We're going with FieldTurf, but maybe not until next year

[Flipper]

Why are you folks so attached to grass? I don't see any practical upside to keeping it as our playing surface....what am I missing?

[Falcon30]

Why are you folks so attached to grass? I don't see any practical upside to keeping it as our playing surface....what am I missing?

Practicality has nothing to do with it. It is tradition.

[Flipper]

Oh....aren't traditions supposed to be unique to an institution? Is there anything intrinsically "Bowling Green" about playing on grass?

[hammb]

It has nothing to do with tradition. If we traditionally had fake turf, I'd still be against it.

I think that grass and all it's nuances are part of the game. Fake turf takes away from some of that. To me the ability to adapt to the conditions of that day's turf should be part of winning the football game.

I'll readily admit that last year's Miami game was over the top, and it should never be that way. But my point is that it was never that way before that game, and I don't think we should ditch the grass simply because of one anomolous game.

[Flipper]

Ok...you realize you could apply that logic to lights, face masks, gloves, and any number of incremental improvements to the equipment and playing field used in the game.... all of those things in some way made adapting to the elements or nature of the game's "physicality" easier.

Is grass the theoretic limit....or should we trace backwards and get rid some other advances?

[Warthog]

BAN THE FOWARD PASS!!! IT IS THE WORK OF THE DEVIL!

[transfer2BGSU]

BAN THE FOWARD PASS!!! IT IS THE WORK OF THE DEVIL!

I'm with Woody (err, Warthog) on this one!

Run to the right. Run to the left. Run it up the gut.

[TG1996]

BAN THE FOWARD PASS!!! IT IS THE WORK OF THE DEVIL!

I'm with Woody (err, Warthog) on this one!

Run to the right. Run to the left. Run it up the gut.

We did that last year and all you guys did was bitch!

[Jacobs4Heisman]

BAN THE FOWARD PASS!!! IT IS THE WORK OF THE DEVIL!

I'm with Woody (err, Warthog) on this one!

Run to the right. Run to the left. Run it up the gut.

We did that last year and all you guys did was bitch!

Last year was more like run to the right, run to the right, run to the left, run to the left, run up the middle, run up the middle.

Grass is cool. I like football on grass. Field turf has enough merits that I'm willing to not freak out about the change that much.

[hammb]

Ok...you realize you could apply that logic to lights, face masks, gloves, and any number of incremental improvements to the equipment and playing field used in the game.... all of those things in some way made adapting to the elements or nature of the game's "physicality" easier.

Is grass the theoretic limit....or should we trace backwards and get rid some other advances?

There is no theortic limit, this is MY opinion.

I think facemasks & helmets have made the game safer, until recently artificial surfaces have done the opposite.

Lights have made night games possible, and add an entire day of tailgating.


I have nothing against making the game easier. I don't even have anything against changes being made to the game, rules, etc.

This is an opinion forum, and in my OPINION, football is better on grass. I don't have anything against changing the game, I just don't particularly care for THIS change.

If we're making the change to increase revenue & decrease costs (and those things actually DO happen) then I can learn to live with it. I don't like the sudden mob mentality that it is impossible to have nice grass in BG and that the Miami(OH) game will be the norm if we stick with natural grass. We've had a very nice natural grass surface for years, and I think we could continue to have one if we choose to go that route. Financially, it definitely costs more to keep natural grass, but in my opinion it is worth it.

[San Diego Falcon]

Not even Woody would run the QB straight up the middle on 4th-and-7

[transfer2BGSU]

Not even Woody would run the QB straight up the middle on 4th-and-7

He might have with big Pete Johnson (#46) in the backfield

[Flipper]

Ok...you realize you could apply that logic to lights, face masks, gloves, and any number of incremental improvements to the equipment and playing field used in the game.... all of those things in some way made adapting to the elements or nature of the game's "physicality" easier.

Is grass the theoretic limit....or should we trace backwards and get rid some other advances?

There is no theortic limit, this is MY opinion.

I think facemasks & helmets have made the game safer, until recently artificial surfaces have done the opposite.

Lights have made night games possible, and add an entire day of tailgating.


I have nothing against making the game easier. I don't even have anything against changes being made to the game, rules, etc.

This is an opinion forum, and in my OPINION, football is better on grass. I don't have anything against changing the game, I just don't particularly care for THIS change.

If we're making the change to increase revenue & decrease costs (and those things actually DO happen) then I can learn to live with it. I don't like the sudden mob mentality that it is impossible to have nice grass in BG and that the Miami(OH) game will be the norm if we stick with natural grass. We've had a very nice natural grass surface for years, and I think we could continue to have one if we choose to go that route. Financially, it definitely costs more to keep natural grass, but in my opinion it is worth it.

Oh...I get it, we have to stay with grass because you want it that way. WHo died and made you Hillary Clinton?

[BGSU33]

Bring on the FieldTurf!!! And I’m ready to step up and do my part in helping to contribute to get it in place this season, not next year. While I also like a good grass field, the thing about FieldTurf is, it’s nearly like grass but you can get so much more out of it. The first time I stepped foot on FieldTurf I was in Chapel Hill at the University of North Carolina on an intramural field about seven or eight years ago. I couldn’t believe how real the fake stuff not only felt, but played. FieldTurf is as close to the real stuff as you can get and in fact, has features that grass can’t even match. There are many reasons why so many college, professional and high school programs are using FieldTurf.

I’ll be the first to say that if we were installing something like Astroturf, I’d also be having a fit. In fact, I believe Idaho is the only I-A school still using the old stuff (although the NexTurf stuff Toledo uses isn’t much better). But every other I-A school is either using FieldTurf (or a similar brand) or grass. FieldTurf is going to be a plus for BG. Many of our players want it, our coaches want it, and more importantly - our administration is stepping up to the table and getting it for us like EVERY other MAC school (minus Temple) has already done! That’s what I enjoy most about it. We’ve already been passed by every MAC school by not putting it down. Ball State is putting it in now which means only BG is left with grass out of the 12 MAC football schools from 2006. And if money wasn’t an issue here, we wouldn’t have to decide whether we’re putting it down this year or not, we’d already have it going in.

For all of you in favor of our grass field, I ask you to take a stroll across it the next time you are in BG before they remove it. Aside from our field also having a crown, the field has uneven spots all over it. I’m not talking about divots left over from the Miami game or anything like that, I’m talking about unevenness throughout the entire playing field. Yes, I know the field was honored for our grass in the recent past, but the actually surface is very sub-par. It’s essentially like a yard, not a good playing field. I was surprised to see it this way because from the stands, I never expected it to be that way. I can only hope one thing about our current field - if we don’t put FieldTurf in before this year, I sure as hell hope we don’t have weather like we did next year again this season. Can you imagine if we had to play a home game or two after that Miami game last year. I can see it now, BG will have to play a “home” game at the Glass Bowl because of our poor field condition. Then maybe we could all agree on something to complain about.

[Schadenfreude]

Oh....aren't traditions supposed to be unique to an institution? Is there anything intrinsically "Bowling Green" about playing on grass?

Actually, yes. We are the only program in the MAC that still does.