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

This is not meant to be a troll post. I don't have a strong feeling one way or the other about Liberty - I have nothing against them, I'm happy ODU is getting paid $1M+ to play them, but I don't think adding them to the conference is the right decision. However, it just seems off that HM is writing a new article about them once a week now. To me it seems like there has to be an extra motive beyond passion for the program.

A couple of questions I have:

1. Is HM on the Liberty books?
2. Does it even matter...?
3. Can we find out if he is getting paid?
4. If we get an answer, do we care about the result?

It would've been nice to get a more in depth article about ODU traveling to the state's most prominent football school this weekend instead. That's just my opinion. Maybe the pilot realizes people click on articles about Liberty more than they do about ODU?

https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...8010c.html

I don't think there is any chance they are paying him. Ignoring that he is devout and his political ideology aligns closely with Liberty's, I think he's just a believer of what they are capable of becoming.

I'm sure we will have no shortage of information about ODU's trip to Blacksburg later in the week as we get closer to game time. The Pilot routinely provides significant coverage of both ODU had VA Tech.

I don't believe that Harry is on the Liberty payroll, and even if it were to be determined that he had received some money from Liberty it wouldn't matter to me personally. The things that he is reporting on don't seem out of place since they are directly related to Liberty (who he is mostly discussing) and C-USA (who is related to what he is discussing about Liberty). Seems to me that Harry is just keeping us informed about the latest big news involving our conference and in this case it involves the newest FBS school who also happens to be located in our home state which makes it even more newsworthy.

(09-19-2017 08:32 AM)odu09 Wrote:  This is not meant to be a troll post. I don't have a strong feeling one way or the other about Liberty - I have nothing against them, I'm happy ODU is getting paid $1M+ to play them, but I don't think adding them to the conference is the right decision. However, it just seems off that HM is writing a new article about them once a week now. To me it seems like there has to be an extra motive beyond passion for the program.

A couple of questions I have:

1. Is HM on the Liberty books?
2. Does it even matter...?
3. Can we find out if he is getting paid?
4. If we get an answer, do we care about the result?

It would've been nice to get a more in depth article about ODU traveling to the state's most prominent football school this weekend instead. That's just my opinion. Maybe the pilot realizes people click on articles about Liberty more than they do about ODU?

https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...8010c.html

I do not have evidence to prove he is getting paid or not but his religious beliefs and his ideology aligns with them and he wants ODU to be in a conference with them and that part was clear from his articles pointing fingers at CUSA and sunbelt. In the end the school presidents and CUSA Admin will decide what's best for them not effing falwell neither Harry. These recent quotes from Falwell Jr and Harry's articles exudes major butt hurt other than that there's nothing else to see. I am okay with playing OOC games with them but not being a conf mate and ofcourse that's personal opinion and ODU Admin might have different idea either way's i am not going to fret over what harry writes in his articles except when he puts down ODU which i don't think he is trying to.

I share Harry's views on this and I am neither being paid nor have any personal stake in Liberty.

(09-19-2017 08:51 AM)12thmonarch Wrote:  

(09-19-2017 08:32 AM)odu09 Wrote:  This is not meant to be a troll post. I don't have a strong feeling one way or the other about Liberty - I have nothing against them, I'm happy ODU is getting paid $1M+ to play them, but I don't think adding them to the conference is the right decision. However, it just seems off that HM is writing a new article about them once a week now. To me it seems like there has to be an extra motive beyond passion for the program.

A couple of questions I have:

1. Is HM on the Liberty books?
2. Does it even matter...?
3. Can we find out if he is getting paid?
4. If we get an answer, do we care about the result?

It would've been nice to get a more in depth article about ODU traveling to the state's most prominent football school this weekend instead. That's just my opinion. Maybe the pilot realizes people click on articles about Liberty more than they do about ODU?

https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...8010c.html

I do not have evidence to prove he is getting paid or not but his religious beliefs and his ideology aligns with them and he wants ODU to be in a conference with them and that part was clear from his articles pointing fingers at CUSA and sunbelt. In the end the school presidents and CUSA Admin will decide what's best for them not effing falwell neither Harry. These recent quotes from Falwell Jr and Harry's articles exudes major butt hurt other than that there's nothing else to see. I am okay with playing OOC games with them but not being a conf mate and ofcourse that's personal opinion and ODU Admin might have different idea either way's i am not going to fret over what harry writes in his articles except when he puts down ODU which i don't think he is trying to.

