Last Wednesday, the day before the Syracuse football team practiced for the first time on the Carrier Dome’s new FieldTurf, Damien Rhodes was asked if he had caught a glimpse of the building’s new surface yet.

The running back broke into a huge grin.

‘Oh, man, I’ve seen it-it’s pretty,’ he said, his eyes wandering off as if talking about a cute girl.

And he hadn’t even stepped foot on the field itself. Perhaps then he would have been totally entranced.

Like all of Syracuse University’s players, Rhodes was thrilled that Syracuse installed FieldTurf at the Dome and on the football practice fields this summer. Hard, carpeted AstroTurf served as the surface for the previous 25 seasons in the Carrier Dome.

Football players have long despised playing on AstroTurf, notorious for causing many serious injuries, countless rug burns and constant concerns by potential recruits. Much more forgiving to players’ bodies, FieldTurf was a welcome surprise to Orange players who overlooked the disadvantages of AstroTurf when committing to SU.

‘It’s a negative to a positive,’ said wide receiver Landel Bembo. ‘I used to hate playing on the (Astro)Turf-you don’t want to fall down on it, you don’t want to plant wrong and hurt your knee. With this (new) turf you can slide around and go all out.’

Carrier Dome Managing Director Pat Campbell said SU had discussed a switch to FieldTurf, which looks and feels like natural grass, though it’s made up of artificial polyethylene fibers, for several years. He said the impetus for the change this summer came from Director of Athletics Daryl Gross and football head coach Greg Robinson, both hired in December.

‘We now have the premiere playing surface available for football,’ Campbell said of FieldTurf, used by 25 college teams and nine NFL teams. ‘It will cut down on injuries, and we’ve removed the potential deciding factor for a recruit deciding between a school with natural grass (referring to FieldTurf) versus artificial.’

Rhodes’ captivation with the Carrier Dome’s surface was curious considering SU had played on FieldTurf all summer on its practice fields. But Bembo backed Rhodes’ inkling Friday, the day after he team’s first workout in the Dome, noting that little black beads don’t fly up there like they still do on the practice fields.

Campbell was delighted to hear Bembo’s comment, guessing the reason was because the Dome’s FieldTurf remains unaffected by the weather. He said the surfaces in the Dome and on the practice fields were the same.

Besides the obvious injury factor, just practicing on FieldTurf has its own benefit as well.

Quarterbacks coach Major Applewhite, who practiced on FieldTurf in his playing days at Texas, said FieldTurf soaks up so much water that rain won’t affect outdoor practices. Rhodes said SU’s practice fields got so worn down in the past that only dirt was left. And quarterback Perry Patterson said FieldTurf simply allowed the team to practice more on the surface on which the Orange plays its games.

‘This time last year we’d played on the (Astro)Turf like four times and our bodies were pretty much done,’ Patterson said. ‘They worked us a lot harder (this summer) than last summer. Playing on the (Astro)Turf really does a toll on your body.’

But it may have been another advantage altogether that fooled Rhodes into thinking the FieldTurf in the Carrier Dome was of a higher quality.

The fibers at the 50-yard line and endzones are orange and blue, meaning the logos and letters are part of the field and allow for dazzling color. Applewhite said the Dome’s interior is significantly brighter with the block ‘S’ beaming at the 50-yard line and ‘SYRACUSE’ and ‘ORANGE’ shimmering from the endzones in enormous letters.

In the past, the logo and letters were painted on the field, making them considerably duller by comparison. Painting caused a problem itself last season when the newly-painted, interlocking ‘SU’ logo flaked off during football games, which can’t happen now.

‘That was pretty weak,’ linebacker Kelvin Smith said. ‘We go to a (Division) I school and we can’t get the paint job right. You got kids paying $41,000 a year or something like that and we can’t get the paint right. That’s pretty crazy.’

Therefore, in a single year, Syracuse went from having a surface that embarrassed and despised its own players to one that evokes big smiles and loving stares.

‘It’s great, outstanding,’ Robinson said. ‘I think (the players) were a little surprised … as I was. They’ve got it packed down pretty good, so I think it’s game ready.’

Published on August 29, 2005 at 12:00 pm