Bye Bye Grass!

[popanot]

Maybe they still have the old turf from the Astrodome.

[chuck]

When are they going to do this? And why would they make such a decision in the middle of a season?

Next thing you know they're going to start switching quarterbacks around willy nilly.

[popanot]

They're swapping it out this week while they're on the road and it will be in place for the rest of the season. Supposedly, they're going to look at going back to a natural surface in 2016 so they have a grass surface in place when they host the Super Bowl. Who knows for sure, though. Maybe McNair can fleece the taxpayers again (like he did with the retractable roof he never uses) by saying they need a full-field length pallet system like they have in Arizona.

[WMH]

Originally Posted by popanot

They're swapping it out this week while they're on the road and it will be in place for the rest of the season. Supposedly, they're going to look at going back to a natural surface in 2016 so they have a grass surface in place when they host the Super Bowl. Who knows for sure, though. Maybe McNair can fleece the taxpayers again (like he did with the retractable roof he never uses) by saying they need a full-field length pallet system like they have in Arizona.

The roof is in place for the rodeo as much as the Texans.

[Joshua]

I'll defend Bob on the roof. The reason it's not open anymore can be traced back to the Steeler game in, I believe, the second or third season. September game and they left the roof open as a "competitive advantage" since we're theoretically used to the heat and humidity. The fans lost their minds and complained for weeks. And that was the end of the roof being open.

[chuck]

The roof was a stupid idea in the first place. It serves no purpose at all. When it's open it gives no sense that you're in an open-air stadium. The vast majority of events are not sporting events so even if the roof did anything to add to the experience of a football game, which it doesn't, it would still have been a stupid waste of money.

Reliant is exactly the sort of stadium a team like the Texans deserves.

I wonder how much Hartman is going to win in his suit.

[HPF Bob]

The latest type of artificial turf is different in ways I both like an dislike. It seems to be made up of tiny little rubber pellets. Really soft to land on and doesn't give rope burns like the old Astroturf used to do if your bare flesh slid on it. What's really cool is how the Super slow-mo will tell you if a receiver's feet are in bounds just by the trail of pellets that fly up as the feet drag.

The downside is that sweaty players start clinging to the pellets and, in hi-def, they look they have a terrible flea problem.

I felt the pallets were a poor base for footing and too many guys were sliding around. I think some knees and other body parts fell victim to the Reliant Roach Trap.