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

Good morning, Lion's Den! Hope everyone's had a terrific weekend thus far. If I may ask, what grade, if any would you give the level of local sports media coverage that Old Dominion Athletics gets and why? Is there, per se', an ally in your area that deeply appreciates and supports the ODU athletic program in this regard, and who if any, is considered by the majority of "The Pride" as nothing more than "media hyenas" when it comes to the sports scene of ODU? Would be very grateful to extract your interest, indulgence and feedback on this, for I'm wondering if this a common occurrence throut much of the Conference USA community or are any exceptions to the rule. Thank you again, and best of fortune in the upcoming football season.

^ Not sure exactly what you are looking for, but Old Dominion is slowly gaining a following in Hampton Roads, a community consisting of 7 cities, several counties and approximately 1.7M people.

A local FM ESPN affilliate clearly promotes us more than any other college program (our logo is listed first on their web site http://www.espnradio941.com/). The station footprint is big, covering a radius of approximately 125 miles outward from our coastal location, probably 4M people.

Regarding print media, we receive pretty good "home team" coverage from the local paper.

Overall, we are still overshadowed by Va Tech, possibly UNC and, to some extend Univ. of Virginia.

ODU get's good sports coverage if you ask me, at least in the local media. The Virginia Pilot has an online section dedicated to ODU football (ODUBlitz.com), with our new beat writer Harry Minium. Rich Radford was our old football beat writer.

I know the tv station W-AVY (website) is usually on top of ODU sports news and I think they do a weekly "ODU Football Show with Bobby Wilder" or something.

The local radio station ESPN 94.1 just signed a new deal with Old Dominion (Article), to broadcast the football and basketball games, along with select baseball games and coaches shows. 94.1 will also now have a new 1 hour ODU special every Saturday from 9-10 am, starting August 25th.

I know that ODU gets some penetration in Richmond but not much in DC unless we're in the NCAA's.

Hope I could help, I'm sure there's some things I'm missing though...

I'd assess things as good-but-should-be-better.

Ours is an underserved market when it comes to both pro and college sports. While ODU does already get the lion's share (so to speak) of the local press coverage, given the quality of the programs that we put on the field and court we should be seeing even more.

Just my opinion.

@AdoptedMonarch, @Blue_Trombone, @oduengineer: This is exactly what I'd hoped for, sincere, balanced, diverse observations based on your perspectives, thank you so much. So far, only one other C-USA member (an original) has offered up an opinion on this subject, truth is sadly, some of the boards in the conference at present aren't generating a lot of traffic, complacency/apathy and often standoffishness sets in, some of them I didn't even bother with, & hopefully, things will pick up in the near future. ODU is the first new member to chime in, I can tell from this feedback alone that the presence of your school in our conference is going to be nothing short of intriguing. I was compelled to reach out in this regard after a discussion at the Blazertalk board about the minimal, dismissive coverage UAB athletics gets at the hands of the local sports media in Birmingham, often times finding ourselves in unpleasant online or on the air exchanges with some of the local "personalities" that claim that their listeners aren't interested in UAB or Conference USA, most of the sports talk people in this area are SEC baggage carriers, and alabama - Auburn "homers." The idea of finding equal time for schools like UAB, Troy, Jacksonville State, etc., is beneath most of them, there have been at least 2 or 3 exceptions to this rule that we could reach out to for the most part, but, it's not fair to them to have to shoulder that entire burden.

I wanted to find out if that was something any of our current or new members have to contend with. From what I've read here, that's not the case, & even if it were, this fan base doesn't impress me as the kind to just take it passively. Your mascot's not a Lion for nothin'!!! When I go back to Blazeradio in August (I do a contemporary jazz program), I'm going to find a track to dedicate for each of the new members of the conference, I've already found one for UTSA, and I have one that I will play for Old Dominion...The song will be entitled, "Lionheart"...

Matrix, I can see where UAB and some of the other C-USA schools would be overshadowed by BCS schools. I think we experience that to a much smaller extent with Va Tech and UVA, but we are far enough away that we have been able to develop and grow our own market in the Hampton Roads area. Fan support has been phenomenal. I am curious to see how much larger that we can expand our stadium and still be able to sell out the majority of our home games.

I agree with most. It's pretty good so far. It's only going to get better I think. 94.1 just brought in new young blood. He's from Boston so he isn't a homer but has already been quoted as doing his research on ODU, Tides and Admirals. He said ODU first... heh.

I wonder how many VT alumnus are season ticket holders of ODU?

