Rich Radford

Virginian-Pilot reporter Rich Radford covers the Old Dominion Monarchs' return to Foreman Field. Follow this blog for his insider insight - and hit him up for questions. Find stories, photos, videos, interactives and team info on ODUBlitz.com.

Category: ODU Football

■ 28 May 2009 | 10:19 AM

Special delivery

The carpet is here.

That's right, the rug that will be put in at Foreman Field -- artificial turf, astroturf, whatever you want to call it -- was sitting in the back of an 18-wheeler that had it's engine running as I drove down Bluestone Avenue this morning on my way to work.

I stopped and asked Stan and Fred and Pat and Earl what they had in the back of the truck. The conversation went something like this.

"Hey, what ya got in the back of that truck?"

"Rug."

"From Georgia?"

"Yep."

"Is it green and does it have stripes on it?"

"It does, as a matter of fact."

"When's it going down on the field?"

"Dunno. We just deliver the stuff."

I looked over Stan's shoulder and the goalpost in the north end zone was standing, waiting for rug to be put down around it. And there was a really big opening in the northwest corner of Foreman Field where they are talking about putting in temprary seats to meet the demand for tickets. Looked like a lot of equipment had been moved from that corner. In fact, when I thought about it, Foreman Field had become overgrown with weeds and little bothersome trees sprouting up wherever they could survive.

Now that football is just around the corner -- did you know today marks 100 days to kickoff? -- the place is really starting to look ... clean.

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About the maglev

Submitted by RRadford on Sun, 05/31/2009 at 8:19 am.

You are without doubt the first person I've ever encountered that referred to the maglev as a "point of pride." The maglev has left the campus with a slew of half-built stair cases climbing to a train line that is inoperable. "Eyesore" and "waste of concrete" are the words and phrases I normally hear when the maglev comes up in conversation. To the great majority of ODU personnel I speak with on a regualr basis, it is an embarassment, plain and simple.

Kudos

Submitted by Monarch on Thu, 05/28/2009 at 2:40 pm.

Rich -
I really enjoyed your 100 items of information in today's paper. Some great tidbits in there - thanks for sharing it. However, I was stunned and disappointed to see the uninformed zinger you stuck in there at the end. The successful implementation of maglev high-speed rail has never been achieved ANYWHERE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA? It's an experiment Old Dominion is working on to develop the technology in the U.S. It's an entrepreneurial effort - it's cutting edge technology. The risk has been practically nothing to Old Dominion and the reward would be unbelievable for the University. The maglev at Old Dominion is nothing to be ashamed of - it should be viewed as a point of pride. They might be the first in the nation to successfully implement the technology. Get on board.