http://www.dailycal.org/2014/07/10/preparations-underway-upcoming-real-madrid-vs-inter-milan-match-memorial-stadium/

How's that gonna work? Over the artificial turf or remove the artificial turf?

I wish there was a way to take the plastic crap out and put the real thing down permanently.......but I think the possibility no longer exists. Too bad.

We did it at NU. Ryan Field, formerly Dyche Stadium, used to have an artificial surface. The miracle 95 season brought enough interest and funding to do a serious remodel. Grass doesn't hold up well if the field is used frequently, though. Soldier Field in Chicago is grass and it is awful midway through the season because it is also used for high school games.

It takes a lot of serious effort to keep a grass field in Illinois, but NU does it. I would think it would be a lot easier at Cal.

Seattle_Cat;842333619 said:

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I would think it would be a lot easier at Cal.

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It would be, except there is no space on campus so the team practices at the stadium.

Seattle_Cat;842333619 said:

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We did it at NU. Ryan Field, formerly Dyche Stadium, used to have an artificial surface. The miracle 95 season brought enough interest and funding to do a serious remodel. Grass doesn't hold up well if the field is used frequently, though. Soldier Field in Chicago is grass and it is awful midway through the season because it is also used for high school games.

It takes a lot of serious effort to keep a grass field in Illinois, but NU does it. I would think it would be a lot easier at Cal.

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Urban campus my cat friend. We could do it, but upkeep would not be easy on a heavily used field.

Seattle_Cat;842333619 said:

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We did it at NU. Ryan Field, formerly Dyche Stadium, used to have an artificial surface. The miracle 95 season brought enough interest and funding to do a serious remodel. Grass doesn't hold up well if the field is used frequently, though. Soldier Field in Chicago is grass and it is awful midway through the season because it is also used for high school games.

It takes a lot of serious effort to keep a grass field in Illinois, but NU does it. I would think it would be a lot easier at Cal.

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Even if it were feasible, which it isn't unfortunately, there is no way the artificial turf would be replaced with natural grass given the water situation in California.

bluehenbear;842333578 said:

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http://www.dailycal.org/2014/07/10/preparations-underway-upcoming-real-madrid-vs-inter-milan-match-memorial-stadium/

How's that gonna work? Over the artificial turf or remove the artificial turf?

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This may be a dumb question which demonstrates my ignorance concerning the game of soccer, but why can't soccer be played on artificial turf?

The field has to have enough "give", for things like sliding tackles. Artificial turfs would result in far greater ankle and knee injury rates. I don't know things were in the US with the NASL, where many teams had Astroturf, and that was before ACL surgeries were common practice...

ColoradoBear1;842333620 said:

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It would be, except there is no space on campus so the team practices at the stadium.

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hope that happens soon

Doesn't the Seattle Sounders play on fieldturf at CenturyLink Field where the Seahawks play? If so, turf isn't bothering them, they are in first place by a mile in their MLS division.

going4roses;842333648 said:

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hope that happens soon

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Probably never going to happen.

Chabbear;842333686 said:

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Doesn't the Seattle Sounders play on fieldturf at CenturyLink Field where the Seahawks play? If so, turf isn't bothering them, they are in first place by a mile in their MLS division.

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Turf at century link is notoriously crappy for soccer. There are MLS stars that refuse to play there (and at Vancouver). Now portland went for a different style of turf, still fake, but it gets rave reviews. What the exact difference are? I don't know. Having been on the field at CMS and a couple other football stadiums, I don't think it's the give of the field. Grass/dirt can be a lot harder, especially when cold. Might be how much grip one has on the surface, and how that torques the joints. Maybe a slightly slippery surface would be better (as in more like grass), but then the ball skids (a problem in soccer, but not football where no one cares how it bounces because they are holding the ball in hand obviously). I could even see that a field with too much give would cause injury in football as the feet would have a harder time sliding sideways on contact. But the amount of give in current field turf and the slipperiness is a marke3d improvement over the old hard astroturf.

turkey02;842333694 said:

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Probably never going to happen.

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that sucks

going4roses;842333704 said:

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that sucks

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You've been on campus, right? Space is at a premium. Where would you put it?

The other issue is - if you DID manage to get one built, it'd have to be turf because intramurals, etc. would have access, and with football practicing on it nearly year round, it'd need to be turf or it'd be a horrible field with so much traffic.

And then you'd want to keep Memorial turf anyways, because I don't think it'd be advantageous to have our team practicing on turf but playing on grass.

where did we practice when memorial did have grass? we did for a few years. howd they make it work then? or did it not really work?

gobears725;842333752 said:

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where did we practice when memorial did have grass? we did for a few years. howd they make it work then? or did it not really work?

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Witter.

gobears725;842333752 said:

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where did we practice when memorial did have grass? we did for a few years. howd they make it work then? or did it not really work?

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In the 70s and maybe early 80s the football team use to practice on the outfield grass at Evans. Sort of like DLS did before they had turf. The 'who gives a **** about baseball' attitude.

I'm fairly certain that I read that next years women's world cup in Canada will be played entirely on artificial turf. I know the payers aren't thrilled about it, but grass+wet weather = horrible soccer, so I think it's a wise move.

Playing soccer on turf is a lot different that playing on grass. The ball bounces a lot higher and moves faster in general. My high school team would practice on the blacktop the day before we traveled to turf fields in order for us to get used to the different speed. It also hurts a lot more when you slide as even with compression shorts you often get turf burns. Additionally, depending on the turf, it can be harder to get under the ball when trying chips, lofted passes, etc.

