The knee injury Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr experienced in Sunday’s Super Bowl when his foot got caught on the artificial turf field has increased calls for the NFL to mandate grass fields only.
Of the 32 teams in the NFL, 16 teams still play on artificial turf, including the Rams and Los Angeles Chargers at their shared home, the US$5.5 billion SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
The non-contact injury to Beckham’s left knee, which some fear could be a torn anterior cruciate ligament, led to an outcry on social media.
“Turf should be banned,” San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel wrote on Twitter during the game, which the Rams won 23-20 against the Cincinnati Bengals as Beckham looked on from the sidelines.
“The NFL needs to make it a mandatory rule that every team should have grass instead of turf,” Las Vegas Raiders guard Jermaine Eluemunor wrote on Twitter. “Turf is trash.”
A group called Flip the Turf has said is far more dangerous for players.
Turf fields lead to 32 percent more non-contact knee injuries and 69 percent more non-contact foot and ankle injuries, the group said, citing NFL injury data collected from 2012 to 2018.
Turf can get much hotter than natural grass, increasing the rate at which toxic gases are released and ingested, a Columbia University study found, whicle 90 percent of NFL players believe artificial turf will shorten their careers.
Turf is also worse for the environment, Flip the Turf said.
It cannot be recycled in the US, leading to an estimated 149,69 million kilograms of landfill waste each year, and microplastics in water and irrigation systems, the group said in its petition on Change.org.
“Unlike grass, turf does not cool the environment,” the group said. “It does not filter air and water pollutants. It does not fix carbon dioxide or release oxygen. Turf has zero climate benefits.”
The NFL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS