Ben's comment on (field turf)

"Well, I just saw him, (and his) spirits are high," Roethlisberger told NFL.com and NFL Network's Kimberly Jones at halftime. "We don't obviously know -- well, I don't know what the official word is. This is a great field, but it's FieldTurf, and it's just killing guys because they can't get their feet out of the ground, and it's just another reason we should get rid of FieldTurf."

 

Ok...

 

Well. there's probably a thousand reasons that Ben needs to start getting used to playing on FieldTurf.

More and more teams are moving towards it. I just visited the Cleveland Indians stadium and walked on the field, dugouts, etc, and the 'warning track' behind home plate (near the backstop) has been changed to FieldTurf. The groundskeepers were telling me about the changes they had made and how even portions of the outfield were moving towards artificial surface and how it basically eliminates rain-outs.

The Oregon Ducks baseball field is solely FieldTurf. I'm talking the entire field. There is no dirt along the basepaths. It's brown FieldTurf.

Embrace it, Ben. Get used to it, buddy.

 

i wish they would make every team get rid of turf and domes of all kinds

alot of sports just go with what their field, courts and courses become throughout and they are all natural
real elements real men real time sports

i mean hell, people in arizona spray paint the sand to give the impression of a grass yard

 

I saw him say that, and I immediately thought, "Good for him." He came right out and said it. And he's right. They are sacrificing player safety for savings on groundskeeping costs and cleaner television. They say that stuff is the same as grass, but it's really, really not. Is it better than astroturf? Yes. As good as grass? No way.

I'm not sure what they could do for the dome stadiums, but Buffalo plays outside. Who cares about mud? I'd rather have fewer injuries and more little guys running around replacing divits than the other way around. I wonder if the NFLPA feels the same, enough to sacrifice some money. Probably not. They'd probably rather move to gravel than give up any money.

 

true snack
and what the hell are those particles that fly up in the air with this stuff? yes it can help to make a call corrected or challenged but so can a divot
the players getting this stuff in their eyes and nasal passages but it some kind of by product or ground up used goodyears from nascar races.

 

I don't know if it's still chopped up tires or not, but it was when it was relatively new. I played on it in high school for an away game at a fancy private school. The one time I hit the ground on that game, I got a scar on the back of my wrist. It was there for about 5 years before I couldn't see it anymore. It felt like the worst rugburn I ever had in my life. And I did get a faceful of goodyear.

 

I remember lloyd saying turf burns would bring tears to his eyes when he got in the shower my high school put it in the year after i left thankfully

 

It does put into perspective the hypocritical nature of the league's stance on player safety when they have zero concern about a playing surface that causes season ending injuries every year if not career ending ones and yet they continue the witchhunt against perfectly executed legal hits and tackles.

 

One step further, they are actually encouraging knee injuries by fining players for textbook tackles to the chest. See James Harrison on Eric Decker.

They're all about player safety as long as it's convenient and cheap and results in better offenses and higher points.

 

Ben was referring to how DeCastro got injured, while mentioning the turf, not personally complaining (though some do complain).

 

Why do I want Ben to embrace field turf? Because it isn't going anywhere. Why complain about something that isn't going to change?

And not all players complain about FieldTurf. Brian Urlacher thinks every stadium should rip out the grass and put in FieldTurf.

ACL's are going to happen anyway. Do they happen in hockey? Baseball? Basketball? Don't see a lot of FieldTurf there. Do they happen on grass? Where did Forte tear his? Chicago. Adrian Peterson? Washington DC. "Tear out the grass AND the FieldTurf and let's start playing on pudding!"

It's convenient to look at an ACL, be frustrated, and point to whatever you can find other than the obvious: a 300+lb man rolling onto your leg while you're engaged with another 300lb man. That doesn't necessarily make it so.

The problems with the old astroturf were obvious and FieldTurf eliminated the most challenging aspects of it. I don't care what surface you're on, you have a man that size roll up on your leg while you're engaged in blocking another large man . . . something's gotta give.

 

He may be on to something. I dont remember as many ACL injuries in football as i have seen in the last two years. It seems to be an unusual amount

 

Do we forget so quickly all the players coming out and blasting grass in the Northern stadiums?

The argument has always been there that the severity of the injuries on grass, where you can have give in the surface, is less than on any type of turf.

Somehow the players consistently claim Heinz field to be a bad playing surface.

 

Players becoming bigger, stronger, and faster is why I believe these injuries are becoming more frequent. Players will continued to suffer injuries regardless of the playing surface.

 

I agree. I was also glad that he said that. I don't like the stuff either. It just seems dangerous. If I'm not mistaken, didn't it also basically end Willie Parker's career as well?

 

He broke his leg while playing on it, but I'm not sure if the surface had anything to do with it or not. Maybe. If I remember right, his leg was sort of caught in the ground.

 

Yeah I was just thinking I had heard that it was hard to plant and cut on it without feeling that you might get injured. However, Heinz is not necessarily a well maintained field either. But they have high school, college, and pro games on that turf so that must be almost impossible to maintain. I was at the the MNF game against Miami in 07 when it rained so bad and the field was like a swamp. There was actually a punt that they were gonna let roll and it just hit the field and LITERALLY stuck in it! But I think they've tried harder since that game to maintain the field a little better.

 

Problem was they had just re-sodded the field (not a real resod as they just laid the new stuff on the old stuff) and had a storm roll through so it didn't drain properly or get set up on top of it before the game. I think there was talk of delaying the game at one point. It was funny as hell though.

 

Yeah actually that night was the HARDEST RAIN I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. They actually made us go stand under cover because they were afraid we were gonna get struck by lightning. The field just looked like soup. Still it was cool to be there for Joey Porter's first game back.

 

Who "broke his leg playing on it (FieldTurf)?" Ben? The only leg injuries that I recall Ben missing time for in his Steelers career are in games at San Diego and against Cleveland. Natural grass on both accounts.

Correct me if I'm 'misremembering' (thanks, Rocket) something.

 

It's just a knee-jerk society. If it had happened on grass, everybody would be whining about grass.

It's like how Goodell operates: Brady got hurt? No tackling below the qb below the waist. TO broke his leg? No horse collar. Three guys got concussions on the same day? Firing squad the next time it happens.

Head injuries are where the line is drawn. Even players have said they would rather have knee injuries than head injuries. Duh. None of those guys want to bang their heads on the frozen tundra or any other tundra in December. They'd much rather do a face plant in a field of rubber and pull a few Goodyear pellets from the corners of their eyes than be dragged off the field responding to questions about whether they know what city they're in.