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

I usually defend the Pilot as a former sportswriter, but I gotta say, the lack of a game-day ODU basketball story, especially for a home game, is puzzling.

One theory I've heard floated: Since Tribune purchased the Pilot and incorporated it with the Daily Press, the DP has home-field advantage in organizational moves, even though the Pilot has the far-larger footprint and circulation. The VT, UVa. and columnist positions, arguably the three most prominent for the regional sports department, are all DP folks (and all very good writers and people, let me make that clear). Between that and the company-mandated redesign to make the Pilot conform to Tribune style cues, it really does look less like the Pilot and more like the DP with some Pilot coverage shoehorned in for the sake of synergy and continuity or something.

I think everyone's probably doing the best they can with the hand they've been dealt, one with a ton of layoff and buyout cards. But the pre-Tribune Pilot would have never let a home game day for ODU football or either basketball team go without a feature/analysis piece and a preview box. And with a hedge fund buying out Tribune's largest shareholder, I don't imagine things are getting better in the foreseeable future.