Northwestern's Secret Weapon: Length of Grass - Printable Version
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Northwestern's Secret Weapon: Length of Grass - Bruce Wang - 10-24-2020
https://www.stack.com/a/northwesterns-secret-home-field-edge-the-longest-grass-in-college-football
Does anybody know if Stanford does this? If not, we should...
Haven't posted in a while. Hope everybody is navigating the storms in good health and spirits.
RE: Northwestern's Secret Weapon: Length of Grass - newguy - 10-24-2020
that's an interesting idea.
and good to see you again, Publius.
RE: Northwestern's Secret Weapon: Length of Grass - Mick - 10-24-2020
Basically the same strategy the Giants used when Maury Wills and the Dodgers came to town. And it wasn't just Wills, Tommie Davis, Willie Davis, and even the catcher John Roseboro could run and steal bases. The Giants watered the basepaths to the point that they were mud puddles in an effort to slow Wills.
What you may not have known was that the Dodgers employed a slightly different tactic to improve the odds for their speedy team. They had a gigantic roller which they would use to flatten the outfield grass, thereby turning singles into doubles and triples. The Dodgers let the NL in triples in 1962.
Here's the real story of groundskeeping gamesmanship. It's an interesting read. The Giants' approach was a lot more sophisticated than merely overwatering the base paths, and they had to use several different approaches as the 1962 season wore on (and the NL management caught on to their wily ways):
https://vault.si.com/vault/1988/08/29/giant-sized-confession-a-groundskeepers-deeds
RE: Northwestern's Secret Weapon: Length of Grass - Spiny_Norman - 10-24-2020
(10-24-2020, 06:24 AM)Publius Wrote: https://www.stack.com/a/northwesterns-secret-home-field-edge-the-longest-grass-in-college-football
Does anybody know if Stanford does this? If not, we should...
Haven't posted in a while. Hope everybody is navigating the storms in good health and spirits.
Good to see you again, Publius. That is a strategy that Notre Dame absolutely employed vs. USC in 2005 to try to slow Reggie Bush.
https://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-college-football-reggie-bush-notre-dame-usc-charlie-weis-tall-grass/
RE: Northwestern's Secret Weapon: Length of Grass - 81alum - 10-24-2020
Our field used to be Bermuda grass--I don't know if it still is. I don't think you can let Bermuda grass get long.
Maybe we should play on a field of English ivy instead. You know, the kind that gets thick enough that you would have to pick your feet up about 18" with each step. There were a couple of games against Oregon where it could have made the difference......
lex24 - lex24 - 10-24-2020
Remember the Oregon game in ‘11. There had been a fair amount of rain and a lot of discussion as to whether that would help slow down Oregon. It didn’t..... sure a higher grass is going to mean a slower track. But the bottom line is if you are significantly slower than your opponent it doesn’t freaking matter what field you’re playing on. You’re still going to get your ass kicked - unless you’re significantly more physical and can control the football.
Which reminds me of a lunch I went to back in 1983 (or perhaps ‘82) with my dad and a couple of his friends and Fred Von Appen. It was a couple of weeks before the season. He was defensive coordinator and we asked how the defense looked. His response -“not very good, we’re small but we make up for it because were slow.” We laughed. He didn’t. He was right.
RE: lex24 - Mick - 10-24-2020
(10-24-2020, 02:56 PM)lex24 Wrote: Which reminds me of a lunch I went to back in 1983 (or perhaps ‘82) with my dad and a couple of his friends and Fred Von Appen. It was a couple of weeks before the season. He was defensive coordinator and we asked how the defense looked. His response -“not very good, we’re small but we make up for it because were slow.” We laughed. He didn’t. He was right.
My high school football coach used to say that in the 1970s. We were a terrible team, small and slow (although we did beat John Paye's Menlo School). Our coach used to refer to us as "Menehunes", which we found out much later were sort of a Hawaiian version of a leprechaun.
RE: Northwestern's Secret Weapon: Length of Grass - fullmetal - 10-24-2020
Which game was it where Stanford somehow didn't bring or wear their long cleats on soft turf?