Mama’s boy
Willow was explaining to me about how cleats work.
“They have spikes that are really sharp, so they are good for holding the grass when you are running. But if they hit you in the leg they really hurt. And they can tear up the grass.” He explains
“They hold even better on plastic grass.” i say offhandedly
“They make plastic grass?” Willow is clearly disturbed by this idea. He grumbles under his breath.
“Quite a bit of it i am afraid.” i feel bad for my entire industrial culture.
Completely seriously Willow asks “Is nothing sacred?”
Prague 2008
Answer: a whole lot is, especially you
I remember running in cletes when I first got them. I was being chased, rather. They were a great advantage in the grass, but then I ran out of grass and was on concrete. As I approached a wall I cut to the right super hard. No problem on grass, but I was on concrete. My body turned right and my momentum carried me forward. . .splat right into the edge of the wall. Had quite the painful egg of a bruise or contusion as it were. “Only a flesh wound,” I said in my best British Monty Python voice. A caveat for the momma’s boy.
Gosh, I can just hear the disgust in Willow’s voice as he says that. That kid’s smarter than a lot of the adults in my life!
Plastic grass doesn’t require pesticides, fertilizer, watering, or mowing. It never develops holes or ruts that cause injuries. You can play on it all day every day without tearing it up, and even in the rain, modern tire-crumb fields aren’t slippery. It provides an end use for used tires, which otherwise mostly constitute a rather difficult disposal problem.
Yes, of course, there are disadvantages to artificial turf fields; but don’t be so sure that on balance they’re worse than grass fields.
Sacred is as sacred does.
@Will – it is interesting what you choose to comment on. I am sure their are excellent uses for synthetic turf. For example the giant stadiums which generate synthetic culture seem to be a perfect location for them.