By Matt Brejak
the Carillon

Among the many things wrong with professional sports, one thing in baseball and football really bothers me. And it has nothing to do with the players or the owners or even the referees.

My riff has to do with what all of them (save the owners) run around on.

Astroturf, or artificial surface is an unpleasant part of sports.

In places such as Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium and New York's Giants Stadium turf has caused many injuries and will continue to cause injuries to players until it is removed.

Some may argue that the artificial surface is advantageous because of low costs for maintenance. But to them, I say phghth .

The well documented list of fluke injuries caused by astroturf unfortunately goes on and on.

Artificial turf, many agree, despite being much faster is horrible on players' ankles and knees unlike natural grass where there is much more flexibility and margin for error.

New York Jets' quarterback Vinny Testaverde is out for the season because of an exemplary injury on astroturf where he just tore his ACL with nobody having laid a finger on him.

The turf is so bad at Veterans' Stadium that Philadelphia Phillies' third baseman Scott Rolen has a chronic back problem that could materialize into a career-threatening injury.

Also last week, the Atlanta Falcons lost running back Jamal Anderson for the season when he fell into a crumpled heap simply because the artificial surface wouldn't give.

The obvious health factor is just too risky, and clubs are electing to go with natural grass when building a new stadium or field. Others, whose franchises have already chosen the ill-fated astroturf, are mending their problem.

The decision for many sports venues to change to natural grass is increasing.

In New York, for example, the pronouncement that Giants Stadium may change to a grass field had widespread approval. It needed only to be made official by executives of the New York Jets and Giants and the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, the three teams that currently play at Giants Stadium.

The New Orleans Saints even experimented with natural grass at the SuperDome in preseason, as did various other teams.

As a final point, I remember a baseball game earlier this year in Cincinnati where the temperature of the astroturf playing surface was around 150 degrees. Now, I'm no expert but that seems a little warm. Aside from possible dehydration, how can you possibly concentrate in that heat?

There are not many upsides to the luminous green ground unless you're trying to save a buck. It would be extremely beneficial to football and baseball if in a few years, astroturf turns out to be a loose end in sports that eventually gets tied up.