When is the grass going down?

[the cup]

Has anyone heard officially when the grass is being brought in and laid down?

I suppose they would maybe start soon after this weeks Chivas game since we are less than three weeks away now from the June 4th double-header.

Anybody have any news?

[Merrill]

The grass goes down next monday. Here at work they were sending a photographer out to get some shots of the change when they were informed that it wouldn't happen until next week. Probably because they can't get it taken care of before wednesday.

[the cup]

Right on, thanks for the info.

[Stucki]

The bad thing is that part of our home field advantage will be removed.

[Aerick]

To be honest, having pitch conditions be an advantage for our team irks me somewhat. It doesn't seem fair, and to a small degree cheapens any victories we have here. I'd rather have other, more legitimate factors be linked to our victories.

My two cents.

[HibaIssa]

It's still funny to see someone like Cobi Jones fumble around on it 😉

[Aero]

I've been on the turf and kicked a soccer ball around on it a little bit. I actually don't think that it is as big a deal as it is being made out to be. I think it may be more psychological than anything because it doesn't play all that much different than closely cut grass. One thing that it does have going for it is that it is very smooth. No bumps at all. I guess it does get hotter than actual grass, but that doesn't have much affect when the games are at night.

I think that Vagenas and Cobi are looking for excuses when they blame their mishandles on the turf. If I can play on it, I don't know why they couldn't.

[HibaIssa]

Well, we all know that the real problem was Cobi’s walker getting in the way 😉

[Rover]

Originally Posted by Aero

I've been on the turf and kicked a soccer ball around on it a little bit. I actually don't think that it is as big a deal as it is being made out to be. I think it may be more psychological than anything because it doesn't play all that much different than closely cut grass. One thing that it does have going for it is that it is very smooth. No bumps at all. I guess it does get hotter than actual grass, but that doesn't have much affect when the games are at night.

I think that Vagenas and Cobi are looking for excuses when they blame their mishandles on the turf. If I can play on it, I don't know why they couldn't.

I'm not going to defend Vagenas--he just flubbed it.

But Field Turf is not good for technical soccer. I've played on it and my kids have played on it and none of us like it. The biggest problem is the way the ball rolls. Brand new FT isn't so bad, but after a couple of years of being pounded down by 300 pound pointyball players it's not much better than the old fuzzy concrete. So passes that should be perfect on grass fly over the touchline.

The ball doesn't sit up properly like it does in grass, so you have to change your point of impact on the ball. And of course the ball bounces higher and the spin is exaggerated.

It will really be a problem in the summer since the stuff radiates heat. You literally feel the heat through your shoes.

Every field is a little different, grass or fake. The dimensions are different, the grass can be cut low or high, and the grass mix may vary. Those are givens. My beef with FT is that it's just not conducive to the best form of the game. I'd rather give up this particular advantage as soon as possible.

One of the reasons I want our stadium built sooner rather than later is to get our players away from FT. Hopefully the Metros get their deal down and move off FT too.

[AreliusII]

Originally Posted by Aerick

To be honest, having pitch conditions be an advantage for our team irks me somewhat. It doesn't seem fair, and to a small degree cheapens any victories we have here. I'd rather have other, more legitimate factors be linked to our victories.

My two cents.

No more turf monster for the next month…