By Kevin Kelly
Enquirer staff writer

It was mid-afternoon and the heat bounced off the emerald plain in transparent waves.

"It's pretty hot out here right now," Darian Daily says. "The field's probably in the high 140s."

The head groundskeeper at Paul Brown Stadium walked from end zone to end zone and back Monday.

Along the way - as rubber granules, sand and synthetic grass blades cushioned his every step - Daily stopped often.

The pauses allowed him added time to illustrate and detail the secrets of caring for a new football field that never requires mowing yet thirsts for frequent watering and demands good grooming habits.

"Managing this is like managing turf," said Daily, who holds a Plant and Soil Science degree from Middle Tennessee State. "Everybody's got their own style.

The oft-maligned grass playing surface at Paul Brown Stadium was replaced by FieldTurf this summer. The synthetic in-fill surface mimics natural grass, but it eliminates costly midseason re-sodding projects and allows for more events than the Bengals' 10 games to be held at the stadium each year.

Among the upcoming non-football events is a stop by the Olympic gold medal-winning U.S. women's soccer team.

On Sunday, the Bengals play host to the Miami Dolphins in what may be a soggy regular-season home opener. The remnants of Hurricane Ivan are forecasted to affect the area later this week.

"Especially in places like (Cincinnati) where it rains a lot, this field is good," Bengals offensive tackle Levi Jones said. "It's an all-weather field. You've got the natural look and feel of real grass, but it's not."

The Bengals are one of 13 NFL teams that play their home games on some variety of artificial surface. Though FieldTurf is considered lower maintenance, it has required as much attention as the old field.

"It's just like a regular grass field. It's kind of new until you roll it and get it beaten down a little bit," Daily said. "The guys have been out here practicing on it, which is starting to firm it up. And, also, Mother Nature's rains and us watering have helped out tremendously."

A pre-existing irrigation system can handle 75 inches of rain per hour. Six water cannons - three on each sideline and two in each end zone - pump 150 gallons of water per minute and cover the field with ease.

Daily and his crew water the FieldTurf three times a week, starting three days before a game.

Why water a field that will never grow? The watering cools and settles the field and can lessen shock on a player's body.

"If it's a little wet the cleat will slip a little bit," Daily said, "If it's dry, the cleats tend to grab."

The water also eases static electricity that pulls the rubber granules to the surface. But it doesn't entirely eliminate the rubber bits from becoming airborne during play.

"Occasionally guys do get stuff in their eyes and have to have it washed out," Jones said. "That's real minimum, though."

Aside from the regular watering, painting and grooming are ongoing processes.

Daily and his crew are working to find or develop a field paint for assorted boundary lines that can be applied and cleaned up days later.

A special machine, towed behind a golf cart, sweeps debris from the field, levels the surface and straightens the blade fibers. The process takes about two hours.

"Because we have to go slow," Daily said.

Though a Bengals mechanic modified the trash collector basket to allow the rubber granules to pass through, trash detail can be a pain.

Strands of cheerleader's pom-poms and peanut shells are not quite the challenge of chewing gum or sunflower seed shells.

"Our real nemesis," Daily called the shells.

Considering the repeated criticism directed at the grass surface at Paul Brown Stadium in previous years, the spent sunflower seed shells do seem minimal by comparison.

"What we've done is talk to a lot of people," Daily said, "to find out what's worked for them and, more important for us, what hasn't worked. We don't repeat the same.

"There hasn't been a boring day because we're always trying to figure it out."

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E-mail kkelly@enquirer.com

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