Wednesday, December 29, 2010
The Park District Bears Down
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.
Until next time.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Down on Main Street
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Red Turf Installation Photos
Until next time.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
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.
Until next time.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Citrus Bowl Installation Web Cam!
Until next time.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
It's Been a While
'Nuff said.
Boise State is getting their blue turf replaced for free.
Texas Tech got a new practice field.
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!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
New Turf for the Ravens
and....embedding the Baltimore Sun video doesn't seem to be working. Who's in charge over there? Bubbles? Never mind.
Here's a link to the article.
Instead, here's a video of sod being installed at M&T Bank Stadium in advance of last summer's AC Milan/Chelsea soccer match.
Happy Mother's Day!
Until next time.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
LP Field Flooded
The people of Tennessee need assistance, and donating to the Red Cross is a good way to help.
Until next time.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
The Old Firm Derby .....and the Green Monster?!?!?
Recently, I came across a piece about the possibility of both teams playing a pre-season game at Gillette Stadium. It interested me, but not enough to get me fired up to post it.
Then, this morning, I was directed to a piece on the BBC news site saying that this game might be played at Fenway Park! I'm not a fan of soccer in baseball parks and the capacity at Gillette is much higher than at Fenway, but it would be something to see those two old rivals (first meeting: 1888) in one of the oldest ballparks in America. Money quote from Sam Kennedy, Red Sox C.O.O.:
"We recognise it's a very special match between two very historic teams and the thought is that a very historic venue like Fenway Park would be appropriate to host that rivalry."We're hopeful that we can make it a reality."
I'll keep an eye on this. After having the Winter Classic earlier this year, it would be quite the feather in Fenway's cap to host the Old Firm Darby.
Until next time.
Friday, April 23, 2010
New Blue Turf
Boise State is famous for having blue turf. But, sometimes the fibers can have something of a sheen or glare that irritates the fans and doesn't look so good on television. The fine folks at FieldTurf were aware of the situation, and will work this summer to get the situation resolved. Money Quote:
Athletic director Gene Bleymaier says light-reflecting fibers in the current artificial field cause problems for people watching the game in person or on television.Bleymaier says FieldTurf wants to fix the problem and is doing it for free. The school did not estimate the cost of the project.
Big thanks to Tim Snyder for the tip on this one! He's got a blog of his own: Red Rider Sports Blog, check it out. We bloggers are always putting each other over, that's how we roll.
Who knew somebody was actually reading this?!?!?
Until next time.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Two Teams...Two Cities...One Stadium?
The San Francisco Bay area's two NFL teams play in stadiums that have seen better days. Candlestick Park opened 50 years ago. (The 49ers started playing there in 1971.) The Oakland Coliseum opened its doors in 1966. Each team has been working on a new stadium but nobody is in danger of getting anything done soon.
But that hasn't stopped an Alameda County politician who just so happens to be on the board of the Oakland Coliseum from getting the Coliseum to study the issue of one stadium for both teams.
Money Quote:
"There is only going to be one stadium in the Bay Area, and it's not going to be in Santa Clara," said Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, a member of the Coliseum board who voted with his colleagues last week to spend $125,000 on a study of a new Oakland stadium.
It probably makes sense on a number of levels for the two teams to share a stadium, but I don't think it's going to happen.
But there's more. June 8 will see voters in Santa Clara going to the voting booth to decide on Measure J. (Named for Jerry Rice?) This will provide funding for a stadium for the 49ers. There is opposition. Money Quote:
It's believed in some circles that the Santa Clara project ultimately won't be viable unless the 49ers and the Raiders share the facility. It's also believed that the Raiders strongly prefer sharing a facility in Oakland.
Either way, the vote is going forward on June 8. A positive outcome doesn't guarantee that the stadium will be built. If the "nays" win, it's pretty much dead.
I just don't see those two teams sharing a stadium. We'll see how this develops
Until next time.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Now THIS Man Is Into Stadiums!
I've got nothing on Scott Poleykett of England. He loves soccer and visiting the multitude of 'grounds' around England. He's made it to over 2,400 so far. Money quote:
He began his hobby 12 years ago when he photographed the old Wembley Stadium with his father.
Afterwards he bought a picture book with information about every football ground in the country. "It led to a bit of an obsession," he said.
Wow! I thought I was impressive because I've been to two old Minnesota Twins stadiums.
Until next time.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Target Field is Open!!
