A few of you on the market bear in mind what was unanimously often known as the worst venue in main North American skilled sports activities, Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. The Eagles and Phillies shared that facility for greater than 20 years.
When The Vet housed these groups, there have been many stadiums that have been dumps, however this one was particularly terrible. The followers have been so rowdy that there was a courthouse and a jail within the constructing, however what was most horrible concerning the place was the turf.
There was no such factor pretty much as good AstroTurf again when that was the bogus floor of selection within the NFL, however no floor within the league was as tough because the one at The Vet. Former Chicago Bears extensive receiver Wendell Davis had his profession ended when he blew out each patellar tendons on the floor in 1993. It was a relentless supply of criticism amongst gamers in each sports activities, particularly by the house groups. Donovan McNabb as soon as stated, “The entire league is aware of about The Vet turf. There’s two issues you may get hit by — our defenders or our stadium.”
Today the bogus floor that’s used at NFL stadiums — they don’t share dwelling fields with MLB groups anymore — is FieldTurf. It’s softer than pure grass with the plastic blades, and tire rubber as an alternative of grime. Nevertheless, identical to AstroTurf, there are considerations that it makes gamers extra inclined to tender tissue accidents. Additionally, identical to the times of AstroTurf there’s a venue that’s well-known to be the worst: MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
The New York Giants misplaced a key contributor Monday evening on that turf. Sterling Shepard fought exhausting to recuperate from an achilles harm, and thru three video games this season he was the Giants’ main receiver. Shepard was jogging up the sideline with just below one minute remaining of their loss to the Dallas Cowboys, and immediately he dropped to the bottom as if he received calf kicked by an MMA fighter. He was carted off of the sphere and later recognized with a torn ACL.
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Just like The Vet, MetLife receives complaints from both coaches and players. The Baltimore Ravens defeated the New York Jets at that stadium in Week 1, but they weren’t too keen on the playing conditions, according to a quote that ESPN’s Jamison Hensley posted on Twitter.
“That turf was matted down, it was packed down, it was a little tight.” John Harbaugh said. “Maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be. I don’t know, but that’s what I saw. It was a little tough.”
There have been complaints about the surface at MetLife Stadium for some time. In 2020 the surface was actually investigated after several San Francisco 49ers went down with injuries during a game. Coming off of a Super Bowl appearance in 2019, they lost Nick Bosa, Jimmy Garoppolo, Solomon Thomas, Tevin Coleman, and Raheem Mostert all in the same game. Arik Armstead tweeted out after the game that the turf was “trash,” and Kyle Shanahan said to the media, “Guys seemed to be getting stuck in the ground more regularly.” The NFL and NFLPA did investigate the field after that game and found the conditions to be adequate.
Of course I’m neither a doctor nor a scientist. If I was, then I would be making observations of scientific issues much more important to the well-being of this planet than the playing surfaces at football games. Still, I did notice something. During games on FieldTurf, the tire rubber usually flies up from underneath the players’ feet frequently. The rubber isn’t patted down, or gorilla glued. From what I saw of how the FieldTurf was maintained at my former high school when the natural grass was replaced in 2003, somebody periodically comes by in a vehicle and dumps the rubber onto the field.
Over time, as the field is played on, less and less of the rubber will fly up — and getting it in your eye really sucks — but it never stops entirely. I had nothing to do with the field replacement except for going door to door for a month during the summer of 2002 hawking coupon booklets for $20 each. However, I did notice on Monday night that the rubber almost never flies up at MetLife Stadium. It wasn’t at all cold during that game. There was no natural reason for granules of tire rubber to stay stuck to the ground.
Right now there is no study that proves direct causation between injuries and the MetLife FieldTurf. And, unlike The Vet, poor stitching and third base aren’t visible, and a preseason game didn’t have to be canceled when, after the stadium replaced the turf, it was too uneven for a safe game.
While MetLife Stadium isn’t there yet, right now, it does hold the NFL’s terrible turf title.