The contraption fools Mother Nature. Johnson used the lights 24 hours a day from October to early December, moving them every other day between games. Because the lights hang about six feet above the grass, other groundskeeping duties — mowing and watering, mostly — can continue, though the blast from a high-pressure sprinkler can occasionally shatter one of the long, clear incandescent bulbs.
The Pinstripe Bowl was played at Yankee Stadium and this picture sums it up very nicely.
The Colts were ousted from the NFL Playoffs by the Jets this past Saturday. The remnants of the old AFC logo were visible under the paint for the new AFC logo. In fairness to the Lucas Oil Stadium crew, they use FieldTurf where the fibers themselves are colored, not painted. It's tough to cover something up. I'm sure they'll have the new logo in by next season.
The NHL is paying to have the turf at Heinz Field replaced in time for the division playoff Jan. 15. It seems the damage done by constructing a hockey rink for the Winter Classic made the field unplayable.
Soldier Field is under the control of the Chicago Park District. And, on the whole, they do a pretty good job. The climate in Chicago isn't the most friendly for a natural grass surface, so sometimes they need a little help.
From Sherwin-Williams.
Example 1:
Example 2:
Notice how the end zone is just a little greener than the field or the area behind the end zone? The logos are also nice and bright. No one can fault them for touching up at this point in the season. But it's curious why they didn't spruce up their midfield logo.
I'm going to put out a feeler to the CPD to find out why the sidelines and goal lines were painted red.
The Bears will be able to check out a well maintained midfield logo this Sunday when they travel to Lambeau Field to take on their division-rival Packers.
I like to call the the area between the hash marks, "Main Street." By definition, it gets the most foot traffic on the field. Every play starts there and it is a difficult area to maintain.
The Candlestick Park grounds crew has been having trouble, as we can see below...
Heavy rains in Iowa recently caused the Squaw Creek near Ames to flood parts of the campus of Iowa State University. Jack Trice Stadium was nearly surrounded by water but the field did not flood.
Hilton Coliseum, the ISU basketball arena, was not so lucky. This shot shows the nine feet of water inside the arena with the basketball court floating!
The ISU women's volleyball team will play their home games at Ames High School. No dollar figure of damages has been released.
In better news, the pitch at Wembley Stadium was relaid using the Desso system. It's the system used at Mile High Stadium that has fibers 'sewn' into the dirt that gives the roots of the grass something to attach to. We'll see how this hold up. I suspect that the problems at Wembley relate to the alleged lack of air circulation. But what do I know, I'm just a blogger.
Lastly, the AstroTurf at the Florida Citrus Bowl is almost done.
The folks at AstroTurf are installing their product in the Citrus Bowl currently and have set up a web cam for our viewing pleasure. Here's a still from earlier today:
Eastern Washington has begun installation of their red turf.
That building in the background looks like an East German apartment building circa 1967.
I haven't written anything in months and completely missed blogging about the World Cup and their stadiums. But, I did find this video showing Qatar's proposed stadiums for their 2022 World Cup bid. Enjoy
Until next time. And I promise I won't be gone so long!
