natural grass football fields

[powersurge]

Being a traditionalist is great and all (I have been accused before of being one myself), but it is sometimes necessary to embrace technology especially in the case of natural grass. It just makes sense in this case. As long as it doesn't look extremely fake and lime green like the old Astroturf stuff, I'm all for it.

[aykay]

Watching the LSU/Arkansas game now and it looks like Arkansas has field turf as well.

[doafhat]

Watching the LSU/Arkansas game now and it looks like Arkansas has field turf as well.

That game was played at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. Arkansas' true home field at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville has a grass playing surface.

[cableguy]

When I played football in high school...too many years ago, we had natural grass as did all of our opponents throughout the three years I was there...then my senior year we played a team that was using a local colleges staidum and they had ASTROTURF...yeah the original stuff...it was like playing on your livingroom carpet...not football at all! We all hated it. Not only that, but I remember we had to get there three hours before gametime so the college's athletic department could find special shoes for all of us...not a good night (at least we won the game somehow)

This topic may fit better in another forum, but this one gets the most traffic so i just figured i'd put it here.

I understand that money, as usual, is the main driver for so many schools and pro teams switching to artificle surface. And i know that the new synthetic fields are way better than old astro turf.

But it bugs the heck out of me.

There is something about watching a great football game, college especially, between 2 teams in sweet uniforms, on a nice grass field.

(Actually, if doesn't even need to be so nice. I'll take a beat down field with brown spots over a fake field.)

Like the USC-ND game last year. Perfect game. It would be less so if it was on synthetic grass.

And its partly why the SEC is so great. Only 1 team (i think), with turf. The games always look good. And lets face it, as probably eveyone on this board knows, sports is mostly about the competition, but the asthetic aspects enhance the experiene.

I almost get paranoid that soon enough everyone will be switching to the synthetic surfaces. On that note, i've just read that Ohio St and Colorado are both considering the change. Depresses me more than it reasonably should.

On the NFL level, because they have the $, i seriously think the league should recognize that much of it's image is based on old school football on real grass, and they should subsidize teams to make sure they don't change to fake grass. They should even encourage existing teams with fake grass to switch.

Any thoughts? Anyone have this same paranoia i have?

[OleSmokey]

When I played football in high school...too many years ago, we had natural grass as did all of our opponents throughout the three years I was there...then my senior year we played a team that was using a local colleges staidum and they had ASTROTURF...yeah the original stuff...it was like playing on your livingroom carpet...not football at all! We all hated it. Not only that, but I remember we had to get there three hours before gametime so the college's athletic department could find special shoes for all of us...not a good night (at least we won the game somehow)

Hey Cable Guy, are you talking about Akron University's Rubber Bowl (a.k.a. The Prophyllactic Bowl)? I know having grown up in Akron, when they initially put turf in the Rubber Bowl in the 70's that they had to purchase a ton of shoes so visiting teams could wear them. Went to Akron Garfield, and when I was in school, they played at least 5-6 games a year in that stadium, and guys would be all scraped up from the rug burns.

As an aside, I always thought there should be a great big condom painted at the 50 yard line on that field...

[Carlisle1974]

Ohio State had to resod once this season, and Michigan had lagre issues with their grass, especially between the hashmarks.

Actually Ohio State resodded twice this season. The last being between the Minnesota and Michigan games. Judging by how many people I saw carrying large chunks of the turf around and outside the stadium following the Michigan game I would guess that it will either be resodded again or replaced with FieldTurf (I hope not).

I thought I read somewhere that Ohio State had already decided to switch to FieldTurf for next year. Did anyone else read the same thing?

Ohio State just announced yesterday that they will be switching to artificial turf after the Spring Game next year. And regarding the big chunks of grass people took as souvenirs, the grounds crew has already made repairs and said that the field should be OK by spring.

Up until this season, OSU's grass field had never been a problem. Many folks have said that the current field just reached the end of its life-cycle...I believe it was 4 years old. I don't understand why they can't re-sod during the spring and let it have all spring and summer to grow in. Of course, $$$ plays into this. OSU would like to have more uses for the stadium and ultimately re-acquire the high school football state championship games that were moved to Northeast Ohio when OSU made the switch to natural grass several years back.

[TruColor]

The Sporting News ran a survey of running backs in the NFL as to which field is the best in the league, and the brand-spankin' new UoP Stadium in Arizona won. And, as TSN said, it'll probably get even MORE votes once more teams make the trip to Glendale and play on it.

Something to be said about a one-piece natural grass field that can be driven outside to get unobstructed sunlight 95% of the time.

One of the very few things about this NFL season we Cardinals fans can be proud of. That, and the fact that Denny Green's sorry butt will be gone at the end of the season. We're all pretty happy about that too.

[Ben Zing]

it's almost crazy to think that the Cards went through such lengths to keep a grass field.

I'm glad they did it, but in light of all the switches to artificle surface, it's just surprising they did it.

[TruColor]

it's almost crazy to think that the Cards went through such lengths to keep a grass field.

