The unofficial online home for fans of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

I live on the Peninsula as do many Monarchs. Over the last 3 weeks there has not been 1 main article about ODU Athletics while the have been numerous articles about UVA, Hokie high, the CAA, HU, and CNU. There was extensive coverage of the ACC and CAA media days. Nothing has been written on CUSA or ODU football. Here it is ODU's first year as a full FBS member of CUSA, bowl eligible, and conference championship eligible and not one mention of ODU in 3 weeks. Personally, David Teel, the JMU home bagger, and the rest of the daily press will not get a single penny of my hard earned money anymore. I am canceling my subscription and buying a subscription to the Va. Pilot.

I just don't understand the thought process of the Daily Depressed. There are many Monarch alums on the Peninsula and they have decided not to serve us at all. I urge ALL monarchs to cancel their subscription and enroll in the online version of the Va. Pilot.

If you are into high school sports or the ACC, the Daily Depress is a solid paper. Otherwise, the sports page is useless. Furthermore, since they moved their printing up North, they now don't even post results of games from the night before unless they ended really early. The only way we'll get coverage is to win and build a regional bandwagon. I also live in NN, but I already don't subscribe.

There is a huge ODU alumni base on the Peninsula. Where I work at NNS we have about 965 ODU alums, most are male. The lack of ODU coverage lead me to drop my subscription. The Daily Press is missing the boat big time. We'll get there, just keep moving forward.

seeing how much coverage ODU gets in the Pilot, and the amount of $ it spends advertising, maybe ODU should look at something similar with the DP. It might be $ well spent

ODU isn't in the Daily Press's circulation area, and while in years past they tried to cover it that way, the sad fact is they've lost a lot of reporters and editors because of cutbacks/layoffs/general newspaper issues. Not only has the newspaper economy been bad for the better part of eight years, but they're a Tribune paper, which means they've suffered even more with the economic downturn coincided with an attempt to go private, forcing them into bankruptcy a few years ago. They're in the process of moving from their longtime location on Warwick Blvd. near the James River Bridge to Oyster Point (good news: easy access to Toby Keith's I Love This Bar; bad news: easy access to Toby Keith's I Love This Bar).

I suspect they'd cover ODU hard if they could, but there's only but so many people on staff these days. At one point they had a dedicated William & Mary reporter. I think later that reporter had to split duties with Hampton and possibly CNU (or maybe there was a W&M/Hampton and CNU/Apprentice/high school reporter; my memory is a bit fuzzy). I think now a lot of their W&M coverage is produced by the sports editor of the Virginia Gazette, which they own.

Not sure what the answer is, but it's not one that'll lead to the same level of ODU coverage that you would have come to expect 10 years ago, anyway.

Not buying it at all ! Don't tell me over the last 3 weeks they could not have done one article about ODU football being a full FBS member this year and in CUSA. In addition, they continually cover recruiting at VT and UVA trying to promote those programs over us. I just find that unacceptable considering how many ODU players in many sports come from the peninsula. I think there is a huge bias against ODU as far as the sports writers are concerned at the Daily Press.

I'm not buying it either. ODU alums live in the 757.

ODU 18miles from their office
W&M 32mi
ECU 125mi
UVa 156mi
UMd 196mi
UNC 202mi
VaTech. 300mi

There are 8 FBS schools closer to the Daily Press than VaTech, they seem to have enought money to cover them. But we are the local FBS team. Also think about the number of local players we have on the team, there are many in the 757 who knows someone or the family member of someone on the team.

The Daily Press sports section has been and continues to be a failure. The 757 is loaded with ODU alumni and is without question the largest sport story in the area during football season; a very local paper should reflect this in their reporting. Most of the coverage I've read in the DP about ODU has been negative or a lukewarm reception to whenever there's success in our programs.

I really have no problem getting my ODU fix.


Anyway, one minute ago

David Teel @DavidTeelatDP · 1m

.@ODUFootball announces season tix sold out for 6th consecutive season. Flex tix still available -- different seats for each game.

If the Daily Press is to get my $$$ then it needs a dedicated ODU football and basketball reporter. Until then, Harry and Ed are great and I have no problem supporting their excellent work.

