Merry Cliffmas and Happy Halladays!

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone reading this post is in the holiday spirit.

For some fun on this great holiday, let's think of baseball names past and present that have christmas ties. Here 5 that come to mind:

1. Matt Holliday
2. George Bell
3. Bob Shepard
4. Chris Carpenter
5. Jesus Alou

Check out our new website: j-dturf.com

Play on!
--Jamie

Kenyon College - Swimming in December?

Travels throughout the country leads me to facilities of all shapes and sizes. Even though our goal is to speak about sports turf, I had to post about the site I visited early this week. The Kenyon Athletic Center is impressive. First of all, the 250,000+ sq ft facility has windows all over the facility. In fact, the day I visited there were no lights on. Why? There is so much natural light there is no need for lights. The competition gym (Photo #3) has windows on three sides. When is the last time you saw that many windows in a gym! My tour finished at an extremely unique facility, the swimming pool. (Photos #1 and #2) Have you ever seen a pool this big surrounded by windows! Kenyon has won 31 straight men’s D-III swimming titles. The women have won the last 23 of 27 D-III titles. Wow!

For a link to the Kenyon Athletic Center click HERE
For a link to the Kenyon Men’s Swimming site click HERE
For a link to the Kenyon Women’s Swimming site click HERE

Please see our new web site at www.j-dturf.com

Play on!
--Jamie

How Do They Do That - Volume #1 - Metrodome

Over the life of the SmartTurf blog I will post from time to time under the simple title - "How Do They Do That." Today's topic - the Metrodome in Minneapolis, MN. Early in the AM on Sunday December, 12, 2010 the dome roof deflated due to the weight of the snow. So, the question is, "How does the dome stay inflated?"

Metrodome History - here
Metrodome Vital Stats - here
Image From Inside the Dome - here
The Engineering Behind The Dome - here
TCF Stadium Information (Probable site for Monday's game) - here

More fun topics in the future!

Check out our new website: j-dturf.com

Play on!
--Jamie

Brown County Baseball and Softball

I always like to see facilities that "fit in" to their location. A great example of this are the fields at Brown County. These high school fields at located in beautiful Brown County in southern Indiana. As many of you may know, Brown County is famous for it's forests and excellent fall colors. So, the school corporation used materials that are a great match to the site. The dugouts, press boxes, and the concession stand all look like little lodges. This is a first class facility that is worthy of hosting ISHAA tournament events.

Check out our new website: j-dturf.com

Play on!
--Jamie

The Week Ahead

I hope everyone had a great weekend. The J&D Turf crew will be at the OTF tradeshow and conference this week.

Check out our website at j-dturf.com

Play on!
--Jamie

Baseball Fields Hosting Football?

As many of you saw over the weekend, both Wrigley Field and Yankee Stadium hosted football games this weekend. So, I figured I would share a couple of articles and a video of some of the preparations. Look for an additional post about the games later this week.

For an article about Wrigley’s transformation, click HERE
For an article on the history of football at Wrigley, click HERE, check out how the old configuration ran north-south

For an article on the Yankee Stadium transformation, click HERE
For a video of the transformation, click HERE

Play on!
--Jamie

Bermudagrass in the North - Round 2

As a quick follow up to the earlier post on Bermudagrass in the north, I wanted to post two more photos as the fall seasons start to wind down. These photos are from Rose-Hulman. The first photo is from the Cook Stadium at Rose-Hulman. This field has a Patriot Bermudagrass base that has been overseeded with Barenbrug Turf Star Elite ryegrass. As you can see, this field is still in excellent condition. The second photo is from the intramural fields at Rose-Hulman with the same Patriot Bermudagrass/Ryegrass overseeding. These fields have had numerous practices, games, etc and have been used non-stop since the early fall. Though not all of the Barenbrug Turf Star ryegrass has survived the traffic through the middle of the fields, the surfaces are still safe and playable.
Play on!
--Jamie