oleschoolaggie
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Post by oleschoolaggie on Apr 3, 2018 13:16:47 GMT -5
The javelin is thrown on the game field and is a big issue because that's the one event that could damage a field turf base. We've talked that several times before. It's human to pay attention to what we want to... I get it. But no situation is cut & dry... otherwise it would be resolved already. It's why schools don't have their track collocated with their football field. We're a relic in that regard. Don't digress durhamgso, turf is not the issue. The issue is that we collectively don't care right now! Other things are more important to our leaders and to many of us. So we continue to make excuse after excuse. Reasons are the opposite of results.
 thanks, maxell!! i tried to stay out of this debate cuz i'm sure folks are tired of me complaining about our "grass" cuz i've been complaining about it for many "years"! but everything you say is "true"! there is no "excuse" for our grass being dead/brown except its not a "priority" for our administration. its downright "embarassing"! that's one of the main reasons i don't drive down there for spring games no more, i hate seeing that ugly azz embarrassing dead grass. hail, sometimes i get nervous that it might "scare away" our fbs transfers when they see it in the spring! i have a lot of respect for my friend, durham. you won't find very many aggies who are more committed and more passionate about aggie athletics than he is. but he's dead wrong about the field. i ran track thru high school and 4 years at a&t, i participated in field events (long jump/triple jump). the javelin does not tear up a field to the extent that the aggie stadium field is "torn up". the shot put and discus throws do far more damage than the javelin, but last i checked those events do not take place on the game football field. the track team barely uses the football field itself, they might stretch or warmup on the football field (if that), but that doesn't damage the grass. you go to elon, unc, or any of the pwc's who have natural grass and they manage to "keep" their grass green. this past season unc was building an indoor practice facility on their regular practice fields, so they had to both "practice" and "play games" on the kenan stadium natural grass field but the grass stayed "green" all season long. if unc can practice and play games on their natural grass field and keep it green all season long, then why can't we keep ours green? answer? because we don't treat our grass properly which is "criminal" when you consider we're an "agricultural school". man, we've got "nfl scouts" observing players at aggie stadium on pro day and i'm literally "embarrassed" that they have to see our grass all torn up like that! that's why i'm in favor of "field turf" in aggie stadium. find someplace else for the javelin and discus throws if we have to, we need "field turf" if we're not gonna properly treat our grass to stay green virtually year round... |
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aggie5
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Post by aggie5 on Apr 3, 2018 13:38:53 GMT -5
Its embarrassing and the bad part is that we have seen it even worse in the past. Guys were out there slipping all over the place during pro-day. Those 40 times had to be a little slower on that grass.
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Post by durhamgsoaggie on Apr 3, 2018 13:50:08 GMT -5
Don't digress durhamgso, turf is not the issue. The issue is that we collectively don't care right now! Other things are more important to our leaders and to many of us. So we continue to make excuse after excuse. Reasons are the opposite of results.
