The second round of showers has abated as we're an hour away from kickoff at Parsons Field in Brookline, Mass., this fine Saturday morning. The skies are overcast but there's hope that the latest rain may be the last we see, and by kickoff or shortly after there may be blue skies over this interesting venue.
Parsons Field is a baseball, soccer, lacrosse and football facility wrapped into one. The "visiting" bleachers are set up on the baseball infield at one end. The right field foul pole is on the far right end of the home (press box side) bleachers.
Note the word "bleachers." There are two sets of metal bleachers which run the length of the field on both sides. From the top of the bleachers, you are 12 rows away from the sideline.
The fieldhouse is really that -- a house-like building behind one end zone, divided into two team areas, upstairs and downstairs. Of course, there are very few structures that are one story in this part of the country. The field is in a residential area, and is surrounded by lovely older homes.
FLASH -- here's the heaviest round of showers today, or at least, since we've been awake. Jack Grinnold, the venerable SID here at Northeastern, just remarked that the Huskies had a home game last year in which the rain was supposed to stop by noon and didn't relent until nightfall. Hope that's not true today, but this weather will probably reduce the number of fans in the stands to several dozen, including about 50-60 from NSU. OK, that was a 60-second squall, and it's not raining now. But it can't help the home crowd.
It won't affect the field, which is artificial turf, the same as we have at Turpin Stadium, except for the lack of a crown in the middle of the field.
The Demosn are in their road white jersey tops and purple pants, while the Huskies are in red jerseys with black pants.
Interesting that we'll play in what is listed as a 7,000 capacity stadium today in front of a crowd of, at best, half that; then, the next game for the Demons in two weeks is against another team wearing red and black, but at 52,282-seat Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock where Texas Tech plays its home games.
FOLLOWUP from Fenway -- NSU team physician Dr. Chris Rich and director of athletics Greg Burke enjoyed the Friday night Red Sox-Yankees game from behind the Green Monster in the recently created box seats high above left field. They were seated one row above one of television's hottest stars, Adrian Grenier, the lead actor in Entourage, the acclaimed HBO Sunday night sitcom. "Vinnie" is a Brooklyn native, both in the show and in real life, so we have to believe Grenier enjoyed the Yanks' 8-7 comeback that has Red Sox Nation in a state of shock today.
The sky is brightening a bit, so we'll hope that we see some sun by kickoff, which is 38 mintues away! Assistant SID Matt Bonnette has just returned from the field (all 12 rows away) and is wearing his jacket and says the front has cooled things off.
Doug Ireland, SID
No comments:
Post a Comment