First off, let me say how awesome last night’s game was. I was totally expecting that one team to win the Super Bowl. That one player really stepped up and did his part. Can’t say I was expecting that other player to do what he did, but there’s usually one of those in every Super Bowl.
(I hope you’ve realized by now this column was written before the game, Wednesday actually. If you truly want my analysis on the Super Bowl, follow The California Aggie Sports Desk on Twitter, @CalAggieSports.)
Rather, I’d like to talk about something I’ve been meaning to ramble on about for a while now.
There’s a fad going around college stadiums.
And it has nothing to do with the team’s playing in the palaces of athletics.
Like most fads, this one has to do with what the stadium looks like. Yes, even these palaces of athletics are changing their exterior for the modern.
Many football stadiums across the nation are exchanging their playing surfaces for non-traditional colors and schemes.
The fad started with the Boise State Broncos and their home football stadium’s bright blue turf. Division I-AA Eastern Washington, a future UC Davis conference foe, upgraded its turf to bright red, one of its colors. The University of Texas, San Antonio is set to upgrade the Alamodome’s turf to bright orange.
All these schools changing their fields for the new got me thinking that UC Davis should upgrade its boring, traditional playing surfaces to something a little more … flashy.
By no means am I saying the university should spend upwards of $1 million on new turf for Aggie Stadium. All I’m saying is if the athletic department finds itself with a very large surplus of cash, it should consider these upgrades.
The next question after cost should be color. The obvious answer is to use one of our school colors. This means we can’t use the greatest sports color scheme, orange and black. If we were to go the school color route, we would either have Aggie blue or Aggie Gold.
Blue is already taken. If we were to choose blue, UC Davis would only be “posing” Boise State – blue has already shown itself to be a great football field color. But if UC Davis were to do this, I’d want it to be original.
If we have to use a school color and Aggie blue is thrown out, this leaves Aggie gold. Aggie gold could work. My only reservation from tearing up the current turf is that looking at yellow or a shade of it can very much be migraine inducing.
Not to mention most teams that play at Aggie Stadium have either blue or white home uniforms, neither of which are dominated by Aggie gold. (What’s the point of changing a field if it can’t work to our advantage?)
So, if both Aggie blue and Aggie gold won’t work, what will? Bear with me on this choice – cow spots. Now nearly every UC Davis student has been questioned about the cows in Davis. And nearly every answer is in the form of “You really don’t notice them?” If this is the case, why change our football field to cow spots?
Simply stated: culture. Just by having to answer that annoying question makes cows a part of the UC Davis culture. The football field is even across the street from the dairy farm where the cows live. And you’d be lying if you said you didn’t get a whiff of the smelly animals on those warm September and October nights.
Also not to mention, I think a black and white athletic field has the potential to look really awesome.
But until the day comes that we decide to upgrade our field color, I’m ok with the traditional green.
For the record, JASON ALPERT picked the Packers to win 24-20. E-mail him to tell him how right or wrong he was at sports@theaggie.org.