thanks, maxell!! i tried to stay out of this debate cuz i'm sure folks are tired of me complaining about our "grass" cuz i've been complaining about it for many "years"! but everything you say is "true"! there is no "excuse" for our grass being dead/brown except its not a "priority" for our administration. its downright "embarassing"! that's one of the main reasons i don't drive down there for spring games no more, i hate seeing that ugly azz embarrassing dead grass. hail, sometimes i get nervous that it might "scare away" our fbs transfers when they see it in the spring! i have a lot of respect for my friend, durham. you won't find very many aggies who are more committed and more passionate about aggie athletics than he is. but he's dead wrong about the field. i ran track thru high school and 4 years at a&t, i participated in field events (long jump/triple jump). the javelin does not tear up a field to the extent that the aggie stadium field is "torn up". the shot put and discus throws do far more damage than the javelin, but last i checked those events do not take place on the game football field. the track team barely uses the football field itself, they might stretch or warmup on the football field (if that), but that doesn't damage the grass. you go to elon, unc, or any of the pwc's who have natural grass and they manage to "keep" their grass green. this past season unc was building an indoor practice facility on their regular practice fields, so they had to both "practice" and "play games" on the kenan stadium natural grass field but the grass stayed "green" all season long. if unc can practice and play games on their natural grass field and keep it green all season long, then why can't we keep ours green? answer? because we don't treat our grass properly which is "criminal" when you consider we're an "agricultural school". man, we've got "nfl scouts" observing players at aggie stadium on pro day and i'm literally "embarrassed" that they have to see our grass all torn up like that! that's why i'm in favor of "field turf" in aggie stadium. find someplace else for the javelin and discus throws if we have to, we need "field turf" if we're not gonna properly treat our grass to stay green virtually year round... OSA, To clarify: The javelin event doesn't hurt the grass field, I agree. The javelin comes into play only if we chose to switch to field turf, because multiple men's/women's javelin events over time can damage a field turf base and cause a lot of rework. I can't speak for the AD, but that's likely the issue if he said that money wasn't a factor. In terms of comparing us to Elon... Elon's athletics budget is between $18-20 million compared to our $12 million. All of that isn't eaten up by tuition/scholarship differential & travel differences. Elon has more money and dedicated grounds crew (even outside of athletics) for field maintenance. And UNC? There are at least 5 people employed at UNC for every person in our facilities/maintenance group to do the same jobs. If you are talking strictly field maintenance, you are definitely talking $$$$$. We wonder how we accomplish so much on a $12 million budget when a number of the schools in the MEAC/SWAC have the same size budget? The answer... we spend strategically in some areas.... and other areas have to go lacking. That's the reality of operating on a tight budget, like it or not. |
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Post by thefriscotxaggie on Apr 3, 2018 14:01:54 GMT -5
Its not about treating the existing grass properly. I suspect the grass on the field is either fescue or Bermuda. Fescue goes dormant on a hard freeze and Bermuda on a frost. You have to overseed with winter rye to have green grass in the winter. Rye will be green unless temps are consistently well below freezing. Rye dies out when temps get hot and dry and the other grass takes over. Its a process and I agree with oleschool it embarrassing for the field to look like that in early spring. Yes I was a horticulture major my first year and sometimes I do winter rye in my yard.
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Post by thefriscotxaggie on Apr 3, 2018 14:05:50 GMT -5
Its not that hard nor that expensive you just overseed with rye in late October / November. The rye grows on top of the base grass. It is fairly labor intensive
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Post by Bornthrilla on Apr 3, 2018 14:13:20 GMT -5
Its embarrassing and the bad part is that we have seen it even worse in the past. Guys were out there slipping all over the place during pro-day. Those 40 times had to be a little slower on that grass. This is the thing that durhamgsoaggie, Chancellor Martin and everyone in the A&T athletic department needs to read. If our beat up field is putting us at a competitive disadvantage, its needs to be improved. I know some of you guys are supreme Aggie apologists, but this issue is way bigger than mere aesthetics. It is hurting us. |
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Post by Bornthrilla on Apr 3, 2018 14:32:45 GMT -5
Just look at the 0:39 mark of this video. That kid might not get invited to a NFL training camp because he had his pro day in the dust bowl.
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Post by durhamgsoaggie on Apr 3, 2018 15:12:46 GMT -5
Its embarrassing and the bad part is that we have seen it even worse in the past. Guys were out there slipping all over the place during pro-day. Those 40 times had to be a little slower on that grass. This is the thing that durhamgsoaggie, Chancellor Martin and everyone in the A&T athletic department needs to read. If our beat up field is putting us at a competitive disadvantage, its needs to be improved. I know some of you guys are supreme Aggie apologists, but this issue is way bigger than mere aesthetics. It is hurting us. No one is saying that they want to see the grass like that. I'm just laying out what the challenges are. The administrator's challenge is where would you have pulled the money for labor to handle that from this year knowing every team/office needs that money? And many of the same folks would be yelling about the area that got cut from if it happened. If the enrollment goes up again next year and you didn't over-allocate in some areas, you probably could swing some of the extra labor cost in your operating budget next year. But that won't fix the issue this year. It's a great question for the AD this weekend. |
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Post by Bornthrilla on Apr 3, 2018 15:20:25 GMT -5
How much freaking money do you need to plant some seeds and water the grass?
