SportsTurf

July 2012

SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.

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From the Sidelines Eric Schroder Editorial Director eschroder@m2media360.com 717-805-4197 L Football's future: 2nd down and long Monday Night, September through January. But to fill the time between training camps and tailgate parties, there is always off-season IKE MANY OF YOU and probably a few hundred thousand other Americans, I am anxiously awaiting the beginning of football season. Punt returns for TDs, goal line stands, trick plays, perfectly timed long passes—it sure seems a long time since the Super Bowl. I miss America's 21st century pastime, from Friday night lights through news. This year the focus is on bounties, injuries and concussions. (Where's that clown Terrell Owens when you need him to make news?) Coaches and players are suspended for putting money on the table to knock guys out of the game—did I miss something or isn't that what pro football's all about? Anyone believe only one team in the league was doing this? Sheesh. And former players are suing the league because they now have physical problems, as if they had been forced to have the snot knocked out of them, over and over. Mike Golic, the dumb half of the "Mike and Mike" radio show on ESPN, says knowing what he knows now about concus- sions, etc., he'd still have played in the NFL as long as he could. He says that's what football play- ers do, which is great but now they want it both ways—"you paid us to knock each other senseless and now we want you to pay us because we knocked each other senseless." This lawsuit is akin to the lung cancer patient suing a cigarette company; why blame some- one? You made a personal decision and you deal with the consequences. There's information available on football injuries; this isn't 1955. The video of former NFL center Jim Otto's taking 20 minutes just to get out of bed in the morning has been around for a long time. The violent hits in football are producing more serious injuries due to the ever-increasing size and speed of the players at the professional level. All the light now being shed on how repeated blows to the head can affect players' health as they age is opening up eyes at lower levels. A teacher and school board member in suburban Philadelphia recently called for her district to ban football. "It's no longer appropriate for public institutions to fund gladiators. I am very con- cerned about putting these student-athletes in the position of getting a concussion," she said. "Football has gotten faster, harder and more dangerous with each passing year. I'm extremely scared we will eventually be sued over injuries suffered in sports." I doubt any school districts are going to stop playing football—yet. Lots of small town Amer- SportsTurfTu 1030 W. Higgins Road Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 Phone 847-720-5600 Fax 847-720-5601 The Official Publication Of The Sports Turf Managers Association President: James Michael Goatley, Jr., Ph.D. Immediate Past President: Troy Smith, CSFM President-Elect: Martin K. Kaufman, CSFM Secretary/Treasurer: David Pinsonneault, CSFM, CPRP Vice-President Commercial: Rene Asprion Professional Facilities: Allen Johnson, CSFM Academic: Jeffrey Fowler Parks & Recreation: Debra Kneeshaw Higher Education: Jeffrey Salmond, CSFM K-12: Michael Tarantino, CSFM Commercial: James Graff At Large: Jay Warnick, CSFM At Large: Ron Hostick, CSFM CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Kim Heck STMA Office 805 New Hampshire Suite E Lawrence, Ks 66044 Phone 800-323-3875 Fax 800-366-0391 Email STMAinfo@STMA.org www.STMA.org Editorial EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Charles Forman EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Eric Schroder TECHNICAL EDITOR Dr. James Brosnan ART DIRECTOR Brian Snook PRODUCTION MANAGER Karen Kalinyak STMA Editorial Communications Committee Jim Cornelius, CSFM, Jason Henderson, PhD, Paul Hollis, Clayton Hubbs, Joshua McPherson, CSFM, Brad Park, David Schlotthauer, & Grant Spear icans probably gather together these days for only one thing, the local high school's Friday night football game. But the lawyers are circling. All of us who love football need to encourage those in power to find ways to improve the safety of the game before it's too late. Correction from June issue All products listed for ArmorTech (www.utaarmortech) in the Chemical Resource Guide in our June issue are in fact products of SipcamAdvan (www.sipcamadvan.com). We regret the error. SportsTurf (ISSN 1061-687X) (USPS 000-292) (Reg. U.S. Pat. & T.M. Off.) is published monthly by m2media360, a Bev-Al Communications company at 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230, Park Ridge, IL 60068. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sportsturf, PO Box 4290, Port Jervis, NY 12771. For subscription information and re- quests, call Subscription Services at (845) 856-2229. Sub- scription rates: 1 year, $40 US & Poss.; 2 years, $65 US & Poss.; 1 year, $65 Canada/Foreign Surface, 1 year, $130 Air- mail. All subscriptions are payable in advance in US funds. Send payments to Sportsturf, PO Box 4290, Port Jervis, NY 12771. Phone: (845) 856-2229. Fax: (845) 856-5822. Single copies or back issues, $8 each US/Canada; $12 For- eign. Periodicals postage paid at Park Ridge, IL and addi- tional mailing offices. COPYRIGHT 2012, SportsTurf. Material may not be reproduced or photocopied in any form without the written permission of the publisher. 6 SportsTurf | July 2012 www.sportsturfonline.com

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