Matrix, in order to add a little extra, ODU's only local media rivals are Norfolk State University (only a few miles from ODU's campus), the Norfolk Tides (AAA Baseball), and the Norfolk Admirals (Hockey). NSU has a tremendous small, but loyal following who think their teams are snubbed. Part of the problem NSU has as a HBCU, is a more narrow fan base of a school in a weaker conference. How many schools can you name in the MEAC? See what I mean. Nothing wrong with the Accademics, both are accreditted by the same Accrediting agency. Nothing wrong with them, except a much lower conference, all stemming from their past history with other like schools.

As other posters have listed The Boohoos, and the Vaganyatekies recruit big time in the 757 (local area code and a local nickname for the area). Both receive almost equal billing in the Pilotonline here with ODU. Now, with the Monarchs becoming only the 3rd BCS school in the State, I expect a slight increase in awareness througout the state. Having played the W&Ms, the Richmond's, the VCU's, the JMU's, and GMUs of the CAA, from the State, we are still looked down on and frowned upon as soon as you drive North 50 miles to Williamsburg. Other schools such as Radford, VMI, & Longwood are not well represented throughout the State. Not that Charlottesville and Blacksburg are big markets, but their marketing people have done an excellent job of flooding the local sports stores with their apparel. There is not enough ODU apparel around Norfolk and surrounding cities, and fans who wear such, have to really be looking for ODU gear.

I hope we have helped you! I can't wait to play you guys again, in all sports! Even if it may be cross-divisional!

@N2TheBlue: Thank you... I was very impressed to have learned that you all have sold out in football on season tickets for the 4th year in a row, that's phenomenal. UAB fans are very much aware of what they're up against as far as BCS schools in this state are concerned, more than you could possibly imagine, it's a bureaucracy on many fronts, administrative and media-driven oppression and suppression. It just that we see on a regular basis just how little for the most part, the sports media in our own hometown do not want UAB to evolve athletically, especially in football(if I told you in-length what the UA board of trustees did to sabotage our proposed 27,500 seat on campus football stadium, your noses would bleed with anger), so unless they are pressed by those of us in the fan base, either by phone, print editorials or online/social media to give us equal time, they will not consistently go out of their way to feature anything pertaining to UAB or Conference USA (1 or 2 exceptions noted), because of their glaring loyalities to alabama, Auburn and/or the SEC overall. Thing is, UAB is not trying to be anything like them, rather seeking to be the absolute best it can be in Conference USA. I could go into mythical national championships that no one in our conference can or should aspire to, but that's another story altogether. Bottom line is, our own board of trustees, which is comprised mostly of alabama alumni and fans, has felt threatened in a sense by UAB athletics, especially football and has thrwarted just about every attempt for it to flourish by using their power within the system to hinder its' evolution into the successful and competitive program it could and should be by now, because they want all eyes on Tuscaloosa, it even took an act of state legislation to compel them to play their most hated rival, Auburn, in football. That's really "smelling yourself", if you know what I mean. ;-) Regarding Virginia and Virginia Tech, are they as condescending towards Old Dominion as alabama is toward UAB? I remember when James Madison took the Hokies down a year or two ago in football...VT hasn't played them again since, have they? Is there a desire for ODU to cross swords with the Cavaliers or talk turkey with the Hokies on the gridiron in the not too distant future, or is that a "political football" in the state of Virginia?

I shall come back later in the evening to address the recent posters, thank you all again so much, I'm almost off the clock at work and preparing to head home, hug my kid and let my Sheltie jump all over me.

I work with a pretty large VT alumni group. Most of them are stoked for ODU. Meh, some looking down the nose is expected from some but that is what it is. What you read on forums is generally only the banter of the extreme of any fan base. This is in reference to football. This topic of ODU/VT in basketball gets a bit more heated. We've no history with the other 2 FBS schools in the state on the football field.

But to address your points/issues expressed. I don't think we see anything like you guys experience by any stretch. In fact like someone else said Norfolk State and maybe even Hampton might get the short end when it comes to local media covered compared to ODU in recent history. The VP also made nsublitz.com in response to odublitz.com. Which I think is good.

The only head to head competition with VT in any of the major sports has been in basketball where we pretty much dominated therm over a 5 game series until Greenberg and VT said they wanted to take their ball and go home. There is still a lot of animosity at ODU about that. Hopefully we can get to a point where we can meet them on the football field.

(07-22-2012 03:41 PM)smudge12 Wrote:  I think the support from the Pilot has been fantastic, and the Daily Press surprises from time to time as well. Television hasn't been too bad either.WAVY always has videos and highlights up after every game, and we've gotten a decent amount of games on television so far considering we're an FCS program.

