Say Goodbye to the Grass

And there you have it. After 41 years, the grass is coming off the field at the Doyt. Here's the Sentinel's story on it.

The Falcon Nation seems to have divided opinions on this move. The U is spending almost a million dollars to get this done. A lot of people--me included--will hold out nostalgia for the grass field at our Stadium. At one time, we were known for having one of the best turf fields in the country. The playing surface was impeccable. Recently, the advent of play late into November along with deterioration of the aging draining system caused the field to be a sub-par surface a couple of times--once when we beat Toledo for the MAC West title in Brandon I, and again last year when Miami played BG in that awful muck.

So, would I prefer grass? Yes.

But, I get it. Times do change. The quality of FieldTurf is so much higher than the old astroturf, and since it is so grass-like, yet does not have to be maintained, etc, and will always provide a quality surface. It can also be used for many more activities. Five teams in the MAC already had this surface. (Hell, our local HS has field turf).

It is time to change.

The turf will provide a better visual appearance to the Stadium, and the end zones can be bright orange, etc. I think we will adjust to the change pretty quickly. It might help recruiting a little, too.