Are we going back to natural grass in the near future?

[PassiveAggressiveCoach 118]

1 hour ago, 4th&Five said:

Try to get the color right at least. 

You know they're going to fuck that up, right? 

[Revolution512 1480]

Doesn’t sound like we will have grass at either stadium

[Red Five 40650]

3 hours ago, PassiveAggressiveCoach said:

You know they're going to fuck that up, right? 

I mentioned it in the other thread, but apparently CDC is saying this will be actual burnt orange. 

[MrPhlegm 3413]

I wish our baseball field would go back to grass.

and put back Billy Goat Hill and the Bunker in left field. Saw David Windfield knock himself out cold against the bunker in left ran into it full tilt for Minn golden gophers. we won the game. Chief Siebert was awesome as always.

[Machinator 32097]

edit- never mind.

Edited June 2, 2021 by Machinator

[wood 11130]

 

On 4/20/2021 at 12:41 PM, Blackcat00 said:

Your are not a fan of a fake batters box painted in? 

I am not. At the very least there should be dirt at home plate and around the bases. 

How old is the turf at the Disch?

[ImissWallyPryor 9045]

But, the players might get dirty. Ever had to brush off after diving back to first?  It’s unpleasant. 

[ImissWallyPryor 9045]

On 5/12/2021 at 7:29 PM, MrPhlegm said:

On 4/20/2021 at 7:21 AM, BurntOrange&White said:

I wish our baseball field would go back to grass.

and put back Billy Goat Hill and the Bunker in left field. Saw David Windfield knock himself out cold against the bunker in left ran into it full tilt for Minn golden gophers. we won the game. Chief Siebert was awesome as always.

I’m pretty sure Chief was in junior high or early high school when Winfield was in college. Maybe my memory is failing. 

Edited June 3, 2021 by ImissWallyPryor

[NeverMarryAStripper 21781]

2 hours ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

But, the players might get dirty. Ever had to brush off after diving back to first?  It’s unpleasant. 

Yes, but without dirt when the pitcher knocks you down you can't get back up, give him a nasty stare, and get back in the batter's box without brushing off the dirt to show him how tough you are.

[Droopy 2623]

I heard the new basketball arena is going to have a grass court similar to Wimbledon. See, that's what hiring a badass top tier coach will do for your program. Finally getting out shit right around here.

[notre dame joe 172]

5 hours ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

But, the players might get dirty. Ever had to brush off after diving back to first?  It’s unpleasant. 

I don't think your current yoga-teflon unis can actually attach particles. 

[Steel Shank 9414]

Yes, but without dirt when the pitcher knocks you down you can't get back up, give him a nasty stare, and get back in the batter's box without brushing off the dirt to show him how tough you are.

This is true and well known.

[Blackcat00 759]

Grass looks better but the amount of rain we get in Austin makes more sense with all turf. 

[wood 11130]

10 hours ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Yes, but without dirt when the pitcher knocks you down you can't get back up, give him a nasty stare, and get back in the batter's box without brushing off the dirt to show him how tough you are.

Yep, & everyone being all clean at the end of the game just isn't natural...

[LTtxfan 48966]

Think I recently saw something about grass maybe coming to DKR in a few years ???

 

[oSuJeff97 3435]

18 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Think I recently saw something about grass maybe coming to DKR in a few years ???

 

Pretty interesting article, but it would have been nice to get into the exact economics of grass vs. turf.

Of course the grass guy claimed that it "wasn't as expensive" because of the up-front cost of turf, but I can't imagine that's true. He didn't mention how much they spend annually on water, fertilizer, weed control and then of course the expense of have a full-time grounds crew on staff.

The market tends to speak for itself in this case and so I can't imagine that grass is actually cheaper or on-par with turf, otherwise the vast majority of schools would have grass instead of it being the other way around.

[Macklemore 2870]

Good article. Not surprised the guys they interviewed that are in charge of the fields at TCU, A&M and FC Dallas cut their teeth learning the trade at aggy. Except for a few years back in the 80s, aggy has always had a grass field that looks beautiful which you’d expect an ag school to have. We need to do the same and hire an aggy to put in a grass field at DKR and maintain it. With the oppressive heat we have in Texas, artificial turf adds and additional 30-40 degrees in temperature in the sun. That alone should cause schools to switch to grass.

Edited October 18, 2023 by Macklemore

[deadshank 24651]

Would rather have NC State or UD  - Davis ag expert than aggy ag "expert" any day of the week.

[DixonHur 11198]

5 minutes ago, Macklemore said:

Good article. Not surprised the guys they interviewed that are in charge of the fields at TCU, A&M and FC Dallas cut their teeth learning the trade at aggy. Except for a few years back in the 80s, aggy has always had a grass field that looks beautiful which you’d expect an ag school to have. We need to do the same and hire an aggy to put in a grass field at DKR and maintain it. With the oppressive heat we have in Texas, artificial turf adds and additional 30-40 degrees in temperature in the sun. That alone should cause schools to switch to grass.

I'm with you in principle, but you lost me at "hire an aggy".

