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

I think it is a great problem to have that our fans are split on which sport is more important to the school and their own fan interests.

Love that we have OPTIONS!

(10-21-2014 12:34 PM)odusteeler Wrote:  Definitely a football school, regardless of which you prefer. There hasn't been one home basketball game in 10 years that would've put 20K in the stands. Football does this in a weekly basis. My sports interests at ODU are like this:

1) Wrestling
2) Football
3) Baseball
4) Soccer

With a pretty wide margin between 2 & 3. Add hockey & boxing and we'll have all the combat sports covered.

I think this is kind of a shaky argument. Nobody would argue that UNC is a football school, but they put 60,000 fans in Keenan stadium on Saturdays. Attendance, in my opinion, is not an accurate indicator.

(10-21-2014 02:56 PM)Monarchblue Wrote:  

(10-21-2014 12:34 PM)odusteeler Wrote:  Definitely a football school, regardless of which you prefer. There hasn't been one home basketball game in 10 years that would've put 20K in the stands. Football does this in a weekly basis. My sports interests at ODU are like this:

1) Wrestling
2) Football
3) Baseball
4) Soccer

With a pretty wide margin between 2 & 3. Add hockey & boxing and we'll have all the combat sports covered.

I think this is kind of a shaky argument. Nobody would argue that UNC is a football school, but they put 60,000 fans in Keenan stadium on Saturdays. Attendance, in my opinion, is not an accurate indicator.

I think whether we are a football or basketball school is dependent on performance. Football is still getting started and basketball is coming off a low point. UNC is a basketball school because the win championships, but as you said, they love their football as well.

A drinking schooll with a football problem.
j/k

I'm a huge fan of both sports, but I think BB is still my favorite. On any given day, a team at our level can go toe-to-toe in BB with any P5 school. That's much less common in FB.

However, I think FB did wonders at improving the overall talent pool of ODU's cheerleaders!

I am a football first guy. I had to learn to like basketball because ODU didn't have football when I went there.

Ranking the sports I would attend would be:
1. Football
2. Baseball
3. Wrestling
4. Basketball

I know that is a very minority opinion, but it's how I roll.

*Edited to correct "vey" to "very."

I believe we always were a football school waiting to happen. Football will take us places in just a few years where basketball has not done yet. Our basketball will improve as our football program does and eventually basketball will go farther that it has ever been. Football will put the university and our basketball team on the map.

Both sports have good points. Why choose?

Football brought us to basketball and I have to hope it has done or will for many more. We casually followed ODU sports. "Oh, look, ---- team won," or "----team lost." But, once football started we were hooked. We have been to every home game and quite a few road games (Vandy, anyone?). After getting so wrapped up in football, we started to go to both Men's and Women's basketball to pass the time and got hooked there, too. We've had football season tickets, but attended a large number of basketball games getting tickets in other ways. This year we plan to be 3 sport season ticket owners for the first time! We had the Baseball book last year and the Monarch Card the year before. We can be found at a handful of baseball games and even an occasional Field Hockey game. All because of football. Oh, yeah, and besides being ODAF members, we are members of the 1930 Society, as we have be quested our estate (vast as it might be) to Old Dominion.

(10-21-2014 02:56 PM)Monarchblue Wrote:  

(10-21-2014 12:34 PM)odusteeler Wrote:  Definitely a football school, regardless of which you prefer. There hasn't been one home basketball game in 10 years that would've put 20K in the stands. Football does this in a weekly basis. My sports interests at ODU are like this:

1) Wrestling
2) Football
3) Baseball
4) Soccer

With a pretty wide margin between 2 & 3. Add hockey & boxing and we'll have all the combat sports covered.

I think this is kind of a shaky argument. Nobody would argue that UNC is a football school, but they put 60,000 fans in Keenan stadium on Saturdays. Attendance, in my opinion, is not an accurate indicator.

If 60,000 seated basketball arenas were feasible, UNC would have a 60k arena. Syracuse, another basketball school, can pull in over 30k for high profile games with the carrier dome as their home court.

Though attendance cant be the whole argument, as someone mentioned before college football is just as much about the pregame pageantry as it is about the actual game. Where as basketball it simply about going to the game.

Basketball fan first (i.e. championships are won with a good PG in the backcourt... hence the board name). However, football opened up a lot more revenue so football will drive $$$ decisions. And with football followed by basketball, I actually found myself going to more baseball games last year to cope with ODU sports withdrawal.....

As far as the "outside" perception, it still has to be basketball until we make some noise in football bowl games or knock off some P5 schools. "Internal" perception, I think its football because of attendance but if football attendance slips.....

(10-21-2014 07:55 PM)backcourt Wrote:  As far as the "outside" perception, it still has to be basketball until we make some noise in football bowl games or knock off some P5 schools. "Internal" perception, I think its football because of attendance but if football attendance slips.....

