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

I've been a walk-on Monarch fan since 1986, having been invited by thoughtful co-worker to attend a Sunbelt Conference game against UAB at Scope -- the very game which turned out to make Headline News when UAB Coach Gene Bartow climbed into the stands to go after some raucous students.

I've been a men's bb season ticket holder since the opening of the Ted -- not primarily due to the new facility but rather because my kids were big fans of Valdas Vasylius out of Norfolk Collegiate.

But the best part of being an adopted fan of ODU is actually more than just the sports. It is the privilege of watching the astounding job that the school has done with integrating itself into the local neighborhood and the Norfolk community as a whole. I am not much of a football fan, but just walking around the Kaufman Mall or any of the tailgate lots before a fall home game is an eye-opening view of what a good college program can mean to an entire community -- a feeling of local pride that extends far beyond the students and the alumni.