Falwell may well complain about intolerance, but maybe the reason could be the Liberty's athletics suck. There basketball is pathetic, even at current CUSA standards, and their football would finish bottom 3.

The only thing that Liberty has going for them is money, but Liberty has always had a ton of money. Didn't do much for them at the FCS level. Not sure why anyone thinks they will become Notre Dame at the FBS level.

I don't think he's being paid by Liberty, but he apparently does really REALLY want them in the same conference as ODU. He's got an axe to grind and he's in a position where he can make his voice heard and he's taking full advantage. Thankfully I don't think the conference administration makes their decisions based on the opinions of one beat writer.

(09-19-2017 09:06 AM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  I don't think he's being paid by Liberty, but he apparently does really REALLY want them in the same conference as ODU. He's got an axe to grind and he's in a position where he can make his voice heard and he's taking full advantage. Thankfully I don't think the conference administration makes their decisions based on the opinions of one beat writer.

Why do you think he has an axe to grind?

Think of it this way... if Liberty is in our conference, that is one less trip to Texas or Florida all of our sports teams have to make. How much money will that save?

Is Liberty an athletic juggernaut? No, but they are no worse than any of the Texas or Florida schools in the conference, aside from UTEP basketball. And who really gives a rat's arse about their religious affiliation? That is their perogative, not ours. Does anyone think UVA or Florida State endorses and is under control of the Vatican because Notre Dame and Boston College are in the ACC?

(09-19-2017 09:01 AM)ODUBB35 Wrote:  

(09-19-2017 08:51 AM)12thmonarch Wrote:  

(09-19-2017 08:32 AM)odu09 Wrote:  This is not meant to be a troll post. I don't have a strong feeling one way or the other about Liberty - I have nothing against them, I'm happy ODU is getting paid $1M+ to play them, but I don't think adding them to the conference is the right decision. However, it just seems off that HM is writing a new article about them once a week now. To me it seems like there has to be an extra motive beyond passion for the program.

A couple of questions I have:

1. Is HM on the Liberty books?
2. Does it even matter...?
3. Can we find out if he is getting paid?
4. If we get an answer, do we care about the result?

It would've been nice to get a more in depth article about ODU traveling to the state's most prominent football school this weekend instead. That's just my opinion. Maybe the pilot realizes people click on articles about Liberty more than they do about ODU?

https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...8010c.html

I do not have evidence to prove he is getting paid or not but his religious beliefs and his ideology aligns with them and he wants ODU to be in a conference with them and that part was clear from his articles pointing fingers at CUSA and sunbelt. In the end the school presidents and CUSA Admin will decide what's best for them not effing falwell neither Harry. These recent quotes from Falwell Jr and Harry's articles exudes major butt hurt other than that there's nothing else to see. I am okay with playing OOC games with them but not being a conf mate and ofcourse that's personal opinion and ODU Admin might have different idea either way's i am not going to fret over what harry writes in his articles except when he puts down ODU which i don't think he is trying to.

Falwell may well complain about intolerance, but maybe the reason could be the Liberty's athletics suck. There basketball is pathetic, even at current CUSA standards, and their football would finish bottom 3.

The only thing that Liberty has going for them is money, but Liberty has always had a ton of money. Didn't do much for them at the FCS level. Not sure why anyone thinks they will become Notre Dame at the FBS level.

To be fair about their football, they are in transition to the FBS level and therefore should be worse than any of the established FBS schools of C-USA at this point.

(09-19-2017 09:21 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(09-19-2017 09:06 AM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  I don't think he's being paid by Liberty, but he apparently does really REALLY want them in the same conference as ODU. He's got an axe to grind and he's in a position where he can make his voice heard and he's taking full advantage. Thankfully I don't think the conference administration makes their decisions based on the opinions of one beat writer.

Why do you think he has an axe to grind?

Think of it this way... if Liberty is in our conference, that is one less trip to Texas or Florida all of our sports teams have to make. How much money will that save?