Occasionally, one of the Daily Press' reporters will mention some highlight about the status of ODU's program but the details are normally a carbon copy of something Harry has posted. Heck, most of the tweets from DP reporters are retweets or summaries from Harry's own work!

You got it bad in NN, but here in E City, NC, the Daily Advance is worse!

http://www.dailypress.com/about/mediagro...-newsroom/

Scroll down to the sports section. Right now they have nine people that have anything to do with sports in the newsroom, of which there's only three reporters and two columnists, one of whom also contributes reporting. They don't even have a dedicated William and Mary or Hampton reporter, and both of them are closer to them than ODU.

If you want them covering ODU, you should reach out to their sports editor and let her know. If enough people show interest to them, they'll pay attention -- within reason. But don't expect miracles either.

Trust me on this, it's a tough time for newspapers, and they've had to make tough decisions because they don't have the manpower to do everything they want. They used to have a Redskins writer. No more. They used to have a NASCAR writer, a nationally-known one at that. No more. They used to have Virginia and Virginia Tech writers. Now one tries to cover both. They used to have reporters covering William and Mary, Hampton, CNU, ODU, the Tides and the Admirals. Now they don't. I'd be willing to wager that there isn't a single sports section in the country that is covering everything they want to the degree they want to. It's hard times, and with hard times come difficult choices in which they have to decide not how to make their coverage better, but how to hurt it the least. Take it from someone who, for now, makes a living in this business. It sucks. It sucks butt.

If I am not mistaken, back when Tony Mercurio was still at ESPN and ODU had not yet announced that they would be leaving the CAA, but rumors were hot and heavy that ODU would become a new member of CUSA. Well at that time Mercurio often had David Teal on in a weekly segment. The two of them tag teamed slicing dicing and putting a spin on their opinion why ODU’s potential move was the worst thing that could happen to Old Dominion if they made this horrendous mistake. Teal was asked by Tony if he thought that jmu may also be in the mix. BINGO, Teal did a 180 “Oh yea” and said “that would be the only way this could ever work for ODU”. Otherwise they will be in a conference with no identity and will be so wide flung that it would never be a positive move.

As a follow up to illustrate the fact that David Teel has a bias against Old Dominion and he made an obvious decision to ignore them as much as possible Sometime in August of last year Teal was on the Nick Cattles show...LOL, wasted radio air time. Teal was asked to report on Tech, UVA, Madison, Richmond, W&M and when asked about ODU, he laughed and quickly stated they would be crushed by ECU, Maryland and all the FBS opponents last season and felt the move was a mistake. Teal’s ineptness in reporting what the peninsula readers have asked for and desire will never be recognized. Regardless of what the readers have truly requested, ODU’s reporting continues to be ignored. They have no desire to increase a share of the market that has been knocking on the back door. To me seems like a really bad decision to overlook this growing and under reported market.

Daily Press??? Never heard of that paper..

(07-25-2014 08:34 PM)ODU Oldtimer Wrote:  If I am not mistaken, back when Tony Mercurio was still at ESPN and ODU had not yet announced that they would be leaving the CAA, but rumors were hot and heavy that ODU would become a new member of CUSA. Well at that time Mercurio often had David Teal on in a weekly segment. The two of them tag teamed slicing dicing and putting a spin on their opinion why ODU’s potential move was the worst thing that could happen to Old Dominion if they made this horrendous mistake. Teal was asked by Tony if he thought that jmu may also be in the mix. BINGO, Teal did a 180 “Oh yea” and said “that would be the only way this could ever work for ODU”. Otherwise they will be in a conference with no identity and will be so wide flung that it would never be a positive move.

As a follow up to illustrate the fact that David Teel has a bias against Old Dominion and he made an obvious decision to ignore them as much as possible Sometime in August of last year Teal was on the Nick Cattles show...LOL, wasted radio air time. Teal was asked to report on Tech, UVA, Madison, Richmond, W&M and when asked about ODU, he laughed and quickly stated they would be crushed by ECU, Maryland and all the FBS opponents last season and felt the move was a mistake. Teal’s ineptness in reporting what the peninsula readers have asked for and desire will never be recognized. Regardless of what the readers have truly requested, ODU’s reporting continues to be ignored. They have no desire to increase a share of the market that has been knocking on the back door. To me seems like a really bad decision to overlook this growing and under reported market.

