[Originally posted on the now-defunct “Aztexan” blog.]

My first 3 open letter posts have been full of anger and attack, but this fourth and final one is quite different. This one’s addressed not to those who have done me wrong, but to those, near and far, who are victims along with me.

My message is as short as it is predictable: thanks. Thanks for the good times, thanks for the beer, thanks for the hilarious chants, thanks for welcoming me in.

I’m done now, both with these post-mortem writings, and with this blog. Though I sometimes covered things other than the Aztex – UT, Pelada, WPS – those were all just extras. I was using my little soapbox to promote a few side things that I thought might be of interest to Aztex and Division-2 fans. But this blog isn’t the CentralTexasMiscellanean, it’s the Aztexan. No Aztex, no Aztexan.

Who knows what will happen with pro soccer in Austin now. I go back and forth between being certain that it will be a long, long time before anyone even tries again, to wondering if the crazy schemers on the BigSoccer Aztex forum who are talking about a community-owned team might actually be able to pull something off.

If and when there’s a team to watch again, you’ll be able to find me in the bleachers at their games. I’ll be the one lost in the beauty of the game, transported to a place a million miles away from the pain of this week.