Is Liberty an athletic juggernaut? No, but they are no worse than any of the Texas or Florida schools in the conference, aside from UTEP basketball. And who really gives a rat's arse about their religious affiliation? That is their perogative, not ours. Does anyone think UVA or Florida State endorses and is under control of the Vatican because Notre Dame and Boston College are in the ACC?

Notre Dame is an FBS independent, which I believe Liberty may be striving to become like.

(09-19-2017 09:21 AM)ODU BBALL Wrote:  

(09-19-2017 09:01 AM)ODUBB35 Wrote:  

(09-19-2017 08:51 AM)12thmonarch Wrote:  

(09-19-2017 08:32 AM)odu09 Wrote:  This is not meant to be a troll post. I don't have a strong feeling one way or the other about Liberty - I have nothing against them, I'm happy ODU is getting paid $1M+ to play them, but I don't think adding them to the conference is the right decision. However, it just seems off that HM is writing a new article about them once a week now. To me it seems like there has to be an extra motive beyond passion for the program.

A couple of questions I have:

1. Is HM on the Liberty books?
2. Does it even matter...?
3. Can we find out if he is getting paid?
4. If we get an answer, do we care about the result?

It would've been nice to get a more in depth article about ODU traveling to the state's most prominent football school this weekend instead. That's just my opinion. Maybe the pilot realizes people click on articles about Liberty more than they do about ODU?

https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...8010c.html

I do not have evidence to prove he is getting paid or not but his religious beliefs and his ideology aligns with them and he wants ODU to be in a conference with them and that part was clear from his articles pointing fingers at CUSA and sunbelt. In the end the school presidents and CUSA Admin will decide what's best for them not effing falwell neither Harry. These recent quotes from Falwell Jr and Harry's articles exudes major butt hurt other than that there's nothing else to see. I am okay with playing OOC games with them but not being a conf mate and ofcourse that's personal opinion and ODU Admin might have different idea either way's i am not going to fret over what harry writes in his articles except when he puts down ODU which i don't think he is trying to.

Falwell may well complain about intolerance, but maybe the reason could be the Liberty's athletics suck. There basketball is pathetic, even at current CUSA standards, and their football would finish bottom 3.

The only thing that Liberty has going for them is money, but Liberty has always had a ton of money. Didn't do much for them at the FCS level. Not sure why anyone thinks they will become Notre Dame at the FBS level.

To be fair about their football, they are in transition to the FBS level and therefore should be worse than any of the established FBS schools of C-USA at this point.

True, but how many Top 25 FCS finishes did they have? I believe they had 1 playoff appearance?

Yeah, they beat Baylor, but that's not all that impressive right now.

CUSA has enough dead weight as it is. We don't need any Big South Schools.

(And I'm pretty closely aligned with the politically as well.)

(09-19-2017 09:21 AM)ODU BBALL Wrote:  To be fair about their football, they are in transition to the FBS level and therefore should be worse than any of the established FBS schools of C-USA at this point.

They sustained no real level of success at the FCS level in a weak league. They very well could become a successful FBS team on the field, but their history doesn't really point to that being likely.

Doubt he's paid either, but for those of you who say you don't care if he is, there is a principle here involving independence and the ability to report facts, not opinions. In this day and age of daily claims about fake news, the idea of a reporter/columnist being on someone's payroll should be extremely alarming, not something to shrug off. Even asking the question impugns the reporters reputation and should not be made lightly.
As much as we all complain about the media, if we ever lose them we'll all be screwed.

(09-19-2017 09:25 AM)FantomVII Wrote:  

(09-19-2017 09:21 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(09-19-2017 09:06 AM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  I don't think he's being paid by Liberty, but he apparently does really REALLY want them in the same conference as ODU. He's got an axe to grind and he's in a position where he can make his voice heard and he's taking full advantage. Thankfully I don't think the conference administration makes their decisions based on the opinions of one beat writer.

Why do you think he has an axe to grind?

Think of it this way... if Liberty is in our conference, that is one less trip to Texas or Florida all of our sports teams have to make. How much money will that save?

