Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Can footballers be really green on the gridiron?

Super Bowl Forty Three was simply amazing and possibly the most exciting Super Bowl ever. I dedicate this episode of Green machine to Gridiron Football. Originally US Football fields were much like checker boards and not lined in the modern fashion with hashes and lines. The gridiron name was given to the game and field because of the checkerboard squares that were originally marked on the field of play. The ball was snapped in the grid in which it was downed in the previous play. Both Canadian and American Football were played on gridiron fields that were 110 yards long and 160 feet wide. Modern Canadian Football fields are still 110 yards long while American Football fields have shrunk to 100 yards.

Many of the fields that are home to NFL teams are now covered in Astroturf rather than natural grass. The losing team in Super Bowl 43, the Arizona Cardinals, play on grass while the winners, the Pittsburgh Steelers, play on Astroturf. The championship was played in Tampa Bay on grass, therefore the type of turf had nothing to do with the outcome of the game. I have previously opined that Astroturf is significantly greener than grass when carbon and water footprints are compared. Maybe the greener team won the Super Bowl. Actually the greenest team in the NFL is the Philadelphia Eagles the cross state rivals of the Steelers. Besides the fact that the Eagles uniforms are green, their owner Christina Lurie has instituted a massive recycling program at their stadium. The Eagles are the first professional sports organization to purchase renewable wind energy for the operation of their stadium. Also they produce bio-diesel from the waste cooking oils and fats that are used in the team’s and stadium kitchens. Of course the Eagles stadium in South Philly is Astroturf.

The least green thing about Super Bowl is the number of fans who arrived in their private jets to witness the game in Tampa Bay. It was estimated that over 400 private jets were used to ferry the rich and the famous to the championship game. These "turbofans" undid the entire efforts of being green that the Eagles accomplished in the entire season. One of the announcers, John Madden, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area has a fear of flying and he and his entourage made the trip to Tampa Bay in his Madden Bus. Two years after Madden graduated from Cal Poly the school suffered a terrible incident in which 16 players were killed in plane crash. This accident as well as Madden’s admitted claustrophobia are the reasons why this hall of fame player, coach and now TV announcer travels from game to game in his bus. Madden should also be admitted to the Green Machine hall of fame as bus travel leaves a far smaller carbon footprint than air travel.

The Super Bowl was watched on TV by some 98.7 million people. That all these fans remained off the roads and freeways for three or four hours also had a positive effect on our collective carbon footprints for that short period of time. If only each Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday the USA could meet the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol by simply being couch potatoes. The Vince Lombardy Trophy was presented to the Steelers by the ultimate Green Machine – Joe Namath. Joe wore the green NY Jets jersey with number 12 in his Super Bowl III victory some forty years ago.

6 comments:

  1. Interesting and entertaining. I would enjoy your comments as to the newly emerged Senate version of the stimulus bill, as to green.

    Greg

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  2. It is too bad that a lot of your information is wrong.

    te Steelers and Eagles both play on natural grass.

    If you wrote this article in 1980, you would be correct, both teams played on AstroTurf back then. But today they both play on Natural grass.

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  3. I did get the wrong info on Pttsburgh. The web site I used for the info still had three rivers stadium not Heinz field. I am very sory as the Green Machine Never Lies. He may just get wrong information from time to time. thanks for being an astute reader Lindsay

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  4. Greg

    I will blog on that and opine about the department of entropy being given billions for the stimulus package Lindsay

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  5. Not all are true. Everyone has their own way of thinking but I think they have to reconsider. I like to argue for the most accurate results.
    catmario4.com

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  6. من اجود وارخص الشركات التي توجد في منطقة مكة المكرمة والتي تعمل في مجال نقل العفش وتقدم خدمات جيدة وهي افضل وارخص شركة نقل عفش بجدة تختص وتهتم بنقل العفش من بيت الى بيت آخر في مدينة جدة وما جاورها من مناطق تابعة لها وقد نضطر قبل نقل العفش الى تنظيف المنزل الجديد قبل النقل من الداخل ومن الخارج وذلك بالتواصل مع اقوى شركة تنظيف منازل بجدة التي تختص بأعمال التنظيف للمنازل الجديدة والمفروشة من طرف فريق عمل افضل شركة تنظيف كنب بجدة لكي يتم تعقيم المنزل ومن الأفضل ان تقوم بعمل مكافحة للحشرات بالتواصل مع افضل شركة مكافحة حشرات بجدة تتعامل في مكافحة الحشرات وتستخدم مبيدات آمنة ومضمونة ونحتاج ايضا الى تنظيف الخزان وذلك بالتعرف على اكبر وافضل واقوى شركات تنظيف الخزانات بجده لكي تحافظ على الماء نظيفا ومعقما اطول فترة زمنية ممكنة لكي تكون مياهك نظيفة فان شركة تنظيف بيوت مضمونة ومستعدة لاستقبال مكالمتكم

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