Teel is a columnist, though. He's not the ODU beat writer. An unbiased columnist is an unemployed columnist. And he only represents the guy whose mugshot tops his column. It's a long stretch from "David Teel doesn't think much of ODU" to "the Daily Press is ignoring ODU against their own economic interests"

Have Peninsula-area ODU fans/alumni made an effort to contact the Daily Press sports editor to get answers? You're probably not going to get an ODU beat reinstated immediately, and there's a chance it won't have an impact at all, but if there's any hope, it'll come from making an effort talk to someone there, instead of here.

(07-25-2014 08:54 PM)Cyniclone Wrote:  

(07-25-2014 08:34 PM)ODU Oldtimer Wrote:  If I am not mistaken, back when Tony Mercurio was still at ESPN and ODU had not yet announced that they would be leaving the CAA, but rumors were hot and heavy that ODU would become a new member of CUSA. Well at that time Mercurio often had David Teal on in a weekly segment. The two of them tag teamed slicing dicing and putting a spin on their opinion why ODU’s potential move was the worst thing that could happen to Old Dominion if they made this horrendous mistake. Teal was asked by Tony if he thought that jmu may also be in the mix. BINGO, Teal did a 180 “Oh yea” and said “that would be the only way this could ever work for ODU”. Otherwise they will be in a conference with no identity and will be so wide flung that it would never be a positive move.

As a follow up to illustrate the fact that David Teel has a bias against Old Dominion and he made an obvious decision to ignore them as much as possible Sometime in August of last year Teal was on the Nick Cattles show...LOL, wasted radio air time. Teal was asked to report on Tech, UVA, Madison, Richmond, W&M and when asked about ODU, he laughed and quickly stated they would be crushed by ECU, Maryland and all the FBS opponents last season and felt the move was a mistake. Teal’s ineptness in reporting what the peninsula readers have asked for and desire will never be recognized. Regardless of what the readers have truly requested, ODU’s reporting continues to be ignored. They have no desire to increase a share of the market that has been knocking on the back door. To me seems like a really bad decision to overlook this growing and under reported market.

Teel is a columnist, though. He's not the ODU beat writer. An unbiased columnist is an unemployed columnist. And he only represents the guy whose mugshot tops his column. It's a long stretch from "David Teel doesn't think much of ODU" to "the Daily Press is ignoring ODU against their own economic interests"

Have Peninsula-area ODU fans/alumni made an effort to contact the Daily Press sports editor to get answers? You're probably not going to get an ODU beat reinstated immediately, and there's a chance it won't have an impact at all, but if there's any hope, it'll come from making an effort talk to someone there, instead of here.

His twitter page says he is the Daily Press Reporter for College Sports ACC, and other college sports....
David Teel

@DavidTeelatDP
New dad, veteran scribe, habitual runner. Reporting on ACC, other college sports for Daily Press.
Newport News, Va.

And yes I have e-mailed in the past. (Not in the last 18 months) I felt it went on deaf ears. I had sent a total of three emails in the last few years and got one response. So the impression I was left with became a lasting impression. It is what it is.

(07-25-2014 08:34 PM)ODU Oldtimer Wrote:  If I am not mistaken, back when Tony Mercurio was still at ESPN and ODU had not yet announced that they would be leaving the CAA, but rumors were hot and heavy that ODU would become a new member of CUSA. Well at that time Mercurio often had David Teal on in a weekly segment. The two of them tag teamed slicing dicing and putting a spin on their opinion why ODU’s potential move was the worst thing that could happen to Old Dominion if they made this horrendous mistake. Teal was asked by Tony if he thought that jmu may also be in the mix. BINGO, Teal did a 180 “Oh yea” and said “that would be the only way this could ever work for ODU”. Otherwise they will be in a conference with no identity and will be so wide flung that it would never be a positive move.

