FB: American Rivers Conference

[Charlie Kohawk]

Thanks coocoo. I appreciate that. Your point is well taken about not having the market cornered on passion for Coe. There's plenty of room on the Kohawk bandwagon. All aboard!

[dutchfan1]

http://www.central.edu/athletics/football/archive/110805.htm

Renovations for A.N. Kuyper Stadium are well under way...as many of you know, Central is jumping the bandwagon and adding a field turf facility. How many schools in the IIAC have field turf? I know that Wartburg and Simpson do; Loras just installed it (if I remember correctly), but I'm not sure about any other fields in the conference. It would be a nice addition to the Coe athletic complex. Are any schools planning on adding turf?

[Walston Hoover]

I just know there's money there. I have no idea what the endowment is. Can anyone shed any light on what is included in the endowment?

[The Show]

I think my old high school is thinking about it, but not Buena Vista...that I know of anyway.

Did Loras go with the Wartburg version or Simpson's attempt?  How about Central?

[dutchfan1]

I'm sure Central's will be more like Walston Hoover than the stuff they put in in Indianola.... 

[PainTrain]

I know that some high schools other than 4A schools are taking a serious look at FieldTurf. A pretty reliable source told me that WellsFargo offered Waukee High School to basically pay for new FieldTurf if they could put a "Wells Fargo" logo on the field. Waukee said no. Shoot, I would have let them put wells fargo on our uniforms and let them pick our mascot if I were Waukee!

[Walston Hoover]

Now that Charlie and Cooc's have kissed and made up, maybe we can get some information on how the offseason is going for Coe.

[sc_stormchaser]

I've been on this site long enough to know everyone thinks that Simpson's AstroPlay is the worst thing ever, but I bet only a few of you have even played on it. So I certainly respect the views of posters like Show and WH (there are probably more) that have played on it. I played my home games on it and loved it. To show everyone that they didn't try to go the cheap route, here's the website of the company that installed it. As you will see, they have some pretty high-profile schools.

http://www.srisports.com/us.htm

[lorbec47]

Loras field turf is similar to Wartburg's. Stormchaser you do have a good point about actually playing on it, but Simpson's field even just appears different.

[The Show]

Thanks for the link.

Could it be that the installation was done by first-timers or did the company send a crew out? I doubt the product is completely garbage if there are major colleges and a professional team using it.  The reason I question installation is because I don't think you are supposed to be able to grab ahold of the turf and raise it from the ground.

Regardless, I'm more of an old school guy. I'd rather have the grass stains and mud instead of finding those little black pieces of rubber in every crack and crevice for the following week!

[sc_stormchaser]

Show- It was a crew from the actual company and they had experience with other big name schools, so I assume that's how they installed the fields...at least back in 2001.

I agree with the grass stains, but not the mud. Man, I hated playing at BV because of the mud.

[Walston Hoover]

I thought it was odd too that you could stand in the middle of it, and literally pick the whole thing up. It just didn't seem anchored to the ground very well, or possibly it stretched out after they laid it.
I remember sliding around on it because it seemed to shift a lot.
Where the field turf really comes in handy is rainy day practices. Instead of tearing up the practice fields or risking injury on mud, you don't even notice the water on ground when it comes to footing. and BONUS...Your cleats are clean when practice is over.

[sc_stormchaser]

WH brings up a good point...practices on the turf. I think it would be perfect for a place like BV. Just think, the players wouldn't have to ride on an old school bus in order to get to practice.

[The Show]

And miss out on the experience of the frozen tundra? NO WAY!

I have yet to see a machine backfire like that baby could...

[Walston Hoover]

Show-Have you seen any post-baby pictures of Mrs.Show? Someone's been laying into the Twinkies a little hard. Needless to say she's not the same Mrs. Show in your pic.