If you thought the smurf turf was bad...

[Seadragon76]

All I have to say is why not?

To my knowledge, only two schools use blue turf for football: Boise State and the University of New Haven.

No schools have a red turf.

Having this red turf can be used as a major selling point towards recruits who are intrested in EWU. Sometimes, you gotta roll the dice and hope that it hits Lucky Seven not Snake Eyes, for getting Snake Eyes means youse a dead duck... duck.

[TFoA]

I actually remember having a dream when I was about 9 or 10 of playing a pee-wee football game on red turf. It was a gas. Never thought that someone would actually do it, since even then I felt that it would look kinda ridiculous...but yeah, if the texture is nice, this might work. Good to see EWU actually putting themselves out there.

[Harmening]

I thought that the NCAA had outlawed colored turf ...

1. Make it hard to see or spot the ball.
   
2. Make it hard to see individual players, either in person or on TV.
   
3. Distract or confuse players.
   

I love Boise's blue turf, but I hate that they wear uniforms that are nearly all blue save for the numbers and some orange stripes. I find it incredibly difficult to watch a Boise State home game because of their monochrome blue unis. I wish they'd adopt some white helmets and pants.

Ain't that the truth. They've got waaay too much blue goin' on during home games. Even if they just used white pants, it would be a start.

I changed the channel 'cause I got sick of watching them.

[BBTV]

This is just a horrible idea. In addition to all of the previously mentioned points, like the potential difficulty in spotting the ball, I'd think that it'd make it harder on scouts to dissect game films, which could impact the futures of the players at least a little bit. Nobody wants to stare at a bright-red surface for hours. It's just hard on your eyes. I hate the blue surface too, but at least it's not painful to look at (though trying to identify the players in blue against the blue field can cause some strain.) Additionally, while we all know that the games are being played on fake surfaces, once they start and you're focused on the action, you kinda forget about the fakeness of it. With this surface, the fake factor is right in your face all the time.

[Viper]

Are there any teams other than in college football that use unconventional colors for their playing surfaces? The National Lacrosse League's Minnesota Swarm are reportedly due to replace their Dieterturf athletic carpet in the next couple of seasons, and there is already support among some of their fans to make the new carpet blue instead of the usual green. If that happens, AFAIK the Swarm would become the first team outside of college football to do this. Am I wrong?

[stumpygremlin]

I'm surprised nobody's pointed out the red on red with the logo. The EWU letters are red on the red field. I think it'd work better if they used the version of the logo they use on the helmet (with the white letters).

[BallWonk]

On the plus side, the letters "EW" are highly visible on that field, which is truth in advertising.

The mock-up with "Eastern" in one endzone and "Washington" in the other prompted me to Google Earth this to find out whether they were putting "Eastern" on the east or west side of the field. The good news: it's a north-south field, though it tips slightly, and the endzone that's ever so slightly to the east will be say "Eastern."

Which led to realization number three: This field will be visible from space! Or at least, highly conspicuous on Google Earth.

[Puck]

I don't get it. This is horrible. It reminds me of playing basketball on a carpeted court as a kid (talk about rug burns). Even as an 11 year old I thought it was cheap and cheesy looking compared to our old Boy's Club battered wooden court.

it also makes me wonder why Arena Football or Indoor Soccer never really did this.

[BawlmerOreos]

We're all sitting at computers talking and thinking about Eastern Washington football...THAT's why they're doing it.

It's ugly...but it will get buzz.

For contrast, I hope they wear black jerseys.

[-kj]

I'm surprised nobody's pointed out the red on red with the logo. The EWU letters are red on the red field. I think it'd work better if they used the version of the logo they use on the helmet (with the white letters).

I swear that's not the image that was originally on the first post in the thread. The image I saw was a flat mock-up, not a 3-D rendering; the "EWU" letters were white, and there was no white outline on the logo.

[-(dp)-]

I'm surprised nobody's pointed out the red on red with the logo. The EWU letters are red on the red field. I think it'd work better if they used the version of the logo they use on the helmet (with the white letters).

I swear that's not the image that was originally on the first post in the thread. The image I saw was a flat mock-up, not a 3-D rendering; the "EWU" letters were white, and there was no white outline on the logo.

You are correct. I linked to the image on their site, which they have apparently changed.

[Cianfrocco]

If you click on the high resolution pdf file from the news page, it shows different graphics on the field. The EWU is in white, and the rest of the logo is in black, with no outlines. The font in the end zones is also different. It does make it a bit easier to see, but I still think this will look terrible in real life. I have never been able to watch more than 5 minutes of a Boise State game on TV before my eyes start to hurt.

[mmejia]

Reading about this reminded me of the Texas-Michigan Rose Bowl from January 2005. ABC had some wild effects going that day, including this red zone graphic that I screen grabbed:

[powersurge]

redrum redrum redrum

Oh sorry I was entranced by the red turf.

frut der....frut der....frut deeeeeer!

[Thad]

Are there any teams other than in college football that use unconventional colors for their playing surfaces? The National Lacrosse League's Minnesota Swarm are reportedly due to replace their Dieterturf athletic carpet in the next couple of seasons, and there is already support among some of their fans to make the new carpet blue instead of the usual green. If that happens, AFAIK the Swarm would become the first team outside of college football to do this. Am I wrong?

Rumor has it James Madison is going to have purple turf when they renovate their stadium.

[dfwabel]

Are there any teams other than in college football that use unconventional colors for their playing surfaces? The National Lacrosse League's Minnesota Swarm are reportedly due to replace their Dieterturf athletic carpet in the next couple of seasons, and there is already support among some of their fans to make the new carpet blue instead of the usual green. If that happens, AFAIK the Swarm would become the first team outside of college football to do this. Am I wrong?

Rumor has it James Madison is going to have purple turf when they renovate their stadium.

University of New Haven has blue turf

[Cujo]

How soon til the first REAL (BCS Conference) school pulls something like this?

My money is on Oregon, keeping with the northwestern univ. theme. Neon yellow turf, of course!

[The_Admiral]

This trend came 20 years too late. Teal-to-purple gradient turf with dropshadowed yard lines would've been beautiful.

[DelayedPenalty]

Maybe New Haven is the school someone suggested Boise was ticked at? Then again I can't imagine Boise even knows that a University of New Haven exists...I didn't.

[SmoothieX]

I can't wait. That is gonna look sweet.