However, like other posters have mentioned, we're still competing against UVA and VT, and to some extent UNC (VT is definitely the biggest one to contend against). In large though, I've found the Hampton Roads community to be very supportive of ODU and as we join the FBS, it should get much better; I can see ODU becoming the highlight of sports media in the area. That said, I highly doubt we'll ever overtake VT as the state's favorite team unless we start regularly making BCS bowls...and we know that's nearly impossible in the current state of the FBS.

Between the obvious civic pride of the fan base, the work ethic of the athletic program, and the support of your friendly neighborhood sports media, you may be surprised at how far ODU will ascend, if we had all of those elements in our favor here in Birmingham, UAB would be on right now, but as it stands, between that evil board of trustees and a consistently oblivious, myopic sports media, we're pretty much in college football's version of :billgates: .

My feelings about the BCS are not good at all, I like the environment our programs are in now, it's just a matter of time before greed, corruption and self-aggrandizement destroys the BCS once and for all until an inclusive playoff system reflective of representation of all Division I conferences, in my eyes, it's not a true national championship, especially the way their system hand picks who they want playing for it (exhiibit A: LSU - alabama last season), I didn't watch that farce in January, and refuse to indulge the BCS at all anymore. I'm strictly a follower of mid-majors like Conference USA, non-AQ's, and FCS. I like a great deal what I've heard about the fan support there, hope that UAB embraces the same mindset. It's going to be the experience of a lifetime to venture there to watch UAB and ODU go at it. If y'all don't buy up all the tickets to keep us outta there!

(07-22-2012 03:41 PM)smudge12 Wrote:  I think the support from the Pilot has been fantastic, and the Daily Press surprises from time to time as well. Television hasn't been too bad either.WAVY always has videos and highlights up after every game, and we've gotten a decent amount of games on television so far considering we're an FCS program.

However, like other posters have mentioned, we're still competing against UVA and VT, and to some extent UNC (VT is definitely the biggest one to contend against). In large though, I've found the Hampton Roads community to be very supportive of ODU and as we join the FBS, it should get much better; I can see ODU becoming the highlight of sports media in the area. That said, I highly doubt we'll ever overtake VT as the state's favorite team unless we start regularly making BCS bowls...and we know that's nearly impossible in the current state of the FBS.

As far as newspapers go, we had 2 people who wrote anything consistently about UAB, Kevin Scarbinsky and Steve Irvine. As far as the former goes, some are of the opinion that he's not exactly an ally of the Blazers, but I respectfully disagree, he's taken some pretty courageous, dare I say, dangerous stands in print and on radio on behalf of UAB & the screwjob by the UA board of trustees, especially where the on campus stadium project is concerned, and he's not backed down a step, in spite of the heat he's gotten from "Updyke Nation" (my nickname for alabama football fans, I know y'all heard about the guy who allegedly poisoned some historic trees on the Auburn campus last year because his Crimson Tide football team blew a huge lead in an Iron Bowl game and lost, Harvey Updyke. He bragged about it on the air of a radio talk show - it was a hot mess, & it's not over yet!)...Irvine is being laid off by the only newspaper in this town, The Birmingham News. He says he has other options to pursue, but right now is in limbo. The Birmingham News went out of its' way to bury anything UAB did positive in sports, especially football, in a small corner column of their sports section, while alabama would get a full paged, color spread. Nick Saban's stool sample results would make the front page of that paper over anything UAB did. That doesn't leave UAB with much outside of options like BlazerTV.com, the school's newspaper, Kaleidoscope, the uabsports.com website. Far as radio is concerned, the only personalities consistently receptive to discussing Blazers sports are Kevin Scarbinsky (he also cohosts a show on weekday morning with a very abrasive and narrowminded SEC/Crimson Tide luggage carrier Scott Griffin) & the lovely Rachel Baribeau, who cohosts a program called "The 4th Quarter", with an SEC Throwback named Max Howell. Their station 97.3 FM, "The Zone",which started out last year around this time as if they were going to be a pleasurable alternative to what we'd been subjected to for far too long at the hands of station WJOX 94.5 FM, the self-proclaimed "sports animal"...In my eyes, they are more like "the sports enema." Absolutely horrible excuse for a sports radio station where local coverage and personas are concerned, they are clueless about what real sports are about, especially in the pros. If you weren't as a caller, bringing something related to alabama or Auburn football, recruiting or the SEC, they would rudely blow you off and not make a concerted effort to address your topic with arrogance, their overall knowledge of sports in general is atrocious across the board. The last time it happened with me was the absolute last time I ever tuned into that station, well over a year and a half ago. For the time being, their top ratings-getter is a weasel named Paul Finebaum, don't listen to him or his show unless you have an affinity for perpetual nausea. The only reason I'd give the entire sports media in this town overall a "C-" is because of Rachel Baribeau and Kevin Scarbinsky, otherwise, the grade would be a big, fat, "F." I want to acknowledge this man, too, he factors into the grade as well, in spite of the fact that he works for the university of alabama as a sportscaster, his knowledge of the entire sports spectrum and undeniable humility and objectivity has made him highly respected in my eyes, and if he wanted to take his broadcasting career to a higher level, I don't see anything stopping him, not even the university of alabama...He's the voice of the crimson tide, Eli Gold. Used to host two sports talk shows in this town and you could call him up to talk hockey, NASCAR, MLB, Pro Wrestling, he was incredible, but unfortunately, the brass that runs the radio stations here criticized him for not being "cutting edge" enough and too accommodating to callers and listeners. Incredulous! He was part of "The Zone's" lineup until about 4 months ago(his abrupt departure did not set well with me), he also held a time slot down on WJOX about 7 or 8 years ago.

