Coach Beam slides past on the gas

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Artist rendering: Oakland Roots' home pitch

Around 24 hours after Roots’ home opener against Sacramento was called off due to an “unplayable” field, club management announced that a “new, state of the art playing surface” had been ordered long ago but due to Covid- and weather-related delays won’t be ready until the team’s July 10 match with Las Vegas. (We’ll leave it to you to evaluate the statement’s credibility.) So Roots are scrambling to “find solutions” for next weekend’s now-home opener against Austin Bold.

Neither Roots nor USL, to our knowledge, has disclosed precisely what about the pitch rendered it unplayable Saturday, information we’d need in order to know what kind of solutions Roots are looking for here. Yet in true Oakland spirit, one local, and very successful, coach has begun to take action:

 


This is exactly what we want to see: Possibly unlicensed operation of construction equipment, driven somewhat aimlessly. The videographer is clearly of like mind, as you can tell from the “woo” at the 0:09 mark.  

From the scraps of evidence we’ve been able to gather, it doesn’t sound like steamrolling the carpet is going to do the trick here, but we’re excited to see if it works. We’re also not surprised that the Peralta Community College District is doing what it can to keep Roots happy, since Roots are a lucrative tenant at two Peralta properties--Laney (where Roots play), and College of Alameda (where Roots train)--and eventually at a third--Merritt (where Project 510 will play...eventually).

To be honest, we think that if Laney (or any Peralta property) remained a viable option, it would have been announced already. It seems plausible that there is some sticking point in the rental agreement between Roots and Peralta (and perhaps with the local police), but the Blog is currently of the opinion that Cal’s Edwards Stadium is the most likely venue for Saturday’s tie.



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