The Twins ground crew has opted to go with a simple criss-cross roller pattern on the lovely real grass. It was a beautiful day for the game.
Here's a nice video tour of the new ballpark. Pay attention to the part about some of the seats having wooden backs!
New ballparks don't spring up overnight; the groundbreaking for Target Field was August 30, 2007. No new ballpark post would be complete without a time lapse video of its construction. MLB apparently doesn't like people to embed it's videos so I'll just leave the link here.
It's a beautiful ballpark, and someday I'd love to sit in any one of the 39,504 seats and take in a game.
Until next time.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
New Jersey: Home of New Stadiums
The Red Bulls hosted the Chicago Fire in their first Major League Soccer game March 27 and the reviews are positive. The New York Times had a nice animated infographic on the stadium. You can check it out here.
Just up the expressway (sorry, I don't have the exit number), New Meadowlands stadium opened today with three lacrosse games. I don't have any quality photos yet, but here is a nice video about the stadium.
Discussing the inside of the new Meadowlands Stadium |
Next sporting event there will be a soccer friendly between Mexico and Ecuador.
Outside New Jersey, tomorrow, Sunday April 11 will see out Texas Stadium. It hosted it's first Cowboys game October of 1971, nearly 40 years ago. I'll post some video of the implosion this week.
Until next time.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Vandals Strike in Ann Arbor
Money quote:
Damage to the block “M” at the 50-yard line of Michigan Stadium in a weekend vandalism incident likely was done with a large utility knife and caused $1,500 to $2,000 in damage, the stadium's facility manager said Wednesday morning.
A 6-foot by 8-inch chunk of FieldTurf was carved out of the block "M" in a similar fashion someone would cut carpet, Chris Ehman said.
The damage is expected to be repaired in time for the spring football game next weekend.
Until next time.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Blogger ALMOST Suckered in April Fools Joke!!
The turf will be installed by Turfus and Sons, a subsidiary of Vandalay Industries, which is the largest producer of the rubber material found underneath dangerous playground equipment.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Quick hit!
With far fewer seams than the old FieldTurf, the new surface is expected to minimize tricky hops on ground balls. But Rogers Centre executives were not focusing on infielders' peace of mind when they made the move to ditch FieldTurf after five years of use.
The FieldTurf surface comprised 1,400 trays of fake grass. It took about 40 hours to remove, stack and store the trays so the stadium could be used for a trade show or rock concert. The new AstroTurf comes in long rolls -- roughly 90 pieces for the baseball field -- allowing crews to finish a stadium conversion in roughly half the time.
With the quicker conversion, more non-sports events can be booked around Jays baseball and Toronto Argonauts football games, generating more revenue for the under-used facility, said Rogers Centre CEO Paul Beeston.
The stadium hosted it's first Blue Jays game on June 5, 1989 so it will be some time before they need a new stadium when we can dream of a real grass field.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Quick hit!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
As Turn 2 Turns....
The morning before every Cup race, each speedway (Daytona included, as officials confirmed) has a team of people who walk every inch of the track. Some will line up across Turn 1, some in Turn 2, some on half the backstretch, etc., looking for any signs of a problem on the pavement.Unless the hole already had started, there's no way track engineers could foresee it coming, even if they walked right over it, which someone probably did.
Daytona International Speedway today has begun installing reinforced concrete in Turn 2, according to DIS President Robin Braig.“This is the correct course of action to repair the track,” Braig said. “Our team of engineers and asphalt specialists with North American Testing Corporation has previous experience with concrete being used on an asphalt track and it is a proven solution.”
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
A Thousand Words About Pictures
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
I'm Back
- The East-West Shrine game was played at the Florida Citrus Bowl on January 23, and I didn't hear anything about bad turf for the game. If you recall, there were major problems at that venue for the two bowl games played there.
- Super Bowl XLIV was played in Miami this past weekend and the field looked terrific (as usual). I didn't get any captured shots of the field but I did hear that Stadium Associates is selling chunks of the turf. I checked out their site and noticed a little bit of a typo: The picture of the box says it's from Super Bowl XLVI (46) instead of XLIV (44).
Thursday, January 28, 2010
A Little Bit About Torrey Pines
"She's probably the most prestigious woman in the industry right now," says Carmen Magro, a former course superintendent who is head of the turfgrass program at Penn State, one of the foremost training grounds for supers in the U.S. "If she has a successful Open," he says, "that will be huge for women in this industry. It will absolutely open doors." And that--breaking golf's grass ceiling--makes Combs proud. "That means something to me," she says. "Hopefully, I'm going to give one for the team."
