imagine him standing there on the steps, full of pride like a man about to summit Everest. His hands were probably\u00a0trembling as he brought the camera up to take the shot due to the massive amount of adrenaline rushing through his veins.\u00a0And then he got it. The perfect shot was his. And I haven&#8217;t heard from him since.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not sure what happend to him. Maybe he&#8217;s still there, unable to look away and determined to stand by until gameday in September. Maybe\u00a0he was so overcome with joy by the experience that he&#8217;s wandering around the bowels of the stadium with an ear to ear grin mumbling &#8220;Bridgeforth&#8230;Bridgeforth.&#8221; Maybe he&#8217;s\u00a0drifting through campus hugging complete strangers. I really don&#8217;t know. I miss him, but I know how much it meant to him to see the stadium.\u00a0And\u00a0because he saw it, I know that wherever he is, he&#8217;s at peace.<\/p>\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fjmusportsblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D2468&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=80\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height:80px;\" allowTransparency=\"true\"><\/iframe>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The above picture was posted to Facebook by Todd last Friday afternoon. Nobody has seen or heard from him since.\u00a0As many of you know, Todd was really excited about the new stadium. Really, really excited. He&#8217;d been looking forward to\u00a0last week&#8217;s\u00a0trip down to campus for months. He claimed that he was just stopping through the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[58,456,179],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4256,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=4256","url_meta":{"origin":2468,"position":0},"title":"GAMEWEEK!","date":"August 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"There is a game at Bridgeforth Stadium at 6 p.m. this Saturday night! That's really all we want to say in this post, but here are a few link to tide you over until our CAA preview and picks Wednesday and our game preview (with Beer of the Week of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/arthur-moats-brett-favre-2010-12-5-14-10-0-300x235.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3048,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=3048","url_meta":{"origin":2468,"position":1},"title":"On Arriving Late and Leaving Early","date":"October 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"JMU absolutely crushed one of its biggest rivals on Saturday in front of over 25,000 fans. The 31-7 victory over Richmond moved the Dukes to 4-1 on the season and 2-0 in the CAA. It was one of the most dominating JMU defensive performances in a long time. So I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/bf-crowd-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2646,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=2646","url_meta":{"origin":2468,"position":2},"title":"Bridgeforth Stadium Is All Grown Up","date":"June 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"JMU has invested a lot of money in athletic facilities over the past few years. The softball complex, new baseball stadium, and other upgrades have been great. Of\u00a0course the crown jewel is the expansion of Bridgeforth Stadium. We're still 71 days away from filing into the stadium to kick off\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/open-laptop_edited-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4092,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=4092","url_meta":{"origin":2468,"position":3},"title":"Yeah, Bridgeforth Stadium Was Underwater","date":"July 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"JMU was hit with flash flooding Saturday and as a result, Bridgeforth was briefly turned into the largest pool (or worst lake depending on your perspective) in the Valley. Amazingly enough, the water receded and things were in good enough shape that they were even able to hold a football\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/JMU-stadium-flood.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2919,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=2919","url_meta":{"origin":2468,"position":4},"title":"CCSU @ JMU Game #2 Preview","date":"September 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"It's finally here!\u00a0 Despite all the hoopla before, and the handwringing after, last week's game, September 10, 2011 is the date true Dukes fans have had circled on their calendars for years now.\u00a0 Night game, NEW BRIDGEFORTH opens!\u00a0 Seriously, it's almost too overwhelming to calm down, focus on the game,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8963,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=8963","url_meta":{"origin":2468,"position":5},"title":"Guest Post: I Want to Party Like It&#8217;s 1999!","date":"October 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Jonathan K. won our prediction contest last week and earned the right to guest post. Here's his look back at JMU football through the years. In the fall of 1999, I walked onto the campus of James Madison University with bright eyes and big dreams. JMU\u2019s football program was also\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"endzone","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/endzone-1024x512.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2468"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2472,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468\/revisions\/2472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}