memphis. . .

[pinkrocker]

do people agree with me that memphis kinda sucked it up with the soccer part of the spring fling? i mean, the feilds i saw were crap (dirt patches, bad grass), there was a huge vacancy of volunteers, and some games other than finals didn't even have adequate (if any) ball runners. a lot of teams had to drive a long way to play there. perhaps the money they spent to have the tournaments there for the next however many years should be given back and we should do it elsewhere next time. oh well. it was fun. the soccer was good. . . .but can i get an amen?

[Opperman]

do people agree with me that memphis kinda sucked it up with the soccer part of the spring fling? i mean, the feilds i saw were crap (dirt patches, bad grass), there was a huge vacancy of volunteers, and some games other than finals didn't even have adequate (if any) ball runners. a lot of teams had to drive a long way to play there. perhaps the money they spent to have the tournaments there for the next however many years should be given back and we should do it elsewhere next time. oh well. it was fun. the soccer was good. . . .but can i get an amen?

I didn't get a chance to make it out there to Mike Rose this week, but would you at least admit that it's possible that the 5.5 inches of rain this month had quite a bit to do with the fields not being in good shape? There's only so much you can do when it rains as much as it has here the last few weeks, especially right at the beginning of the tournaments.

[Yankee0697]

The rain definitely had a lot to do with the fields, but why werent the scoreboards working? I realize Memphis outbidded everybody for the fling, but Nashville would have accomodated the teams alot better since it is in the middle of the state. 9 or 10 hours is a long haul especially for only one game.

[TackerDad]

The soccer part of the Spring Fling in Memphis was simply awesome, just like the rest of Spring Fling in Memphis.

 

I attended every soccer session.

 

Let's start with the fact that, because Spring Fling was held in a real city with a world class soccer facility, TWICE as many teams got to PLAY in the State Tournament this year. (While that gives TWICE as many players the chance to play in the state tournament, that also gives us twice as many whiners to hear from.)

 

I feel good that the worst criticism anyone can come up with is that the fields weren't perfect after so much rain and that the scoreboards don't work.

 

What's the opposite of "amen"?

[BoJackson34]

I too was puzzled by the scoreboards not working. To explain the big dirt patches in the goal, their is a new field manager (I guess thats what you call him) that does not rotate the fields properly like they should.

[Irish17]

I agree with TackerDad. Pinrocker, the fields were not "crap"--the grass surface on our field (#13) was cut near perfectly and you'd expect some dirt patches on most fields after a Spring season like Tennessee just had with all the rain. What field are you used to? It must be awesome.

 

In East Tennessee you can count the number of fields that are better than or even the same quality as Mike Rose's size and condition on one hand. Webb's field (when dry), McCallie's field, Baylor's field, CCS's main field all are great and definitely measure up. There are a few good surfaces on football fields, too, (including Catholic's and Bearden's) but they aren't wide enough for good soccer. Most of the fields we get to play high school on are pretty weak. Also, there is no decent complex in all of East Tennessee that could host Spring Fling. Even Finley Stadium had to have part of it's surface painted green last year because of wear from a lacrosse tournament or something. There were several patches without grass on that field last year. It's a great field but you can't have three 8 team tournaments on one field.

 

With or without a few dirt patches, the Rose fields are superior fields to play soccer. I've played there at least once a year since it opened and I'll admit I've never seen them as worn as they were for Spring Fling, but it's still the best soccer complex in the state. Yea, the trip was very long, but until someone steps up with a complex in Nashville, Mike Rose is the best place for soccer in the state.

 

I don't know why they didn't use the scoreboards. They did last year for the DII quarterfinal between MUS and Knox Catholic. I hope they are ready in a couple of weeks for the DI State Championships.

[pinkrocker]

the dirt patches i saw were too big to be a result of the rain. yeah, it may have had some affect on the fields but what i saw was a result of improper care of the fields. as an agronomist i understand what goes into healthy grass and the rain will not do that to a field. i must admit, the stadium was a great crop of grass, beautifully maintained. other than the grass, does anyone know anything about the lack of volunteers showing up? from what i heard, there was a very substancial loss of helpers.

[rowdytn]

Nobody has mentioned the construction right outside the complex. When I was there, it had rained recently so the crew was not working, but 300 orange barrels surrounding the complex did make it a little difficult to navigate in and out. The idiocy of the ticket taking and parking plan is second to none. When we arrived to watch our team, the line to pay to park was backed up into the street, amongst the pretty orange barrels. Finally, when you reach the pinnacle of soccer in your state, you should at least be able to look up at a scoreboard and see the score and the time remaining in your game. I give memphis soccer a 5 out of 10.

[pinkrocker]

I agree, the constuction sucked. as well as there being difficulty getting in, there was a handful of cops at the exit making sure to scream at me(literally) to hurry up as i tried not to scrape the bottom of my car along the ditches i was attempting to drive over. . . .the opposite of amen is 'nema'

[sebastian]

if you read all the memphis papers they talk about how little of complaints there were for the fling being there. they obviously didn't talk to many of the coaches and players from everywhere else in the state that thought it sucked. of course tssaa is going to agree with them because they got a huge sum of money for having it there. i think we should move it back more towards the east. it seems that more of those teams won anyway.

[TheEgoHasLanded]

You know, we are complaining about dirt patches on a soccer field when there is so many horrible things in the world. Our terror alert gets moved up to HIGH again and we are complaining because some fields weren't olympics standards. Millions of kids just wish they could play sports but are handicapped or just aren't able to because their school doesn't offer the particular sports that interest them. Thousands of kids wish they could have taken part in the spring fling but their teams were sent home early. Then we have people with the audacity to whine about dirt patches. If you don't like the spring fling, then just don't go? The dirt patches and the rest of the teams will sorely miss you all.

[flyinV]

All i know is that stadium is A-mazing. oh and thank you to eric turner for your wonderful display of sportsmanship towards farragut.