Division-III College Unveils Brand-New Turf Field That Will Make Athletes' Lives Miserable During Summer
A Division-III college in New York unveiled its first new stadium playing surface since 2006 on Tuesday. It is going to make the players' lives absolute hell during the summer and into the fall.
The turf is black!
Not just the end-zones. Not just the hashmarks. No.
Just like the Smurf Turf at Boise State is entirely blue, SUNY Morrisville's new field is entirely black. Every last inch — outside of the traditional white markings for college football, red markings for men's lacrosse, powder blue markings for women's lacrosse, lime green markings for soccer and yellow markings for field hockey.
Everything else is jet black. It's as black as the night sky.
SUNY Morrisville's new turf field
The Mustangs, as SUNY Morrisville is known, are not the first to introduce a non-green field. Boise was the first, and Eastern Kentucky, Coastal Carolina, Central Arkansas, Texas A&M Commerce and Eastern Washington have followed, among others.
None of them, however, installed a field that will feel like the surface of the sun from May until October. That would be borderline torturous, no?!
What was the thought process with the black turf?!
SUNY Morrisville's new turf field
SUNY Morrisville Director of Athletics Matt Grawrock addressed the new turf. He did not speak to the insane amount of sun that the color choice will draw to the field during warmer months.
As we set out to replace our old turf, we wanted to move in a bold, new direction that would give our department and student-athletes a unique identity to rally around.
We wanted a look that reflected the institution and how we have a special campus with an education and opportunities that are different from many schools, embracing the differences that set us apart while providing a focal point for athletics that would distinguish us from our peers.
Throughout this process, we've intentionally embraced the path less taken to make Drake Field a memorable facility for all of our student-athletes, but also for the greater campus community.
To make it even funnier, Grawrock talked about how the field will be used for strength and conditioning. He said that the athletes will be prideful toward their new field.
We are confident that each of the teams that compete on Drake, and those other teams that will use it for exercise and conditioning, will come away with a sense of pride in knowing this field is theirs; one that is different from every other field they've been on.
Grawrock may not have considered how the athletes will feel, pride aside, while exercising and conditioning on a field that that is the color that absorbs the most heat. They can't be excited about that. There's just no way!