Personally I've found it harder to go from playing primarily on turf to playing on grass than vice versa. My college team plays on a turf field and when we go to grass fields it usually takes 5-10 minutes for us to really settle in to the game.

In the "old" days, by the time the Big Game rolled around, the grass between the 20s was pretty well gone. Add some rain and the jerseys got so dirty you couldn't see the numbers. Mud Bowl.

TomBear;842333602 said:

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I wish there was a way to take the plastic crap out and put the real thing down permanently.......but I think the possibility no longer exists. Too bad.

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The new plastic looks like grass and is as safe or safer than grass, so what's the real problem?

barabbas;842333952 said:

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The new plastic looks like grass and is as safe or safer than grass, so what's the real problem?

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i wonder if there have been any actual studies as to injuries on the fake vs real grass. just seems like we've had an awful lot of injuries the last two years with the fake stuff. not sure if its related or not

SonOfCalVa;842333950 said:

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In the "old" days, by the time the Big Game rolled around, the grass between the 20s was pretty well gone. Add some rain and the jerseys got so dirty you couldn't see the numbers. Mud Bowl.

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Yeah! Real Football!
The seagulls were happier, too.

barabbas;842333952 said:

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The new plastic looks like grass and is as safe or safer than grass, so what's the real problem?

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Not sure about the safety. I do know that the stuff we put in in 2012 doesn't look nearly as good to me as the previous stuff. It's got that awful silvery look and doesn't resemble grass at all. Looks like the old, crappy, AstroTurf.

So no one here knows about the mechanics of how they plan on putting the grass in at Memorial?

bluehenbear;842333970 said:

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So no one here knows about the mechanics of how they plan on putting the grass in at Memorial?

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I think I read somewhere that they'd bring in big plates of sod and put it on top of our turf.

grandmastapoop;842333960 said:

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Not sure about the safety. I do know that the stuff we put in in 2012 doesn't look nearly as good to me as the previous stuff. It's got that awful silvery look and doesn't resemble grass at all. Looks like the old, crappy, AstroTurf.

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The old Astro Turf looked ridiculously bad...

This stuff is much better.



VS




(Good watch BTW)

Phantomfan;842333987 said:

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The old Astro Turf looked ridiculously bad...

This stuff is much better.

...(Good watch BTW)

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I believe he was comparing the old Field Turf (Tedford) to the new Field Turf (CMS renovation).

grandmastapoop;842333960 said:

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Not sure about the safety. I do know that the stuff we put in in 2012 doesn't look nearly as good to me as the previous stuff. It's got that awful silvery look and doesn't resemble grass at all. Looks like the old, crappy, AstroTurf.

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we have the turf (hellas matrix) that the dallas cowboys use but seemingly else does at major college or pro levels. Not sure why, but the cowboys turf looks like dog crap too. it may perform fine, who knows?

CaliforniaGoldenBear;842333959 said:

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Yeah! Real Football!
The seagulls were happier, too.

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true, forgot the seagulls ... lots of them

ColoradoBear1;842333999 said:

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we have the turf (hellas matrix) that the dallas cowboys use but seemingly else does at major college or pro levels. Not sure why, but the cowboys turf looks like dog crap too. it may perform fine, who knows?

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Yeah, it looks terrible for the Cowboys, too. I can't stand it. Oh well.

And as 93gobears said - I was saying that our current turf (Matrix) looks way worse than our old turf (Momentum) and that, to me, Matrix looks closer to old AstroTurf (which was hideous).

Phantomfan;842333987 said:

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The old Astro Turf looked ridiculously bad...

This stuff is much better.



VS




(Good watch BTW)

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Interesting photo Phantom.

We sat on the east side for the first few games last year and then moved back to the west side. From the east side, especially on sunny days the field looked like a plastic shiny kitchen counter. From the west much like in your photo. Sun angle on reflective surfaces plays a big role.

grandmastapoop;842334008 said:

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Yeah, it looks terrible for the Cowboys, too. I can't stand it. Oh well.

And as 93gobears said - I was saying that our current turf (Matrix) looks way worse than our old turf (Momentum) and that, to me, Matrix looks closer to old AstroTurf (which was hideous).

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Ohhhh. Yeah, I would rate it
1. Momentum
2. Grass (only because our budget didnt allow full painting of the damn script Cal until the last game of the season or something, I couldnt stand that)
3. This stuff
4. Astro Turf

Though I like these endzones better than the Momentum (those were not good).


Anyway, the statement that the turf we have " Looks like the old, crappy, AstroTurf" is silly.

NVGolfingBear;842334054 said:

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Interesting photo Phantom.

We sat on the east side for the first few games last year and then moved back to the west side. From the east side, especially on sunny days the field looked like a plastic shiny kitchen counter. From the west much like in your photo. Sun angle on reflective surfaces plays a big role.

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I do have to admit, after searching for a good Astro Turf photo, I watched the entire second half of that game.

What a game. Holy cow.

To your point, I think the glare off the field might be mitigated by my sunglasses, so maybe I dont see it as much as people without polarized lenses, or maybe I dont notice?

CaliforniaGoldenBear;842333959 said:

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Yeah! Real Football!
The seagulls were happier, too.

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I think the seagulls stopped coming over when the stadium became too crowded, early in the tedford era. I wonder if they're starting to come back now...