Flood!!

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.



Until next time.

Citrus Bowl Installation Web Cam!

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:



Until next time.

Citrus Bowl turf III

The issue that won't die. The East-West Shrine game is scheduled to be played at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando January 23rd but concerns about the turf will not die. The Orlando Sentinel had a piece today about what is being done.

Money quote:

Johnson met with the city's turf consultant Monday and told suppliers to find enough turf to re-sod again before the East-West Shrine Game. The city "won't rest" until the field is up to Shrine Game standards, he said.

There's heavy demand from golf courses for Celebration Bermuda grass this time of year. The city hopes to find enough — cut a half-inch thicker than what is now in place — to re-sod from goal line to goal line. If there's not enough available, the city is likely to supplement it with another variety of Bermuda.

It's nice that they're "not resting" until it's fixed, but I'll believe it when I see it. On January 23.

Until next time.

Citrus Bowl II (and something else)

As was discussed yesterday, the field at the Citrus Bowl was an unmitigated disaster for both the Champs Sports Bowl and the Capital One Bowl. Miami Hurricanes running back Graig Cooper injured his knee on a kickoff return. Money quote from the Miami Herald:

Cooper, a junior, had yet to have an MRI for his knee, which was injured on a 27-yard kickoff return just before halftime. Cooper slipped on the Florida Citrus Bowl stadium turf, which released bursts of sand into the air when players fell on it or cut sharply.

Let's have another money quote, this time from December 30th Orlando Sentinel:

"The turf was replaced, as is always done during the time between the high school games and the bowl games," said Heather Allebaugh , spokeswoman for Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. "Cold weather prohibited growing. It needed vertical and horizontal growth from the turf and that didn't really happen because of the weather. The field was in good playing condition, it just wasn't at the great level we have had in the past."

Let's leave the issue for now and end on a beautiful note. Is there a prettier setting for a bowl game than the Rose Bowl? I don't think so!

Until next time.

Citrus Bowl Disaster!!

Let's go straight to the Orlando Sentinel for a money quote:

The city spent $36,000 to re-sod the field with Celebration Bermuda grass from goal line to goal line, including the bench area, after the state high-school-football championships ended Dec. 19. But the cold weather wreaked havoc, preventing the grass from growing and taking hold.

That led to clumps of turf flying in the Champs Sports Bowl between Miami and Wisconsin. One player was seriously hurt in that game after planting his foot and getting it stuck in the turf. During walk-throughs for the Capital One Bowl on Friday, Penn State center Stefen Wisniewski said the field was not in great shape even dry. "Soaked full of mud, it was a disaster," he said.

It was u-g-l-y UGLY! Here's a shot of the mess, and here's another. That's all I've got on this for now, but I have a feeling I'll be revisiting this again.

Until next time!