Actually, the field hasn't been all that great the last couple of seasons. It has come apart, and I can't remember which season it was, but there was so little grass left at the end of the season, they were spray painting it green. With that said, the grounds crew seems to have the field looking the best it has looked in recent memory. Despite the "farmer's rain," the field looked great. Very few divots. I don't know if they changed turf variety again, or the last one they put in has finally matured, but I am optimistic that our crew has it under control. I am with Red. We will be one of the last stadiums in the country to go artificial. I would expect it to be mandated before we go willingly.
The spray paint was in 05 when the Saints were also playing on the field. The field was redone for the 06 season.
Never considered it a battle, just an opinion Grass yes, Painted Dirt No Born and raised in South Louisiana and I've been a LSU faithful since the early 70's. Attended LSU in the 80's, I know about our tradition. I'm not gonna beat this drum every week, actually this is the last thing I will say about it. View attachment 12321 Taken 11/08 (according to LSUsports.net)
You posted a picture of the field near the end of the season, and when the weather is cold & grass traditionally goes dormant. The major wear areas I see are not on the playing field, but in the areas where the cheerleaders, press, media, etc stand on the sidelines. There are patches of brown on the field near the hash marks on the West side, but overall, not as bad as I have seen it before when the field used to be a giant sandbox. The entire point is moot though as they completely tore all that up in the offseason & replaced the drainage system & the turf.
Only paint I see on that field is where it is supposed to be. the last time they put green paint on it was in '05 when they had the Saints playing there and they were trying to mark out the hash marks for the college during the Saints games and pros during the LSU games. They have replaced the field twice since then. And like someone said, towards the end of the season, every field but the artificials fields have brown patches from where it has been worn down because of use and it being close to winter at the end of the season. The field is fine just the way it is. There is no reason to have artificial turf outside.
I thought the field looked as good last Saturday as it ever has. It looked great after the game was over rain and all. Driving around on Monday morning listening to Jordy he said that the ground crew did not water the field last year as they wanted the roots to get as deep as they could.