I'm glad they did it, but in light of all the switches to artificle surface, it's just surprising they did it.

It was actually cheaper to have a retractible field rather than have a fully retractible roof.

Strange But True.

[andrewharrington]

I played an Ultimate Frisbee scrimmage with a few local Ohio and Kentucky teams at the University of Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium this summer. The FieldTurf is really nice to play on; always flat, always level, always soft, always forgiving, and always fast. There are certain things about it that I absolutely hated, though. For one, when you're diving around on that stuff, not only do you occasionally get the rug burn, but those litle rubber pellets get everywhere. In your ears, in your shorts, and they stick to you when you sweat. Second, that was the hottest field I have ever played on in my entire life. Granted, it was about 85 degrees outside, but you could not stand still on the field without your feet burning. It was even worse when you combined the field temperature with the friction of running. I did a little testing with my hand, and the field in direct sunlight was significantly hotter to the touch than the metal bleachers or concrete floor in direct sunlight. Grass just doesn't get that hot, and there are no annoying rubber objects to deal with, so I'll take a well-leveled grass field over FieldTurf anyday in the hot weather, that is, until they find a way to cool it down. In the winter, it's a dream surface.

[powersurge]

it's almost crazy to think that the Cards went through such lengths to keep a grass field.

I'm glad they did it, but in light of all the switches to artificle surface, it's just surprising they did it.

It was actually cheaper to have a retractible field rather than have a fully retractible roof.

Strange But True.

And the Cardinals not only have both but they also have a retractible wall right?

Cardinals accountants must of had a field day on that one.

[TruColor]

And the Cardinals not only have both but they also have a retractible wall right?

Cardinals accountants must of had a field day on that one.

No. Just the two roof panels are retractible. The retractible wall option was removed from the design in the early stages.

[PackerBadger]

Worst artificial turf ever: University of Illinois in the mid-'80s. Hard as a rock and seams as wide as the yard lines.

That's not counting Wisconsin's old turf, which was not actually turf, but green-painted asphalt.

So have teams given up on the hybrid surfaces -- the grass fields with either added plastic blades or the screen through which the grass is supposed to grow? Invesco has one, and I think the Ravens' stadium had one before they went to the fake stuff. (One example is THIS STUFF.

[zooropean]

Worst artificial turf ever: University of Illinois in the mid-'80s. Hard as a rock and seams as wide as the yard lines.

That's not counting Wisconsin's old turf, which was not actually turf, but green-painted asphalt.

So have teams given up on the hybrid surfaces -- the grass fields with either added plastic blades or the screen through which the grass is supposed to grow? Invesco has one, and I think the Ravens' stadium had one before they went to the fake stuff. (One example is THIS STUFF.

Actually PackerBadger, the Packers are installing a new surface at Lambeau for the 2007 season, which is the DD Grassmaster surface you linked to:

Packers' new surface

[Guest]

Football is dead to me now.

[DrBear]

Actually, I think the Packers tried a fake turf-grass mix a few years ago - SportGrass, I think it was called. After about four weeks of slipping and sliding, they ripped it out and resodded the field.

[BBTV]

Worst artificial turf ever: University of Illinois in the mid-'80s. Hard as a rock and seams as wide as the yard lines.

I think the Vet is the undisputed champion of bad turf surfaces. From the career-killing green-concrete, to the ill-fated NexTurf that the Ravens actually refused to play on, its turf issues have been well documented.

Bring it back!!!

Worst artificial turf ever: University of Illinois in the mid-'80s. Hard as a rock and seams as wide as the yard lines.

That's not counting Wisconsin's old turf, which was not actually turf, but green-painted asphalt.

So have teams given up on the hybrid surfaces -- the grass fields with either added plastic blades or the screen through which the grass is supposed to grow? Invesco has one, and I think the Ravens' stadium had one before they went to the fake stuff. (One example is THIS STUFF.

Actually PackerBadger, the Packers are installing a new surface at Lambeau for the 2007 season, which is the DD Grassmaster surface you linked to:

Packers' new surface

Having been on (and in) the field at Lincoln Financial Field, I'm not sure that the article is correct when it says that players will have grass and dirt stains. There really isn't "dirt", it is a light-colored sand base. In four years, I've never seen a player with a dirt/mud stain on him. Not even a grass stain, though I suppose that would be possible.

[powersurge]

Football is dead to me now.

Spoken like a true Giants fan

And the Cardinals not only have both but they also have a retractible wall right?

Cardinals accountants must of had a field day on that one.

No. Just the two roof panels are retractible. The retractible wall option was removed from the design in the early stages.

I must be thinking of the old B.O.B. in Phoenix

[ars427x]

I think the Vet is the undisputed champion of bad turf surfaces. From the career-killing green-concrete, to the ill-fated NexTurf that the Ravens actually refused to play on, its turf issues have been well documented.

That's true. Just ask Wendell Davis--I remember he blew both ACLs on the same play there.

[Ben Zing]

what was with all the sand on the Redskins field last night ?