Merlo Pitch

Looks like sod is on the schedule after all.

http://www.portlandpilots.com/news/2010/3/12/GEN_0312103036.aspx

and the article says no games on it for three months.

A crown? I would much rather have it sloping at a two percent gradient from one end to another. That way the coinflip is the most important part of the game, so you can be sure to go downhill during the second half.

A downward sloping gradient with a nice tailwind can make for some fantastic assist and goal tallies for a goalie with a long, accurate drop kick...

Better yet maybe they should put the field on a gigantic hydraulic version of one of these so we ALWAYS have the advantage:

the knob on the right is where I sit.

Well clearly.... Not everyone realizes the perk for the 4K post mark is control of the lengthwise pitch mechanism at Merlo...

Explains why I keep calling it a "pitch" huh?

Yeah, and to think everyone else probably thought you were just being anglo-phillic...

Sod laying has begun...

need pictures.

Here is a teaser. I will post more later.

I trotted over and took a couple of shots with my Brownie as well.

This field is flat. If anything, the first 10 feet from the Student section slopes into the center about an inch. Other than that, it's the Webster's definition of flat. It's almost a little disorienting. I've never played on a field like that.

Here's the crew at work. The blue machine unrolls the spools of turf. the red fork lift keeps him fed. The guys on the ground do the unwrapping and final placement.


The distance from the wall on the left to the end of the first spool is about 1/3 of the field. They did one full length of the field in 7 minutes.

It looks like they will finish tomorrow.







The u23's are back from camp.

Cool. It looks like they want to keep it the flattest field in college soccer. I'd like to see us to continue to be able to boast about that.

onetouchfutbol wrote:Cool. It looks like they want to keep it the flattest field in college soccer. I'd like to see us to continue to be able to boast about that.

Not to mention "greenest". Maybe New Mexico could take our old turf to liven up the place.

Looks like the fur liners are out for cleaning!

Hope you enjoy these. There are some more on my flickr page.

wow!! is there anything more beautiful than a perfect pitch?!! i remember watching spring training after the heavy snow we had in 2008. i thought the pitch looked as bad as i have ever seen it. then i realized, the bush in the front of my house had died 75% because of the snow. i'm so glad the pitch has been replaced.

fozziewozzie wrote:is there anything more beautiful than a perfect pitch?!!

a 16 pass sequence that ends with a 35 yard blast into the upper 90 of the far post???

I always preferred, a brilliant sequence down the wing followed by a pin point cross to the far side of the goal with a blast off the head of a forward or charging wing into the far post side netting... But I always played outside mid so I'm biased...

DaTruRochin wrote:But I always played outside mid so I'm biased...

It's not called "outside mid" when you are out of the parameters of the field.

Yeah, I guess it's "left out" now...

ohhh_yeah wrote:

fozziewozzie wrote:is there anything more beautiful than a perfect pitch?!!

a 16 pass sequence that ends with a 35 yard blast into the upper 90 of the far post???

a 25 pass sequence to a blast under the crossbar from 12 yards ???

Agreed! After 16 passes why are you still 35 yards from the goal?

SoreKnees wrote:Agreed! After 16 passes why are you still 35 yards from the goal?

Yeah, if you are going to do a 35 yard blast far post into the upper 90, it shouldn't take more than 8 passes




¡GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLL!!!!

I love Andés Cantor..

SoreKnees wrote:Agreed! After 16 passes why are you still 35 yards from the goal?

i was on an u-9 team at the time... it will always be my favorite goal i have scored... so sorry we did not do it with 8 passes or less...

Imagine how discouraging to the other team, to have to chase the ball for the 16 passes and THEN, after all that chasing, still give up the goal? I vote for the 16 passes. Actually, the more passes the better. A score after a few passes still counts the same on the scoreboard, but the many-pass sequence imbeds the idea that the team that scored is simply too good. It crushes the spirit.

ohhh_yeah wrote:

fozziewozzie wrote:is there anything more beautiful than a perfect pitch?!!

a 16 pass sequence that ends with a 35 yard blast into the upper 90 of the far post???

A perfectly placed ball from George Josten onto the boot of Gabriel "OJ" Obatola on a cold and rainy night.