I mean seriously. The grass in the Holland Bowl looks better than our football field.
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Post by durhamgsoaggie on Apr 3, 2018 15:40:53 GMT -5
How much freaking money do you need to plant some seeds and water the grass? I mean seriously. The grass in the Holland Bowl looks better than our football field. To aerate, plant, fertilize, water, treat.... then purchase a field jacket to cover the field in the winter months to do it right... Material cost and labor costs start adding up. And we're not going to aerate/plant while you're playing on the field in October/November. At your house, sure. On an active football field? Nope. And for whoever it was that was mentioning UNC playing/practicing on the same field... I'll leave this right here: www.wralsportsfan.com/unc-making-sure-the-grass-is-greener-at-kenan-stadium-this-year/17004239/No need to even mention UNC as a comparison. |
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saabman
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Post by saabman on Apr 3, 2018 15:44:55 GMT -5
Its embarrassing and the bad part is that we have seen it even worse in the past. Guys were out there slipping all over the place during pro-day. Those 40 times had to be a little slower on that grass. 40 times are always slower on grass. Why didn't the use the track ? |
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Post by Bornthrilla on Apr 3, 2018 15:46:02 GMT -5
North Carolina ____________ & Technical State University.
Fill in the blank.
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oleschoolaggie
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Post by oleschoolaggie on Apr 3, 2018 17:23:18 GMT -5
How much freaking money do you need to plant some seeds and water the grass? I mean seriously. The grass in the Holland Bowl looks better than our football field. To aerate, plant, fertilize, water, treat.... then purchase a field jacket to cover the field in the winter months to do it right... Material cost and labor costs start adding up. And we're not going to aerate/plant while you're playing on the field in October/November. At your house, sure. On an active football field? Nope. And for whoever it was that was mentioning UNC playing/practicing on the same field... I'll leave this right here: www.wralsportsfan.com/unc-making-sure-the-grass-is-greener-at-kenan-stadium-this-year/17004239/No need to even mention UNC as a comparison. that was me who mentioned unc's grass, but my point was not compare us to them. my point was that they used their game field full time for both practice and games, and still managed to keep it green. sure, i know it ain't "cheap" to do that. but we don't normally practice on our game field full time, at least not until our practice field is too beat up to use or if we need to use the stadium lights to practice. my point is that we need a "solution". whether that's more funding, install field turf on the game field, or field turf the practice field, involve the agriculture school, paint the grass, or whatever. just solve the problem, that's all i'm asking... |
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Post by oldschool on Apr 3, 2018 18:43:00 GMT -5
IMO this is not a cut and dried simple issue , but a conversation that needs to take place .Aggie stadium is a multi-purpose facility ,with overlapping concerns . There is no one size fits all solution , my preference would be artificial turf inside the stadium ,but that would present problems for T&F . I'm also down with the covered practice facility ,but that would also present problems for T&F . I also understand the university's position in that they have to allocate our resources wisely . I would prefer a strategic long term solution that ultimately serves everyone's needs versus a knee jerk feel good remedy .This is just my own humble opinion and I respect and want to hear everyone's opinion .
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Maxell
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Post by Maxell on Apr 3, 2018 23:39:15 GMT -5
Y'all are over analyzing. It's just not important to the right people at this time. Period. We talking about grass. It's the same as going through a neighborhood and seeing one yard plush and green and one yard brown and patchy next door to each other. It's very important to one neighbor and not as important to the other.
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