OT: Eastern Washington's Horrifying Field
Whatever field you used to hate the most, be it Boise State's Smurf Turf, Notre Dame's with knee-high, shoelace grabbing turf, or OSU's with its ample supply of sacrificed goat blood--they don't compare to this abomination. Thank goodness they don't play on TV.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ewuphoto/sets/72157624842129666/with/4942656944/
September 17th, 2010 at 2:59 PM ^
September 17th, 2010 at 3:06 PM ^
Its debut is this week.
September 17th, 2010 at 3:04 PM ^
I knew they had a red field but I've never seen it before. God does that look awful.
September 17th, 2010 at 9:37 PM ^
just looking at it.
September 17th, 2010 at 3:06 PM ^
Did the field come with compimentary hookers or a few thousand in free gambling chips? I guess what happens in Eastern Washington now stays in Eastern Washington.
September 17th, 2010 at 3:28 PM ^
And if the field comes with complimentary hookers, does it automatically make it not simply bearable but outstanding?
September 17th, 2010 at 4:31 PM ^
Things happen in Eastern Washington?
September 17th, 2010 at 3:21 PM ^
This could possibly raise safety issues. What if a player is bleeding and isn't aware of it? Would you even be able to identify the blood on the turf?
September 17th, 2010 at 3:24 PM ^
Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe they make the players take a blood-dye injection prior to kickoff.
September 17th, 2010 at 4:54 PM ^
Umm what? Have you ever really seen a players blood on the turf or grass? You usually see it on the player or their jersey.
September 17th, 2010 at 5:46 PM ^
Well, not on TV, but I have seen officials notice blood on the ground before and inform a player that he was bleeding. It doesn't happen that often but it has before.
September 17th, 2010 at 3:08 PM ^
September 17th, 2010 at 5:54 PM ^
Why would a red field make people show up?
September 17th, 2010 at 3:09 PM ^
Oh Rodney Stuckey...
September 17th, 2010 at 3:09 PM ^
That is terrible. The only team in the country that should have different colored turf is the Broncos of Boise. It is in their tradition and they've been a great team for a long time now, which is another reason it's okay for them. Eastern Kentucky has no excuse for this nonsense, and it's obvious that they took a page out of Boise's playbook here. What's next? are the Gophers going to paint the turf brown? Will Syracuse roll out the Orange carpet? Maybe we should slide out the Maize turf. No, we should not, and neither should anyone else.
September 17th, 2010 at 3:25 PM ^
Washington, my friend. Eastern WASHINGTON.
September 17th, 2010 at 3:28 PM ^
It's in their tradition? They first installed it in 1986. Maybe my perception of tradition is skewed from following a team with so many long-standing/time-honored traditions, but I don't think 24 years gives you sole ownership of a field design.
I say who cares if Eastern Washington wants to color their field red, or any other color for that matter. It gives the fans something to be proud of.
September 17th, 2010 at 3:14 PM ^
"It's gonna be a beautiful day for football here at The Pad."
September 17th, 2010 at 3:15 PM ^
My eyes. The goggles, they do nothing.
September 17th, 2010 at 3:33 PM ^
Great reference! +1
September 17th, 2010 at 3:17 PM ^
I could see Cincy doing it.
September 17th, 2010 at 3:39 PM ^
Imagine how hot that would be during afternoon games.
September 17th, 2010 at 3:18 PM ^
Big Sky tv, you can watch them play on it live for the first time tomorrow!
September 17th, 2010 at 3:31 PM ^
September 17th, 2010 at 3:21 PM ^
That's offensive. Here's to hoping for their fan's sake that it is always overcast when they are playing at home.
I wonder how long it will take the NCAA to make a rule about non-green plaing fields...
September 17th, 2010 at 3:29 PM ^
it'd be funny if someone did a "dead grass brown" field. Or a white field with black lettering - it'd look like snow all the time! How about a "mood field" or "hypercolor" field? Like the mood rings or hypercolor t-shirts (popular circa 1990 or so) that change color with the temperature...
Would Iowa ever make the field turf on the visitors side pink? I think TT would seriously consider a black field if they didn't run the risk of literally frying anything that came in contact with it at high noon.