If "The Zone" becomes what we hate (& they're getting there), then XM radio will be my next option, gladly, right now, they're the lesser of two evils, even though they provide Yahoo Sports Radio, which I like a great deal. I know there's a place for real sports fans in the XM Universe.

(07-22-2012 05:00 PM)Cr8n Wrote:  I work with a pretty large VT alumni group. Most of them are stoked for ODU. Meh, some looking down the nose is expected from some but that is what it is. What you read on forums is generally only the banter of the extreme of any fan base. This is in reference to football. This topic of ODU/VT in basketball gets a bit more heated. We've no history with the other 2 FBS schools in the state on the football field.

But to address your points/issues expressed. I don't think we see anything like you guys experience by any stretch. In fact like someone else said Norfolk State and maybe even Hampton might get the short end when it comes to local media covered compared to ODU in recent history. The VP also made nsublitz.com in response to odublitz.com. Which I think is good.

I think that for the most part, UAB has a good relationship with Auburn, they were more than willing to play UAB in football and basketball in the past, which of course, made "Updyke Nation" ...How does that saying go? "The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend?" I wouldn't wish what UAB has had to endure at the hands of so many detractors and enemies, some of which reside right here in our hometown, on my worst enemy (except UA, of course)...We know all too well about getting the short end of the stick.

I can't wait to drink in the ODU atmosphere someday soon.

(07-22-2012 05:22 PM)N2theBlue Wrote:  The only head to head competition with VT in any of the major sports has been in basketball where we pretty much dominated therm over a 5 game series until Greenberg and VT said they wanted to take their ball and go home. There is still a lot of animosity at ODU about that. Hopefully we can get to a point where we can meet them on the football field.

You bring up an interesting observation. How many times have we seen that? When in whatever the sport, football or basketball primarily, "small" school kicks "big" school's a**, "big" school calls themselves "punishing" the "small" school for beating them by not playing them anymore in that given sport (by withholding the big payday check for not rolling over and taking a loss, for playing to win and doing so) - what cowardice!

Not on the players part, mind you, but the "higher ups."

(07-22-2012 03:45 PM)Cr8n Wrote:  I agree with most. It's pretty good so far. It's only going to get better I think. 94.1 just brought in new young blood. He's from Boston so he isn't a homer but has already been quoted as doing his research on ODU, Tides and Admirals. He said ODU first... heh.

I wonder how many VT alumnus are season ticket holders of ODU?

Good question. Made me recall the number of people I work with that wear other school colors on the job, but have been seen by me at a number of UAB football games at Legion Field. Kind of caught me by surprise. One of our best sports writers is a "yankee." Kevin Scarbinsky...Hails from Pennsylvania, if not mistaken. Eli Gold, who I mentioned in another post, is from New York. Rachel's the only other one that's worth a darn in this state, but I'm not sure of her birthplace. I'm guessing not from here, either. So, there you have it, the 3 that I would pick as "most likely to succeed" if they ever had to leave this state for higher ground in sports.

I think the others are underestimating the abundance of coverage of VT. Let's put it this way...ODU could get to the Final Four, the Redskins make a playoff run and Tech actually beat a high ranked team.....ODU would have a 8 line article on the front page continued on page 8 and Tech and the Redskins would split the rest of the front page. The 'Hoos have been getting better lately but have not been winning so the Virginian Pilot gives them a bit more coverage than ODU but not a lot more. I must admit since we've had football there is more coverage.

