Minium: S.B. Ballard Stadium Would Have Been Rocking and Rolling Had ODU Opened Friday Against Wake Forest

By Harry Minium

As the sun begins to set Friday night at S.B. Ballard Stadium, the turnstiles will be locked, the seats empty, the light towers off, the parking lots deserted.

That isn't the way it was supposed to be, of course.

Old Dominion University was scheduled to open its 12th football season at home against Wake Forest Friday night. It was a game everyone at ODU looked forward to with so much anticipation.

"It was going to be so much fun," Athletic Director Wood Selig said.

ODU announced last month there will be no football this season because it did not want to risk the health of players, coaches and fans during a pandemic. And although it was the right decision made for all the right reasons, that does not lessen the void many of us will feel over the Labor Day weekend.

Surely, were it not for the pandemic, S.B. Ballard Stadium would have been rocking and rolling. Friday night games seem to bring out the best in players and fans and this was going to be a special game.

Ricky Rahne would have made his debut as a head coach and it's fair to say that Monarch Nation was looking forward to seeing Rahne and his young coaching staff coach their first game.
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The former Penn State offensive coordinator, only the second head coach in ODU history, had the university's best recruiting class ever and had some key returnees. And the opponent was an ACC team that played in a bowl game in 2019.

The game would have been televised on a night when there is little TV competition. 

Based on the excitement I saw Rahne create among fans before COVID-19, tickets to this game would have been a hot item. A sellout was likely; but a big, loud crowd was a sure thing.

It would have been a joy to behold.

Although six Football Bowl Subdivision leagues have pledged to soldier on despite the pandemic, most college football programs at all levels have canceled play..

College administrators have been split on the issue, but if this were an election, it would be a landslide. Nearly every college sports team scheduled to play this fall has been idled. ODU is among 11 of 14 state Division I programs that shuttered athletics.



That doesn't change the fact that thousands of Monarch fans, students, alumni, staff members and players are disappointed and that many feel a sense of sadness.

I am with you.

Ever since the Monarchs began playing football in 2009, my fall schedule has revolved around ODU football.

My wife, Ellen, and I planned vacations and family trips around football games, even before I started covering the Monarchs. We changed Christmas plans in 2016 to follow the team to the Bahamas Bowl.

This fall won't be the same without ODU football. I suspect that a ton of you, like me, will feel a little lost over the Labor Day weekend.

If you're thinking that everything would have been OK had we just moved forward, as the rest of Conference USA is trying to do, well, it's not that simple.

COVID restrictions would have limited ODU to a crowd of 50 or less Friday night. That means that not even parents of ODU players would be able to see their sons play.

There would have been no tailgating, no schmoozing in the Priority Automotive Club, no socializing on the mezzanine, no fireworks, no smell of hot dogs, burgers and crab cakes, no band playing, no cheerleaders shouting and absolutely no atmosphere.

It would have been almost akin to holding a closed scrimmage.

And an aside here: how could the Monarchs have adequately prepared for this game when they could not even have their entire team on the field for practice?

Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like spectator sports without spectators don't feel real.

If you've been around the game a while, you know that the essence of college football is much more than just 22 twenty-somethings in helmets and pads.

The heart of the game is the electricity, the energy created by fans. It is the camaraderie between the crowd and players celebrated from the parking lots to the stands to the field.

Tailgating is not just people drinking beer and gorging on brats; it is a gathering of families and alumni, a communal activity that fans engage in every fall. It's a time when people reconnect, and everyone unites behind a common cause.

And for players, football is all about the atmosphere.



The cheers that rise after a touchdown pass; the roar after a linebacker sacks a quarterback; the end zone celebration punctuated by a standing O after a running back jaunts 50 yards for a touchdown, that's what players live for.

If you have tuned into NBA or Major League Baseball games, you've seen empty stands or clumsy cutouts of fans. Some stadiums import crowd noise. Give them a B+ for trying, but it's just not the same.

I love the Boston Red Sox, but beyond tuning into their opening game, I haven't watched a second of baseball.

In the grand scheme of things, football is not life and death. More than 185,000 Americans have died and thousands more sickened from the pandemic face a long recovery.

Millions have lost their jobs and millions of businesses have shut their doors for good. It has changed so much about everyday life; from the way we work to the way we interact.

Do you miss dinner in a crowded restaurant, swaying to the music at a concert, attending church with full pews or hugging family members? I sure do. 

ODU football joins the long list of pleasures in life the pandemic has taken from us.

The good news is that nothing lasts forever. This terrible year eventually will end, and we hope that things return, as much as possible, back to normal in 2021.

For now, it's OK if you grieve a little. It's OK if you're sad or a little mad or even a little depressed.

Know that you are not alone and that eventually, we will all return to S.B. Ballard Stadium and begin making new football memories.

Contact Miniium: hminium@odu.edu