Artificial Turf

I've read several accounts of the proposed artificial turf fields for the county high schools. None has addressed the possible adverse environmental impact of the product, especially when spread across several county high school fields. It isn't necessarily something we should automatically promote. From what I've read about artificial turf, it not only poses a higher risk of injury to the kids who play on it than natural turf, it can leach carcinogens into the local ground water, and long-term, even costs more to maintain.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles arrived at the visiting clubhouse of Tropicana Field with the 2012 playoff caps and postseason “O's for October” T-shirts hanging in their lockers. For the first time in 15 years, the Orioles could call themselves playoff-bound, but the Orioles came to Tampa Bay to complete one of the unlikeliest of missions - to win an American League East title. But the Orioles' title hopes took a hit here Monday night. A 5-3 loss to a desperate Rays team still clinging to its faint playoff hopes - along with the New York Yankees' 10-2 drubbing of the Boston Red Sox - dropped the Orioles to one game back with two to play.

Baltimore County, which has put artificial turf on two playing fields as part of a pilot program, will install the synthetic surface at eight more locations as part of an $8.5 million initiative. The locations will be announced today at the dedication of the artificial turf field at Seminary Park in Lutherville. Seminary Park's field is the second in the county to receive artificial turf as part of a pilot program to improve playing conditions at heavily used school and park fields. The county first installed the artificial surface on a field at Catonsville High School last year.

Linebacker Joel Gordon had gotten used to playing football on the dusty, stone-strewn field behind City College, so when he stepped back out onto Alumni Field in August, he could hardly believe how it felt to play on the new artificial turf. "It's just a wonderful feeling," Gordon said. "I never thought my senior class would get the experience to play on that. All season, it's just made us work harder, because we know we've got this new field and we just want to make the alumni who paid for it happy with the way we play.

Don Sutton was pitching against his boyhood idol, Robin Roberts. Playing second base for the Houston Astros was a future Hall of Famer named Joe Morgan. Clustered in the crowd of 25,000 at the Houston Astrodome were 12 astronauts, heroes who were racing to the moon.It was April 18, 1966. The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Astros, 6-3, in an otherwise routine game made memorable by the presence of a concrete-hard green carpet. This was baseball's first game played on AstroTurf, and the landscape of American sports would never be the same.

Linebacker Joel Gordon had gotten used to playing football on the dusty, stone-strewn field behind City College, so when he stepped back out onto Alumni Field in August, he could hardly believe how it felt to play on the new artificial turf. "It's just a wonderful feeling," Gordon said. "I never thought my senior class would get the experience to play on that. All season, it's just made us work harder, because we know we've got this new field and we just want to make the alumni who paid for it happy with the way we play.

Everybody, at one time or another, has likely played with one of those bouncy Super Balls. For soccer teams used to playing on natural grass all season long, that's what the first 20 or so minutes of a game are like when trying to adjust to playing on artificial turf. Balls from in the air take higher bounces; ideal through balls instead find the goalie or quickly roll out of bounds. It's like, for the novice golfer, putting on a fast green and watching your ball streak past the hole, hoping it just stays on the green.

Artificial turf is made for field hockey. It's fast. It's true. It accentuates all the fine passing and stick skills that girls develop in the Futures Program, at camps and through indoor field hockey. Many girls have told me they love playing on turf. Even some who had not played on it before said it didn't take long to adjust. They all want to play fast and show off their skills, something that's often hard to do on grass. Turf certainly won't hurt soccer either. Although more of the game is in the air and the ball bounces more, the short passing game is truer on a smoother surface.

NEW ORLEANS -- The Green Bay Packers were built to play in the cold, harsh conditions of Lambeau Field in December.But if they're going to win their first Super Bowl in 29 years, they'll have to do it on the fast track and artificial surface of the Louisiana Superdome.Despite denials from the Packers all week, the numbers show Green Bay is less than invincible when it plays on plastic.In five seasons under coach Mike Holmgren, the Packers have a record of 8-19 on artificial surfaces. That includes an 0-7 mark in Texas Stadium against the Dallas Cowboys, and an 0-5 record in the Metrodome against the Minnesota Vikings.