Also, we never use the moniker the Pride.....maybe because we've been in the CAA with the Hofstra Pirde (who for some reason got rid of a great and unique nickname... Flying Dutchmen). Although come to think of it we never used the Pride even prior to them joining the CAA. I just remember always being the Monarchs or Big Blue.

(07-22-2012 03:54 PM)backrow Wrote:  Matrix, in order to add a little extra, ODU's only local media rivals are Norfolk State University (only a few miles from ODU's campus), the Norfolk Tides (AAA Baseball), and the Norfolk Admirals (Hockey). NSU has a tremendous small, but loyal following who think their teams are snubbed. Part of the problem NSU has as a HBCU, is a more narrow fan base of a school in a weaker conference. How many schools can you name in the MEAC? See what I mean. Nothing wrong with the Accademics, both are accreditted by the same Accrediting agency. Nothing wrong with them, except a much lower conference, all stemming from their past history with other like schools.

As other posters have listed The Boohoos, and the Vaganyatekies recruit big time in the 757 (local area code and a local nickname for the area). Both receive almost equal billing in the Pilotonline here with ODU. Now, with the Monarchs becoming only the 3rd BCS school in the State, I expect a slight increase in awareness througout the state. Having played the W&Ms, the Richmond's, the VCU's, the JMU's, and GMUs of the CAA, from the State, we are still looked down on and frowned upon as soon as you drive North 50 miles to Williamsburg. Other schools such as Radford, VMI, & Longwood are not well represented throughout the State. Not that Charlottesville and Blacksburg are big markets, but their marketing people have done an excellent job of flooding the local sports stores with their apparel. There is not enough ODU apparel around Norfolk and surrounding cities, and fans who wear such, have to really be looking for ODU gear.

I hope we have helped you! I can't wait to play you guys again, in all sports! Even if it may be cross-divisional!

Aw, man! You hit a "red button" topic just then with school apparel. Local stores in Birmingham act as if putting UAB apparel in their racks or on their shelves is sacrilege. There's this one grocery store not far from my home, they have a place for SEC T-shirts, of course, alabama & Auburn, but two things surprised and angered me a bit more upon notice. There were T-shirts for just about every SEC school on sale there, including LSU, Vanderbilt, Georgia, etc., yet, the only other non-conference apparel they featured was that of Troy University...Troy!!!

Absolutely nothing of UAB's...To me, it was deliberate and clearly evident of the subliminal message management was trying to send. The store is a throwback, an SEC shrine of sorts, they have a large photographed mural of Legion Field on their front wall inside the store. Apparently, this clown's stuck in a time warp

Needless to say, I don't shop there except in cases of emergency when I don't feel up to driving further for something. I make it my business to get my UAB apparel from "Snoozy's" bookstore on the UAB campus from that day forward, I love our Dragon logo, but I have to admit, Old Dominion's Lion logo is one of my personal favorites, it conveys the pride and passion of the school and its' supporters extremely well. Conference USA as a whole has very impressive original & creative school logos across the board. I hope that this particular logo is displayed on the football team's helmets, if not, it should be.

(07-22-2012 10:34 PM)Monarch Homselr Wrote:  I think the others are underestimating the abundance of coverage of VT. Let's put it this way...ODU could get to the Final Four, the Redskins make a playoff run and Tech actually beat a high ranked team.....ODU would have a 8 line article on the front page continued on page 8 and Tech and the Redskins would split the rest of the front page. The 'Hoos have been getting better lately but have not been winning so the Virginian Pilot gives them a bit more coverage than ODU but not a lot more. I must admit since we've had football there is more coverage.

Also, we never use the moniker the Pride.....maybe because we've been in the CAA with the Hofstra Pirde (who for some reason got rid of a great and unique nickname... Flying Dutchmen). Although come to think of it we never used the Pride even prior to them joining the CAA. I just remember always being the Monarchs or Big Blue.

Once again, because of this great dialogue, I've learned something new about the Monarch culture...Not to use "The Pride" when describing ODU. Duly noted! ;-) Can't remember the last time, if ever, that UAB ever got a full color page spread in our local paper, the Blazers could go undefeated in Conference USA in football, beat Memphis in basketball and make to the final 4. If Nick Saban has a flat tire on I-20 West or Bear Bryant's sacred sideline tower gets blown over by a gust of wind, the Birmingham News will dedicate a full page color spread to the last two items mentioned first, and UAB's accomplishments, you'll need a magifying glass to read them.