[Macklemore 2870]

7 minutes ago, deadshank said:

Would rather have NC State or UD  - Davis ag expert than aggy ag "expert" any day of the week.

Well, the results speak for themselves. The fields at Amon Carter and Kyle look perfect every time I watch a game from there. aggy obviously has a good program in place in training future field managers. Might as well tap into what works. 

[deadshank 24651]

17 minutes ago, Macklemore said:

Well, the results speak for themselves. The fields at Amon Carter and Kyle look perfect every time I watch a game from there. aggy obviously has a good program in place in training future field managers. Might as well tap into what works. 

we're talking about aggy.  wouldn't give those meatheads a piece of bubblegum.

[gofuckyourself 8121]

Gimme a shout. UT alum speaking so no worries there.

Plus, I've kept my bermudaweeds grass looking not too shabby even during mega-Blastfurnace 2023.

Long story, short. I'll put in grass in DKR for the low, low price of tree fiddy million.

For no extra charge, when and if Reveille shows up I'll add some cayenne pepper around where it will be sitting.

 

[ImissWallyPryor 9045]

My memory may be faulty, but I thought we hired aggy in the 90s to help us put in what ended up being a medium okra grass field. 

[pops 6974]

1 hour ago, Macklemore said:

Good article. Not surprised the guys they interviewed that are in charge of the fields at TCU, A&M and FC Dallas cut their teeth learning the trade at aggy. Except for a few years back in the 80s, aggy has always had a grass field that looks beautiful which you’d expect an ag school to have. We need to do the same and hire an aggy to put in a grass field at DKR and maintain it. With the oppressive heat we have in Texas, artificial turf adds and additional 30-40 degrees in temperature in the sun. That alone should cause schools to switch to grass.

There are plenty of good turf programs out there. Penn state is the Harvard of the turf world. Oregon state is good, Kansas state is good, Rutgers is good. Plenty of options other than aggy. But yeah, they know how to grow grass down there. 

[perfectchaos007 6596]

Just avoid the contractors who were in charge of Mizzou’s grass field in the early 2000s

[ImissWallyPryor 9045]

3 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

Think I recently saw something about grass maybe coming to DKR in a few years ???

 

“Turf is a monetary investment. Grass is an investment in humans.”

/barf

[ImissWallyPryor 9045]

1 hour ago, perfectchaos007 said:

Just avoid the contractors who were in charge of Mizzou’s grass field in the early 2000s

Are you referring to the old artificial turf that injured Fozzy and their star RB in the early 2010s?

[perfectchaos007 6596]

5 minutes ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

Are you referring to the old artificial turf that injured Fozzy and their star RB in the early 2010s?

I thought it was torn up natural grass, but maybe I was thinking of early 2000s Reliant Stadium in Houston 

[hornbri 1374]

4 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

Think I recently saw something about grass maybe coming to DKR in a few years ???

 

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2023/10/16/texas-longhorns-football-stadium-grass-replacement-2026.aspx

Not till ‘26 according to Del Conte this week. 

[Evil Bill Obrien 3188]

33 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

I thought it was torn up natural grass, but maybe I was thinking of early 2000s Reliant Stadium in Houston 

Destroyer of knees, breaker of ligaments...really want to know who thought it was a good idea to bring a grass field inside on pallets...

[Hank_Hill 18488]

This thread is about as interesting as watching grass grow

[TornACL 7675]

5 hours ago, perfectchaos007 said:

Just avoid the contractors who were in charge of Mizzou’s grass field in the early 2000s

A good key to success in life or in business is to never do anything Mizzou does.

[Jkwellborn 6653]

Are you referring to the old artificial turf that injured Fozzy and their star RB in the early 2010s?

I fell like it was concrete.

[ImissWallyPryor 9045]

6 hours ago, perfectchaos007 said:

I thought it was torn up natural grass, but maybe I was thinking of early 2000s Reliant Stadium in Houston 

Mizzou’s artificial turf was terrible. I paused the video after their RB tore everything in his knee, and you could see an exposed seam in the turf as well as rotting turf clinging to the black pants of a a Mizzou player walking by. It was negligent for Mizzou to have that as a playing surface. 

[Tex Pete 20176]

21 hours ago, oSuJeff97 said:

Pretty interesting article, but it would have been nice to get into the exact economics of grass vs. turf.

Of course the grass guy claimed that it "wasn't as expensive" because of the up-front cost of turf, but I can't imagine that's true. He didn't mention how much they spend annually on water, fertilizer, weed control and then of course the expense of have a full-time grounds crew on staff.

The market tends to speak for itself in this case and so I can't imagine that grass is actually cheaper or on-par with turf, otherwise the vast majority of schools would have grass instead of it being the other way around.

People had better start paying attention to water usage. There were high schools in Texas that could not water their fields this summer at all because of the drought. As a result, they could not play on the fields this fall.
 

Florence HS is one I am aware of for certain. People are moving to Texas by the thousands. Combined with drought conditions, it definitely leaves something to consider. Does that impact UT? 