Is Liberty an athletic juggernaut? No, but they are no worse than any of the Texas or Florida schools in the conference, aside from UTEP basketball. And who really gives a rat's arse about their religious affiliation? That is their perogative, not ours. Does anyone think UVA or Florida State endorses and is under control of the Vatican because Notre Dame and Boston College are in the ACC?

Notre Dame is an FBS independent, which I believe Liberty may be striving to become like.

In football, yes, but their other sports are in the ACC.

(09-19-2017 09:27 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(09-19-2017 09:25 AM)FantomVII Wrote:  

(09-19-2017 09:21 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(09-19-2017 09:06 AM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  I don't think he's being paid by Liberty, but he apparently does really REALLY want them in the same conference as ODU. He's got an axe to grind and he's in a position where he can make his voice heard and he's taking full advantage. Thankfully I don't think the conference administration makes their decisions based on the opinions of one beat writer.

Why do you think he has an axe to grind?

Think of it this way... if Liberty is in our conference, that is one less trip to Texas or Florida all of our sports teams have to make. How much money will that save?

Is Liberty an athletic juggernaut? No, but they are no worse than any of the Texas or Florida schools in the conference, aside from UTEP basketball. And who really gives a rat's arse about their religious affiliation? That is their perogative, not ours. Does anyone think UVA or Florida State endorses and is under control of the Vatican because Notre Dame and Boston College are in the ACC?

Notre Dame is an FBS independent, which I believe Liberty may be striving to become like.

In football, yes, but their other sports are in the ACC.

Ah, then I stand corrected.

(09-19-2017 09:27 AM)Old Dominion Wrote:  Doubt he's paid either, but for those of you who say you don't care if he is, there is a principle here involving independence and the ability to report facts, not opinions. In this day and age of daily claims about fake news, the idea of a reporter/columnist being on someone's payroll should be extremely alarming, not something to shrug off. Even asking the question impugns the reporters reputation and should not be made lightly.
As much as we all complain about the media, if we ever lose them we'll all be screwed.

Agreed... if he is being paid, I have no respect left for him, but I don't think he is getting paid and I agree with him. Heck of an accusation with no evidence to support and frankly insulting actually.

(09-19-2017 08:40 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  I don't think there is any chance they are paying him. Ignoring that he is devout and his political ideology aligns closely with Liberty's, I think he's just a believer of what they are capable of becoming.

Agree with all of this. And also believe you could substitute JMU in for Liberty and it would also be true. I think he probably just wants ODU to have a couple of in-state conference members but who knows? I sure don't care about Liberty athletics--different mission or not. ODU's future upside should be driven by ODU, without limits from the conference or the state around it. But I know a lot of you disagree and these constant posts about how the league and/or our state craps on us proves it out.

ODU just needs to keep rolling forward, making moves with no dependency on Liberty or JMU.

And yes, I would like him to get off the Liberty bandwagon. Mention it once as a reporter, then drop it otherwise you do start to look very partial.
HM is using his role as a columnist who is allowed and encouraged to state opinion. As opposed to a reporter who is supposed to be unbiased.
Hard distinction for many to make between a person who reports on a particular subject (ODU football) then switches hats to being a columnist writing about the exact same topic.
HM needs to be more sensitive to this.

I think this question is silly. I'm not bashing the OP, but come on! Harry is a great journalist and is simply covering something that to him and others makes sense. Liberty is on the rise and I think Harry has been right-on with his thoughts.

(09-19-2017 09:30 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(09-19-2017 09:27 AM)Old Dominion Wrote:  Doubt he's paid either, but for those of you who say you don't care if he is, there is a principle here involving independence and the ability to report facts, not opinions. In this day and age of daily claims about fake news, the idea of a reporter/columnist being on someone's payroll should be extremely alarming, not something to shrug off. Even asking the question impugns the reporters reputation and should not be made lightly.
As much as we all complain about the media, if we ever lose them we'll all be screwed.

Agreed... if he is being paid, I have no respect left for him, but I don't think he is getting paid and I agree with him. Heck of an accusation with no evidence to support and frankly insulting actually.

I thought very carefully before pressing 'post' on this one. I am not accusing him of anything, I am just asking the question. I really doubt this question is going to go beyond these boards. I really appreciate HM and everything he has written for ODU. This latest article has a lot of spin and I'm just wondering why he keeps belaboring this.