2008 Woodie Awards
Best fields in the conference? Not now
The fields we were promised aren't ready - and someone needs to be held responsible
Frankie Guros
Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: Opinion
Two workers were in the northwest corner, beyond the center field fence on the baseball field, planting trees.
I did a double take to make sure I wasn't hallucination from the sun bearing down on me.
This is a perfect example of how someone's priorities are way out of line. I'm not sure who is to blame, but there is definitely a failure on the part of the university to oversee this project and prioritize.
Our stadium looks gorgeous, but if you can't catch a ball in the stands. Last time I checked, the game was played on the field, not in the magnificent brick structure made for the fans.
When Lincoln Park stadium opened in the fall, they made sure to have the artificial surface ready, even though the press box was many weeks behind schedule.
Oregon State's baseball team has been reconstructing their stadium to fit more fans, but the team was able to practice on the field during construction.
Why were the fields not finished first so we could at least get out there and practice while the stands were being built around us? It doesn't make any sense from this perspective.
In Schumann's letter, he writes that the fields were sodded in order to allow earlier use of the fields.
Well, softball has moved their opening series this weekend, that was scheduled to be played at home, to Linfield's field, and the baseball team will surely be forced to do the same.
I don't know what definition of early Schumann is using, but I don't think getting on our fields for the first time in mid-March at best, after beginning our practices on Jan. 13, is early enough.
I'm putting a heavy amount of blame on the lack of university oversight and their general ignorance of what is actually going on at the fields because Pacific's athletes are the ones suffering. Even though the fields are technically city property, no other teams will use the baseball and softball fields until the summer.
The city of Forest Grove isn't losing out on anything here. They have their turf field already, and they will have access to the grass fields this summer, when they will surely be ready.
The university can fix this situation with a quick three-step process: apologize to the athletes, fire the contractors and spend a little more money to finish this project.
I did a double take to make sure I wasn't hallucination from the sun bearing down on me.
This is a perfect example of how someone's priorities are way out of line. I'm not sure who is to blame, but there is definitely a failure on the part of the university to oversee this project and prioritize.
Our stadium looks gorgeous, but if you can't catch a ball in the stands. Last time I checked, the game was played on the field, not in the magnificent brick structure made for the fans.
When Lincoln Park stadium opened in the fall, they made sure to have the artificial surface ready, even though the press box was many weeks behind schedule.
Oregon State's baseball team has been reconstructing their stadium to fit more fans, but the team was able to practice on the field during construction.
Why were the fields not finished first so we could at least get out there and practice while the stands were being built around us? It doesn't make any sense from this perspective.
In Schumann's letter, he writes that the fields were sodded in order to allow earlier use of the fields.
Well, softball has moved their opening series this weekend, that was scheduled to be played at home, to Linfield's field, and the baseball team will surely be forced to do the same.
I don't know what definition of early Schumann is using, but I don't think getting on our fields for the first time in mid-March at best, after beginning our practices on Jan. 13, is early enough.
I'm putting a heavy amount of blame on the lack of university oversight and their general ignorance of what is actually going on at the fields because Pacific's athletes are the ones suffering. Even though the fields are technically city property, no other teams will use the baseball and softball fields until the summer.
The city of Forest Grove isn't losing out on anything here. They have their turf field already, and they will have access to the grass fields this summer, when they will surely be ready.
The university can fix this situation with a quick three-step process: apologize to the athletes, fire the contractors and spend a little more money to finish this project.
Be the first to comment on this story