[BurntOrange&White 39648]

2 minutes ago, Tex Pete said:

People had better start paying attention to water usage. There were high schools in Texas that could not water their fields this summer at all because of the drought. As a result, they could not play on the fields this fall.
 

Florence HS is one I am aware of for certain. People are moving to Texas by the thousands. Combined with drought conditions, it definitely leaves something to consider. Does that impact UT? 

https://www.kvue.com/article/money/economy/boomtown-2040/austin-surf-park-development-plan/269-ad341134-2a39-4a0d-b941-d26ce51cae66

[Tex Pete 20176]

11 hours ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

Mizzou’s artificial turf was terrible. I paused the video after their RB tore everything in his knee, and you could see an exposed seam in the turf as well as rotting turf clinging to the black pants of a a Mizzou player walking by. It was negligent for Mizzou to have that as a playing surface. 

I knew a LB who played there in that time frame. He also blew his knee out and effectively ended his career because of that shitty turf. Theirs was worse than average turf, though. 
 

Iowa State also has a great turf grass program, I understand. 

1 minute ago, BurntOrange&White said:

https://www.kvue.com/article/money/economy/boomtown-2040/austin-surf-park-development-plan/269-ad341134-2a39-4a0d-b941-d26ce51cae66

Seems like a bad idea to me. I work in real estate. People need to open their eyes. 

[Murfdogg21 4412]

21 hours ago, Macklemore said:

We need to do the same and hire an aggy to put in a grass field at DKR and maintain it. 

But then no one would be allowed to walk on it 🤔 

UNCOVER!!!!!

[Texas Jeff 1932]

People are moving to Texas by the thousands. Combined with drought conditions, it definitely leaves something to consider. Does that impact UT? 

No way. Not in a million years.

[JBJ 3649]

On 10/18/2023 at 1:49 PM, oSuJeff97 said:

Pretty interesting article, but it would have been nice to get into the exact economics of grass vs. turf.

Of course the grass guy claimed that it "wasn't as expensive" because of the up-front cost of turf, but I can't imagine that's true. He didn't mention how much they spend annually on water, fertilizer, weed control and then of course the expense of have a full-time grounds crew on staff.

The market tends to speak for itself in this case and so I can't imagine that grass is actually cheaper or on-par with turf, otherwise the vast majority of schools would have grass instead of it being the other way around.

Lightly-used grass is generally cheaper longterm because you have to replace the artificial carpet every 5-10 years.

HOWEVER, the main economic benefit of artificial turf is that you can have more events (quantity and variety) on it, in any weather or time of day, with essentially no additional cost. So if you can get paid for more events (professional stadiums) or want a heavy-use multifunctional field (high school), having an artificial turf field is better.  Basically, one AT field can replace several natural turf ones.

EDIT: Note that heavily-used grass (where you are doing constant repairs) is much more expensive.

Edited October 19, 2023 by JBJ

[oSuJeff97 3435]

11 minutes ago, JBJ said:

Lightly-used grass is generally cheaper longterm because you have to replace the artificial carpet every 5-10 years.

HOWEVER, the main economic benefit of artificial turf is that you can have more events (quantity and variety) on it, in any weather or time of day, with essentially no additional cost. So if you can get paid for more events (professional stadiums) or want a heavy-use multifunctional field (high school), having an artificial turf field is better.  Basically, one AT field can replace several natural turf ones.

EDIT: Note that heavily-used grass (where you are doing constant repairs) is much more expensive.

Ah cool thanks.

If it's really cheaper in the long-term, I wonder why (seemingly) the vast majority of colleges use the artificial stuff? 

And every 5-10 years seems way more regular than just my anecdotal recall of how often OSU has replaced theirs. I feel like we just replaced a few years ago and the time before that was a LONG time ago... like before Gundy took over so at least 12-15 years, but I definitely may be wrong about that.

And man - it just seems like "lightly" used grass fields would be hella expensive to maintain year after year with water (especially in this part of the country), fertilizer, weed control, seeding/re-seeding/over-seeding, etc.; plus the fact that you need to employ a full-time grounds crew.. (or maybe they farm it out?). 

I do wish we had grass just because I think it looks better and "feels" more like the football I grew up with.

[Jkwellborn 6653]

As much water is being wasted by people washing their cars and watering their grass, I hope not.

[JBJ 3649]

2 hours ago, oSuJeff97 said:

Ah cool thanks.

If it's really cheaper in the long-term, I wonder why (seemingly) the vast majority of colleges use the artificial stuff? 

And every 5-10 years seems way more regular than just my anecdotal recall of how often OSU has replaced theirs. I feel like we just replaced a few years ago and the time before that was a LONG time ago... like before Gundy took over so at least 12-15 years, but I definitely may be wrong about that.

And man - it just seems like "lightly" used grass fields would be hella expensive to maintain year after year with water (especially in this part of the country), fertilizer, weed control, seeding/re-seeding/over-seeding, etc.; plus the fact that you need to employ a full-time grounds crew.. (or maybe they farm it out?). 

I do wish we had grass just because I think it looks better and "feels" more like the football I grew up with.

This is OSU's third artificial field: 2005, 2014, and last year.