September 17th, 2010 at 4:16 PM ^
The biggest fear of all is that Oregon catches wind of this idea. Shudder...
September 17th, 2010 at 4:58 PM ^
Yeah, then they will make theirs green! Wait...
Plus they already have the alternating shades of green in their field
September 17th, 2010 at 5:09 PM ^
September 17th, 2010 at 5:30 PM ^
I can't wait to see the black, green, and yellow alternating color scheme. But what really ties it all together is the carbon fiber endzones.
September 17th, 2010 at 3:30 PM ^
Awesome trivia:
'Of course, "Blood Field" is only a nickname: Officially, it's now "Roos Field," after native Estonian, EWU alum and current Tennessee Titan Michael Roos, who donated $500,000 toward the installation.'
They have an alum in the NFL, he's from Estonia (?!), and he spent half a million on that field. Amazing.
September 17th, 2010 at 3:35 PM ^
September 17th, 2010 at 4:14 PM ^
His name is Michael. He plays on the Tennessee Titans.
September 17th, 2010 at 4:28 PM ^
Reading and comprehension FAIL.
September 17th, 2010 at 9:39 PM ^
You mean to tell me his name isn't Titan Michael Roos? And he's not currently Tennessee?
September 17th, 2010 at 3:36 PM ^
In a few years, after the sun has faded it to a nice pink color we are all going to think that this is hilarious.
September 17th, 2010 at 3:44 PM ^
make it stop.
September 17th, 2010 at 3:50 PM ^
my hometown is 30 minutes away from eastern, so i decided to go check out the field a few weeks ago. let me just tell you: it looks even worse up close in real life. I can't imagine watching a game there, it honestly hurts to look at because its so damn bright.
the sad thing is, they really had no reason to do this, people do go to football games there and they are decent. people around there love football, they don't need gimmick incentives to go
September 17th, 2010 at 3:54 PM ^
Why is it a gimmick incentive? People probably thought the same thing 25 years ago when Boise started their blue field (which they did for the purpose of bringing attention to their program); now it's viewed as a staple of their program and people love it.
I think this will definitely bring attention to EW's program, and in the long run will probably help them recruit a little better.
September 17th, 2010 at 4:29 PM ^
Why is it a gimmick incentive? People probably thought the same thing 25 years ago when Boise started their blue field (which they did for the purpose of bringing attention to their program); now it's viewed as a staple of their program and people love it.
You just defined "gimmick" in your comment defending the field as NOT a gimmick. For the record, Merriam Webster defines gimmick much as you did:
a trick or device used to attract business or attention
September 17th, 2010 at 4:41 PM ^
The key word there is that a gimmick is a trick -- how is the EW athletic department tricking their fans? If they put out these pictures of a red football field and built up a bunch of hype about a red field in order to fill seats but actually had a normal green field, that would be a gimmick.
That's not what Eastern Washington is doing; nor is that what Boise did.
September 17th, 2010 at 5:30 PM ^
You must've missed the key-er word of 'or' separating trick and device.
September 17th, 2010 at 3:51 PM ^
How soon until that field is referred to as "the bloody tampon"?
September 17th, 2010 at 5:35 PM ^
Does this question answer itself?
September 17th, 2010 at 3:52 PM ^
At least it isn't cammo. A club lacrosse team I played on had cammo jersys and they would give anyone watching the game a headache.
September 17th, 2010 at 4:16 PM ^
I agree, cammo is the worst. The Notre Dame ultimate frisbee team wears cammo jerseys. Every time I played them it was very hard to resist the urge to punch them in the face.
September 17th, 2010 at 3:52 PM ^
it looks like a paneled living room from the 70s. It needs a few black vinyl couches.
Where is my "Saturday Night Fever" 8- track?
September 17th, 2010 at 4:59 PM ^
Dy-no-mite!
September 17th, 2010 at 4:08 PM ^
Those cameras are screwed trying to work with that red. I recall watching a PGA event once where Tiger was in victory red, but it had narrow black stripes. It was so, so, so red that the camera couldn't deal with it versus the black stripes, and it kept waving and moving. It was like watching the background of Max Hedrum.
September 17th, 2010 at 4:19 PM ^
Love it