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	Archive through June 25, 2024	25		02/20 08:16pm

As it happens, there is a current effort to move the New England Revolution MLS team out of Foxborough and into a proposed soccer-specific stadium to be built in Everett, MA.

Although, in the case of the Revs, the playing surface is only one of many reasons why getting out of their current home stadium and into a new building closer to Boston would be a favourable change for them.

Yet even if that does happen, this would still leave the question open as to which type of playing surface would best suit the Patriots themselves...

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Wednesday, June 26, 2024 - 12:57 pm: Edit

The "new" Patriot's stadium in Foxboro originally was all natural turf. It worked well for a number of years, but there was stretch of unfavorable weather in conjunction with heavy use and the grass didn't have time to recover. The conditions got worse and worse until the players were playing on what amounted to green painted crumbly dirt.

I remember when the entire field was converted to an artificial surface mid-season. At the time it was supposedly the fastest conversion of an active field ever from natural to artificial.

Supposedly, coach Belichik prefered the natural surface and fought to keep it as long as possible, until it deteriorated to the point where it was so bad that any artificial surface would have been an upgrade.

I'm a fan of grass myself. I think it looks, feels, and plays better. Admittedly, artificial surfaces today are much better than say the ones used in the 1970s, which were often just a thin layer of green carpet over concrete. It was like playing football on a cheap miniature golf course. Just terrible for overall player safety.

That all being said, my sense is the turf decision usually boils down to the local climate and the profitability of indoor venues. It's much easier to grow thick, durable, lush grass year round in Florida than in Massachusetts. And most new venues are domes since they can support more types of events all year round.

--Mike

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Monday, August 05, 2024 - 02:24 pm: Edit

On the off chance that MLB does not provide quite enough professional baseball for those of you reading this - or, perhaps, if you want to get a better sense of how the game is played on the other side of the Pacific Ocean - the KBO League in South Korea recently started offering live streams of their games - to include this year's All-Star Game - via the SOOP streaming service.

Speaking of the KBO, you might find it interesting to see one of the new stadium projects currently underway: a new ballpark combined with a shopping mall! (The team in question is owned by a major South Korean retailer, so it's certainly on-brand for them...)

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Thursday, February 20, 2025 - 11:32 am: Edit

While the next iteration of the World Baseball Classic is set for 2026, the qualifiers for those teams still looking to book a ticket to this event are set to begin later this week.

Pool A is to be held over in Taipei, Taiwan; Pool B is being hosted down in Tuscon, Arizona.

All WBCQ games are being live streamed on the WBC YouTube channel.

Of this set of games, it might be worth taking particular note of those being played in Pool A by the host team; all three games have sold the 40,000-seater Taipei Dome to full capacity!

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Thursday, February 20, 2025 - 08:16 pm: Edit

Awesome. I can't wait to watch it.

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Wednesday, May 07, 2025 - 01:32 pm: Edit

A note on Horse Racing....

Apparently, ALL the runners in the 2025 Kentucky Derby, are a descendant of Secretariat..
Not hard to see how big that bloodline would be after 50 years.....

By Jean Sexton Beddow (Jsexton) on Thursday, May 08, 2025 - 01:48 pm: Edit

Secretariat was descended from Sir Archie, a North Carolina race horse! So they were all descended from him!

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Thursday, May 08, 2025 - 05:17 pm: Edit

Yes, but who was he descendant from?? When before him?? We could go all the way back to the horse that Adam and Eve rode when they left the Garden.


Garth L. Getgen

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Friday, May 09, 2025 - 10:43 am: Edit

IIRC ALL of the ancestors of Thoroughbreds are well known.

"One genetic study indicates that 95% of all male Thoroughbreds trace their direct male line (via the Y chromosome) to the Darley Arabian."

When the breed was made official all members were placed in a registry for breeding documentation purposes. The General Stud Book.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoroughbred