By DARIN ALLRED

Register Sports Editor



All of the rain this past month has made for some muddy football fields. I’m not sure there was a game played in October where mud or at least wet field conditions were not a factor.

Next season, football players in the Gainesville Independent School District won’t have to worry about that since they will be playing on FieldTurf at the new stadium.

That’s little consolation for the Gainesville Middle School teams, who have not played a home game since Sept. 29. They were supposed to play three home games in district against Whitesboro, Celina and Argyle, but all of those games were moved to the other schools’ fields because Leeper Stadium was too wet and coaches did not want to tear the field up on Thursday before the varsity game on Friday.

Celina and Argyle have FieldTurf also, so tearing up their field was not a concern.

When’s Gainesville’s stadium is finally complete, Whitesboro will be the only school in District 9-3A who will not play on FieldTurf.

It just makes sense, fiscal and otherwise, for schools to consider using the artificial surface. First off, it takes 10-12 years before it needs to be replaced. It can pay for itself in as little as six years because you no longer have to mow, fertilize, water and stripe the field. There is also no need to resod after it gets torn up during a rainy season like this one.

Officials with companies installing turf at stadiums around the state have made a point to talk of the safety issues regarding the turf. They have pointed out that studies have shown there are fewer injuries on this artificial surface than there are on natural grass.

Gainesville Leopards coaches will probably agree after this season. Standout running back Deshawn Franklin tore his ACL in his knee during a muddy game against Whitesboro. Now who’s to say that the injury would not have occurred on FieldTurf, but an argument can be made that the sloppy field may have played a part.

If only we would have built the stadium when it was proposed back in May and had it ready for play this season. But I guess hindsight is always 20/20.



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I still can’t believe that the UIL allows schools to use kids to call lines at high school varsity volleyball matches.

If you haven’t been to a volleyball match, here is the scenario. There are two adult, certified officials for each match, but most schools (especially smaller schools), just use players from the freshman or junior varsity teams to work (for free) as a linesperson to call shots either in or out. Usually there is one linesperson from each school.

I know schools can’t afford to pay four officials for each match, but having 14 or 15-year old kids forced to make critical calls during a district match to me is just a disaster waiting to happen.

Most of them do a good job, but it seems like a no-win situation to me. On a close play, if they call in favor of their team, then the other team thinks they are a “homer.” If they call in favor of the opposing team, then their own friends might not talk to them for the next week. And no matter what they call, fans in the stands are going to yell at them and criticize them. Yes, they yell at 14-year olds who are not getting paid.

If they are going to not pay certified officials to call lines, I think they should at least use adults. To me, it’s not fair to put high school kids in such a precarious position during varsity matches.



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The fact that I take Texas Tech sports way too seriously was reinforced last weekend when I made the trip to Lubbock to watch the Red Raiders play Texas A&M.;

In order to get there in time to have a pregame meal in the pressbox, I had to work most of the night Friday to get Sunday’s paper done so I could make the 4 1/2 hour trip west.

I enjoyed getting to see some old friends that I worked with and some other people I know from the past three years in West Texas. I did not enjoy what happened after kickoff, well at least during the second quarter.

I won’t go into all the specifics because it pains me too much, but suffice to say I wasn’t a happy camper at halftime, so I told my friends bye, informed them that I wouldn’t be sleeping on their sofa that night, and instead I made the long march to my car and then made the even longer drive back home in the middle of the night.

I think maybe some therapy sessions are in order.