Of the roughly 10,500 superintendents and 5,500 assistants who belong to the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, only 79 supers and 72 assistants are women. Of the 2,000 members who have reached the association's highest level of certification, women--Combs among them--make up barely 1%.
"We're few and far between," says 27-year-old Patty Reedy, who was recently elevated from assistant to head super on the South course at Los Angeles Country Club, making her one of only 16 women supers at private clubs. The lack of numbers isn't surprising. The job entails exhausting physical labor and grueling hours and is complicated by nature's whims and golfers' demands. "This is no place for suits and high heels," says Andrea Bakalyar, 34, super at the Wee course at Williams Creek in Knoxville, Tenn. "It's not for everybody. It's not an easy career."
"I love this job," says Nancy Dickens, 47, superintendent and head agronomist of Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. "Every day provides me with an interesting challenge that tests what I know." When she was in her early 30s, Dickens jumped off the corporate ladder at Hallmark Cards after realizing that she didn't want to be chained to a desk. An avid golfer, she began researching jobs in the industry. "Back then I never thought that a woman could do this," she says.
The profession has changed dramatically in recent years. The old greenkeeper was a manual laborer with a green thumb. Says Bruce Williams (a third-generation super who as head of the grounds at L.A. Country Club hired Reedy), "The key to the old days was, you had to withstand the physical part of the job to move yourself through the ranks. Back then, unloading a fertilizer truck was backbreaking. Today we do it with a forklift. The physical aspect is still there, but it isn't make or break anymore."
The path to running a course now runs through university programs like Penn State's, where one or two women (out of a total enrollment of 45) matriculate annually, up from one every few years a decade ago. Reedy was in one of those programs, at Texas A&M. Initially, though, she had no interest in golf or golf courses. "Growing up, I liked doing yard work," she says. "It's as simple as that." In 2001 when a friend took a summer internship in Boston, she went along and found one too, in Brookline under Spence. "The rest is pretty much history," says Reedy, who went on to work at Skokie (Ill.) Country Club for three years before moving to L.A.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Red Turf Confirmed!!
Eastern Athletic Director Bill Chaves, who is working with associate athletic director for development Marc Hughes on the project, said EWU needs to secure additional funding through private contributions before actual replacement can be started. It is hoped that the project can be funded and completed in time for the 2010 season.
"There is no doubt that one of Boise State's claim to fame has been their blue turf and like it or dislike it, it has certainly brought them a tremendous amount of notoriety," said Chaves. "In a similar vein we have a tremendous opportunity at Eastern to do the same by differentiating ourselves with the red turf while providing a superior playing surface."
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Red Turf?!?!?!?!?
Monday, January 25, 2010
Winston-Salem Will Be Getting Sod
Charles "Chuck" Hutchings, a senior project manager for Samet Corp., the general contractor building the ballpark, said that crews are hoping to have the sod installed at the Dash ballpark by the middle of March.
"We're waiting to get it as close to the growing season for sod to implant, which is warmer temperatures, where the sod will actually take root," Hutchings said.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Late Post
I can't believe I didn't include this in the post I just finished!
“I've never seen this much water on the golf course before,” said Tim Putnam, who has served as La Quinta Country Club's course superintendent for eight years.
Quick hit!
- The NHL isn't the only one with an outdoor hockey game. The Detroit News has a gallery from the Catholic Central vs. Cranbrook game held outdoors at Clark Park in Detroit.
- As I mentioned in October, Yankees sod is available. Now, Scotts has a sponsorship deal with Major League Baseball. They'll sell grass seed and products used in Fenway Park and Wrigley Field among others.
- Once you get your grass growing in your ballpark, how do you get those neat patterns in the grass? This interview with Johnathan Knight, the Groundskeeper at Peoria Sports Complex, give you the low-down on how he does it for the Padres and Mariners at their spring training home.
- Do you watch English soccer? You should! The beautiful game is often found on one of the ESPN channels on Saturday or Sunday morning. While you watch, notice the advertising boards around the pitch.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The Great Metrodome End Zone End Line Mystery...solved!
We have a 15’ wide rubber warning track for baseball which surrounds the stadium. The back of the end zone is 6” from the track.Regulation lines on a field are four inches wide. That leaves a two inch strip of green turf.