[papabear]

We've had problems with the field before in that It often looks like crap IMO. I think it is very possible that from one tray to another there could be differences in the feel of the turf. I know I've seen a couple of the soccer games there in particular where the field looked pretty bad. That being said I've never heard, or seen, and indication that the field contributes to injuries or is a hard surface to play on. The only possibility that I could see is if a player's foot got caught up in/tripped on a seam between two trays. They seem to do a pretty good job installing the surface to where it appears "seamless" for the most part though.

Either way, Welkers injury looked like it was just a case of him planting hard and his knee blowing. I don't think the surface would have mattered at all.

The new artificial turf is light years better than astro turf though, and I don't think it's any more dangerous than grass. I'm sure someone somewhere is studying it, and they are developing it further all the time. I'm sure at some point artificial will likely pass up natural grass from a performance and safety standpoint. Even then I think many people will still prefer a natural grass surface.