A Columbia business executive is offering to pay to resurface one of Howard County's busiest playing fields with high-tech synthetic turf, a gift that would cost him nearly $500,000. If Bernie Dancel's offer is accepted by the Department of Recreation and Parks, his donation would constitute the second-largest gift the agency has ever received, said Gary J. Arthur, the department's director. Dancel, founder and chief executive of the Columbia-based Ascend One Corp., corporate parent of several businesses that provide services in the financial counseling arena, wants to install artificial turf on one multipurpose field in Columbia's Cedar Lane Park that is used by football, soccer and lacrosse teams.

The Division I women's lacrosse final four will be played at Villanova on Memorial Day weekend, the NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Committee announced Friday morning. Championship weekend heads to Villanova Stadium after two years at Stony Brook on Long Island, N.Y. The last time the title was decided in Pennsylvania, it was played at Franklin Field in Philadelphia in 2007. This is the first time Villanova will host the event. “We are thrilled that the 2013 championship will be making a return to Pennsylvania and are excited to be working with Villanova as host,” Ann-Marie Guglieri, chair of the NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Committee, said in a news release.

I've read several accounts of the proposed artificial turf fields for the county high schools. None has addressed the possible adverse environmental impact of the product, especially when spread across several county high school fields. It isn't necessarily something we should automatically promote. From what I've read about artificial turf, it not only poses a higher risk of injury to the kids who play on it than natural turf, it can leach carcinogens into the local ground water, and long-term, even costs more to maintain.

Like a veteran quarterback seeing a defensive formation that gives him pause, the county school board has exercised the sensible option and called time out. The Board of Education last week nixed a proposal to use $2 million from the state to build artificial-turf athletic fields at Hammond and Atholton high schools, directing the superintendent and his staff to come up with a new list of priorities for the $4 million total that the state Board...

Was married to Martha Arthur, with three sons from a previous marriage Scholarship football player at Clemson University Rose from recreation director in 1979 to director of Recreation and Parks, a position he held until his death in 2010. Worked to form strong relationship with the county school system. Under his leadership, Howard County received accrediation from the National Recrationa and Parks Association, an honor held by fewer than 100 agencies in the country.

There are many new sights and sounds to be experienced at Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium this season, but it was a smell that caught the attention of second-year Maryland baseball coach Erik Bakich. "It smells like a ballpark," he said. The source of the appealing aroma was the Third Base Grill, a newly opened seating area and concession stand down the left-field line that is one of many improvements recently made to the university's baseball facilities in an effort to inject some life into what has traditionally been a dormant program.

There are many new sights and sounds to be experienced at Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium this season, but it was a smell that caught the attention of second-year Maryland baseball coach Erik Bakich. "It smells like a ballpark," he said. The source of the appealing aroma was the Third Base Grill, a newly opened seating area and concession stand down the left-field line that is one of many improvements recently made to the university's baseball facilities in an effort to inject life into what has traditionally been a dormant program.

COLLEGE PARK -- Maryland's football team worked out in pads for the first time yesterday in anticipation of a closed-to-the-public scrimmage Saturday. No. 1 running back Mark Mason suffered a bruised elbow, but still participated in the second session.After four days of two-a-day workouts on the artificial turf, the grass field was finally dry enough to stage the afternoon workout."It's good to get on grass," said quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen. "Artificial turf takes its toll on the players' legs."

The Division I women's lacrosse final four will be played at Villanova on Memorial Day weekend, the NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Committee announced Friday morning. Championship weekend heads to Villanova Stadium after two years at Stony Brook on Long Island, N.Y. The last time the title was decided in Pennsylvania, it was played at Franklin Field in Philadelphia in 2007. This is the first time Villanova will host the event. “We are thrilled that the 2013 championship will be making a return to Pennsylvania and are excited to be working with Villanova as host,” Ann-Marie Guglieri, chair of the NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Committee, said in a news release.

H.L. Mencken wasn't writing about the launch of the Baltimore Charm when he observed that "nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public," but he may as well have been. The Baltimore Charm, the newest entrant into the fledgling Lingerie Football League (league slogan: "true fantasy football") held tryouts at 1st Mariner Arena on Sunday, with women running passing and tackling drills in sports bras and short-shorts — a more modest version of the uniforms they'll get to play in if they make the team.

The Ravens are putting finishing touches on the new turf at M&T Bank Stadium this week, which means the team will stay with an artificial surface for the foreseeable future. This SportExe field, which features 1billion blades of green synthetic fibers with a base of sand and granular rubber, is essentially the same as the highly rated one that has been in place for seven years. The older turf had begun to lose its softness, which led to the team's installing its first new field since it changed from grass in 2003.