It also how you define outsider. If your talking about the actual hardcore college sports fans, then yah were a basketball school. I've gone to my moms hometown in NW Indiana (basketball state nevermind schools), people around there know about ODU and Blaine Taylor (positive things only)

But if the outsiders are college football fans, then I would say by simply being FBS, they view ODU as a football school. Very few schools at this level are considered basketball schools. Whether thats just outisders uniformed opinions or football truly is king even at schools with successful but not elite basketball program, who knows.

(10-21-2014 08:41 PM)ODUChm Wrote:  

(10-21-2014 07:55 PM)backcourt Wrote:  As far as the "outside" perception, it still has to be basketball until we make some noise in football bowl games or knock off some P5 schools. "Internal" perception, I think its football because of attendance but if football attendance slips.....

It also how you define outsider. If your talking about the actual hardcore college sports fans, then yah were a basketball school. I've gone to my moms hometown in NW Indiana (basketball state nevermind schools), people around there know about ODU and Blaine Taylor (positive things only)

But if the outsiders are college football fans, then I would say by simply being FBS, they view ODU as a football school. Very few schools at this level are considered basketball schools. Whether thats just outisders uniformed opinions or football truly is king even at schools with successful but not elite basketball program, who knows.

Good point!

Based on the responses in the November 28th Conundrum thread, I would say we have become a football school. There are a lot of fans that are either going on the road or staying home to watch the football team in a meaningless game against F_U and forgoing the game against VCU at the Ted. To each his or her own, but I can't believe that is even in question. It would be one thing if we were 8-1 and had a shot at a decent bowl bid... While I hope nobody at the Ted spoils it and I can watch the football game at home on the DVR later, it would take an act of God for me to miss a game against VCU at the Ted. I hope we can still fill the Ted.

(10-22-2014 07:25 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  Based on the responses in the November 28th Conundrum thread, I would say we have become a football school. There are a lot of fans that are either going on the road or staying home to watch the football team in a meaningless game against F_U and forgoing the game against VCU at the Ted. To each his or her own, but I can't believe that is even in question. It would be one thing if we were 8-1 and had a shot at a decent bowl bid... While I hope nobody at the Ted spoils it and I can watch the football game at home on the DVR later, it would take an act of God for me to miss a game against VCU at the Ted. I hope we can still fill the Ted.

I guess football truly is king, and college basketball has become a one month sport. To be fair though, Im sure most people going to the game had it planned months before they knew there would be the VCU game.

(10-22-2014 08:22 AM)ODUChm Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 07:25 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  Based on the responses in the November 28th Conundrum thread, I would say we have become a football school. There are a lot of fans that are either going on the road or staying home to watch the football team in a meaningless game against F_U and forgoing the game against VCU at the Ted. To each his or her own, but I can't believe that is even in question. It would be one thing if we were 8-1 and had a shot at a decent bowl bid... While I hope nobody at the Ted spoils it and I can watch the football game at home on the DVR later, it would take an act of God for me to miss a game against VCU at the Ted. I hope we can still fill the Ted.

I guess football truly is king, and college basketball has become a one month sport. To be fair though, Im sure most people going to the game had it planned months before they knew there would be the VCU game.

This is true and I am not in any way trying to put them down, even if they did know about the VCU game. If you prefer football, you should go to or watch that game and there are certainly a lot of reasons to plan a trip to South Florida on Thanksgiving weekend.

I am still hoping to watch the football game ignorant of the result. I hope they don't announce the score at the Ted.

(10-22-2014 08:30 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  I hope they don't announce the score at the Ted.

The chances of that happening are pretty close to zero.

(10-22-2014 08:34 AM)ODU2K1 Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 08:30 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  I hope they don't announce the score at the Ted.

The chances of that happening are pretty close to zero.

Any idea who to email the request to? Maybe if we all ask them not to, they'll oblige (unless it is just me that doesn't want to hear it).

(10-22-2014 08:22 AM)ODUChm Wrote:  

(10-22-2014 07:25 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  Based on the responses in the November 28th Conundrum thread, I would say we have become a football school. There are a lot of fans that are either going on the road or staying home to watch the football team in a meaningless game against F_U and forgoing the game against VCU at the Ted. To each his or her own, but I can't believe that is even in question. It would be one thing if we were 8-1 and had a shot at a decent bowl bid... While I hope nobody at the Ted spoils it and I can watch the football game at home on the DVR later, it would take an act of God for me to miss a game against VCU at the Ted. I hope we can still fill the Ted.

I guess football truly is king, and college basketball has become a one month sport. To be fair though, Im sure most people going to the game had it planned months before they knew there would be the VCU game.

It would probably by good also to remember that responses on a team's message board are such a small sample size that they are not necessarily indicative of reality.

My entire office is full of VCU d-bags. Hell, we even have a Rodney Ram cardboard cut-out in the break room. There are going to be a ton of VCU people at this game; including the 'bag who has "BOO ODU" as his license plate. Allowing them to have a large presence at our arena because we are preoccupied with watching an away football game, on television, would be inexcusable.

I'll be at the game checking the updates on my phone. Hope to finally meet some of you guys there.