As a follow up to illustrate the fact that David Teel has a bias against Old Dominion and he made an obvious decision to ignore them as much as possible Sometime in August of last year Teal was on the Nick Cattles show...LOL, wasted radio air time. Teal was asked to report on Tech, UVA, Madison, Richmond, W&M and when asked about ODU, he laughed and quickly stated they would be crushed by ECU, Maryland and all the FBS opponents last season and felt the move was a mistake. Teal’s ineptness in reporting what the peninsula readers have asked for and desire will never be recognized. Regardless of what the readers have truly requested, ODU’s reporting continues to be ignored. They have no desire to increase a share of the market that has been knocking on the back door. To me seems like a really bad decision to overlook this growing and under reported market.

You are correct on all counts old timer.
With that said, there is certainly resentment from all of our former instate conference rivals largely due to the success of ODU football and leaving (what is now) a tremendously weakened CAA. The jealousy is obvious and the criticism is petty or inaccurate at best. There are quite a few people (and sadly some in the press) that very much want to see ODU fail in Conference USA.

The reality is when there is interest in any commodity, the more exposure, hype and promotion the product receives the more interest is developed. No one wants to be a pioneer. If the public is exposed to the momentum of any HOT COMMODITY it will snowball and fans are no different. Ask McDonalds executives or Wal-Mart PR people and how they market any product that shows promise through a test promotion. You can have a great product and without the proper advertising it will only go so far. Exposure promotion will always increase demand 10 fold. When there is already a built in market for a product allowing the public to be exposed to the product with good reporting and allowing the public to take a peek inside the inner circle with sports scoops about a sports teams will sell. Fans will latch on and the intensity of the fan base will grow dramatically. If you add the element of an underdog, competitive rivalries or a team excelling beyond what was anticipated that will always be a big hit.

I understand that the newspaper business will never sell the number of papers it may have in the past. But the internet mixed with the right media exposure will sell and make money as well. Advertising dollars will follow, to be sold with on-line media blogs, sports columns and non traditional media outlets. If anything I would think the Daily Press would be anxious to take a leap of faith and create a relationship with Old Dominion’s football success.

I would guarantee one of the most popular blogs the Pilot has from June thru early winter is Harry’s column/blog about ODU football and information about recruits, stadium expansion and any other inside reporting that Harry offers to ODU fans. I am sure it is obvious to them at the (DP) that the interest is there. The Daily Press may have to be creative and innovative to offer exciting NEW information that will develop a relationship between ODU fans and the DP.

Look at Harry, he tweets 30 -40 tweets every week about ODU, especially this time of year. Harry’s tweets are not just football or sports related. I went back and checked David Teel’s tweets, DT Tweeted yesterday “ODU sells out for the 6th consecutive year” That was Teel’s 1st ODU tweet in maybe 2 months. Clearly illustrates the interest level that David Teel/DP has when it comes to the only FBS program that is in their backyard and has tens of thousands of Alumni from ODU living on the Peninsula.

Below is just an overview of approximate tweets from DT the last five months.

March –Today (Approximations) except ODU number.
There are literally thousands of tweets about
UVA , VA Tech, ACC, VCU

Several tweets (7-40 each for the below topics)
World Cup, CAA, JMU, W&M, Hampton, MLB, NBA other FBS Football programs

ODU 3 in the last 5 months (one yesterday tweeting that ODU has SOLD OUT 6 consecutive years)
CUSA 0

I rest my case.

(The jury files in and is seated.)

Judge:

"Ladies and gentlement of the jury. You deliberated for only two minutes. Have you reached a verdict?"

(The foreman stands.)

Foreman:

'Yes, you honor."

Judge:

"Will the defendent please rise? (Mr. Teal stands.) Mr. Foreman, will you please read the verdict?"

Foreman:

"In the case of ODU v. David Teal and The Daily Press, the jury finds the defendents -- guilty as charged on all counts."

Judge:

"The defendent will be held for sentencing. This court is adjourned"

(Judge raps his gavel.)

Cue music and fade.

We've got to find the right balance. The key is to target the 757 and the state but also to showcase an inviting product to future fans.

That's a delicate blend of being both excited about what we have but also NOT forcing it down everyone's throat.

DP and VP do have limited resources. What bothers me is the repeated VCU basketball columns in the DP. Who cares?

I think our fans have a pride about them, like our local 757 athletes, where they don't want to hear about Tech, UVA, JMU and VCU.

We are getting there, but not there yet.


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