New Field and Endzone Styling
So with the new turf being installed in the Big House, something that has been bothering me for awhile came back up in my mind. I have always liked endzones that are fully colored with the teams colors and I've always hoped the would be done at home.
Currently, we just "Michigan" written in the endzone with the background being grass. I've always preferred how its done at the bowl games with "Michigan" written in maize with a blue background. For example:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wcouch/2172539027/
I am hoping they will make the change this time around. But I'm not optimistic. Anybody else feel the same way?
I'd go for that. I'll just say that I'm a little bummed they aren't going with a reinforced natural grass turf.
How quickly we forget the fiasco of a field we had from 1991-2002. Trying to grow natural grass in Michigan Stadium, in an age of 300-pound linemen, 7-8 home games a season, with our cold late-fall climate, and with the water table so close to the surface, is a losing proposition.
It could be done, just need the right people taking care of the field.
Trust me, I am a turfguy.
We spent twelve years and a large sum of money asking turf guys to get it done. They couldn't. At Michigan Stadium, we not only have the climate issue (and the fundamental problem of very large, heavy men chewing up grass with their cleats), but our field is also below ground, in a part of Ann Arbor where the water table is close to the surface. And after we lowered the field by three feet (to improve sightlines), we brought it even closer. Trying to grow grass there is a lost cause.
Before Bo's carpet, then the lowering of the field and the return to grass, and then the field-turf.
The original grass was so sweet. However they did it (I don't know, I was a kid); it worked great. The field drained beautifully, the grass was solid, it was great. (Just ask Ron Johnson, about his 347 yards on a field that saw about six hours of rain that day.)
I was shocked and horrified by how lousy the second-generation grass was, before we went to the field turf surfacing. Whoever was responsible, should have been sued.
In the 1960s, offensive linemen weighed like 220. Part of the problem - and we're seeing it all over the country - is that grass just isn't designed for 300+ pound men to rip into it. And teams are playing more home games now, which adds to the stress. Even down South, on rainy days the fields become massively chewed up.
Qualcom Field
LA Coliseum
Rose Bowl
Too many others to mention. They all handle very big, very fast, players just fine.
How much rainfall does Southern California get during the fall? It's when it rains that fields especially get chewed up. In a warm climate, the grass can regrow. In the North, from midseason on it doesn't. I would venture to guess, as well, that those three fields are not located very close to the water table, as ours is.
But then, we are off to a discussion of "rain," "weather" and "drainage" as speical problems at Michigan. Not fast, strong 300-pound players.
Don't be obtuse. I never said it was the only factor. The combination of players being much heavier than before, the team playing more home games than before, and the field being lowered to improve sightlines, all make it considerably harder to maintain a stable grass field now than 40 years ago. Throw in the fact that we're in a Northern clime and have water-table issues, and it's a lost cause.
No need to fix something that isn't broken.
That makes two of us. The Rose Bowl end zones were fantastic.
Looks great for bowl games, prefer the grass background for the home field. Love the checkerboard at Tennessee, but couldn't swallow 'borrowing' that in maize and blue. Something new, cool and original I'm open to, but the bowl game thing is the bowl game thing.
Edit: omitted a stray period.
love the checkerboard part, but they leave this wierd gap between the checkeboard and the end lines.......once saw a good catch called out of the end zone because lines and gaps confused the ref
They did that because the white in the checkerboard was interfering with making calls with the white in the out-of-bounds line.
The gap between the checkerboard and the end lines is because of NCAA rule 1-2-1-d, which does not permit any white coloring in the end zone within 4 feet of the out-of-bounds lines.
The look we have now is so classic, but I'd be cool with a little change up like that.
personally i like what we have now but thats just me. change makes me nervous
Get off my lawn.
Let the lettering for bowl games be special. I'd prefer the way it is now.
No, no, no. I've always loved the big, classic font style that takes up the entire end zone's at the Big House. No need to change it. It's perfect the way it is.
I like the style too. I guess the main thing I was suggesting is to change the background color to fill the endzone with more blue. But I agree with you, I like the current font.
Yes.
So something like this?
I could go for that... maybe... i think the way it has been is fine... but a change like that wouldnt be bad i guess...
Yeah, something like that. The only thing I would change is to make the font the same as it currently is and also the same size.
This image is a tad too big to post on here....but I actually took my time on this one (and shows both endzones)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/ccdirkp99/mgoblog/michiganblueen…
Love it! Can you also try to make the mid-field M laughably large? I want to be able to read it from a plane.
/no sarcasm
Actually, I would like to see the block M be a little bigger. I was watching the LSU spring game on ESPN U and their tiger eye logo at midfield is huge. It'd me just a more attention grabbing way of saying you're playing in the "Big House".
/no sarcasm = I was totally serious.
I was 100% anti changing the endzones until I saw that picture. I am a fan!
...am I the only one who thinks the block M created by the MMB looks "scrunched"? Instead of the legs of the "M" being positioned between the 40 - 45 yard lines, it would look better if they were between the 35 - 40 yard lines.
P.S. Dear Michigan Tradition-Tamperer-Hating Gods: For atonement, I will offer ten hen's teeth pounds of rocking horse manure virgin OSU cheerleaders.
No such things exists.
Where in the world would you find such a thing?
Possibly Oregon or Oklahoma. But even then...
That is sweet, I would love watching Michigan scoring many, many touchdowns in those endzones.
that my friend, is sick
I actually kind of like that...
and what about reversing it....the dark color can be confusing for seeing foot drags.
big Maize background, filled to the edge, and Blue lettering?
I always found it strange that a team so predicated on the color blue, from its jerseys, cheers, and overall theme, can have a field almost completely devoid of it. I'm not saying turn it into a navy blue Boise St. field. But damn, it could really use a little more blue.
Haha, didn't the NCAA ban colored fields after that Boise St abomination?
No. In fact, a lot of smaller schools hoping for notoriety are looking into it, now.
I believe it's Eastern Washington University that will have a RED field this year or next. Saw a conceptual image. Yikes, not good. I think it would be terrible difficult to watch on TV. Even more so than Boise.
Some things are best left undiddled with.
i thought you said "unfiddled" at first, then i noticed it was "undiddled", and immediately +1ed the post.
I logged in just so I could +1 both your posts
I will admit, I also really like the filled in endzones that come up for bowl games, but to me, the endzone design for Michigan Stadium is special, and I would prefer it stay that way. Its one of those pieces of our tradition that isn't broken, so don't fix it.
I'm content letting the awesome endzone be the reward for a season well done.
for the new endzones:
Now if only we can find a way to incorporate Maize Jerseys....
Although if we were in all seriousness to do something new and exciting, my vote would be for a blue background with tiled maize block Ms, similar to what they use in press conferences for a background sometimes.
EDIT: something like this but with a lot more organization to it.
I always thought the M in the midfield should be larger with the split block version that says MICHIGAN in blue across the M. I like the Endzones in the full field disply, but I kinda like them the way they are now too. Neither the end zone or the M are big deals as far as tradition to me, not anymore than the press box was and thats gone. We could just have a more modern look now.