Turf is a necessary expense

Not much in this world is perfect.

Not Brad Lidge's 2009 postseason after Sunday night, not the first snowflake of winter and as hard as this may be to believe, not even me.

Tonight, North Schuylkill has that rare shot to do something perfect, at least as far as the regular season counts, and predictably head coach Rick Geist has said this week that the season doesn't end with a win or a loss at the Silver Bowl tonight against Mount Carmel.

A more important battle was waged this week in the North Schuylkill School District, that for the four open seats on the school board, and as an alumnus of the school and district resident, voting on Tuesday was a no- brainer.

Along with non-sports decisions to expand the elementary school or re-open the Ringtown school, the matter of the football field, and whether the district can afford the cost of turf, factored into the minds of at least some of the candidates and voters.

In August, when Mount Carmel Area was rumored to be getting artificial turf, and then North Schuylkill followed suit with its announcement that an all-weather track would be installed at Spartan Stadium and possibly turf also, a column was penned, but never printed for timing reasons, demanding that both stadiums keep the natural grass surfaces they currently had.

Well, Mount Carmel has backed off its statement of putting in turf at the Silver Bowl and is looking into other solutions to keep the grass and the 96 sprinklers installed under the playing surface in place.

Mount Carmel Area has also purchased a lawn mower that makes upkeep of the field a little easier.

But after one supremely wet fall, this writer has changed mental tracks. Not only should North Schuylkill have turf after a disastrous fall which has made the field look like one giant mud pie, but it should have planned better when installing the track and the concrete footer which surrounds the field.

Sloppy field conditions, grass stains on jerseys, clumps of turf hanging off facemasks are all integral parts of the game most of us in the coal region grew up to love. With turf, that's null and void.

While the physicality, the poetic brutality of football still remains, the subtraction of grass, mud and overall grime rips at least one ventricle out of the heart of every football fan.

What rips at that football heart even more though, is a team, which has taken care of its business throughout the regular season, possibly not being able to play a home game in the playoffs.

Football is also a game of supreme planning, and like we've seen the past three Fridays, weather has thaving games pushed to Mondays. This creates snags in preparing for a following game that week, along with making kids get emotionally ready for a Monday game which draws less fans and less hoopla than a Friday night or Saturday game.

While the decision to play on the quagmire-like Spartan Stadium surface in the playoffs will wait until next week, it shouldn't be a decision, nor should it be a decision in the future; put in the artificial surface.

Turf detractors may point to Notre Dame's history of growing out the grass to slow down incoming opponents. Sure it always provides a laugh when it comes to mind, but it underscores the bigger point that however minimally, grass does play a factor in the games, especially when conditions are less than optimum. But when a surface begins to detract from the overall game and safety of the athletes, it's time to make a change.

Fine, some teams play better than others when conditions are at their worst. It's a fact of the game that good teams should be able to overcome not only the team on the other side of the field, but also the slop that every team has to play in in October.

North Schuylkill has proven this year that it can play in the slop, in the rain, in the mud. The Spartans have proven that they're dedicated. Now, the as yet to be determined powers that be have to prove they're dedicated to making sure that student athletes of the future have the pride of playing in front of a home crowd in the playoffs and on a field that's both beautiful and safe.

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