No one has gotten hurt watching Guilford football, baseball or tennis. Yet.
The same probably cannot be said of the weight room, which resembles a gym Rocky Balboa would use to train for his bout with Mr. T. Dimly lit, cramped, and dungeon-like, it fits nicely into the Rocky legend, but does not work as the central training facility for the college’s athletes and students.
Back to safety for a moment. If one takes a look at the backside of the visitor bleachers at Armfield Athletic Center, it is clear that many of the support beams are either totally gone or nearly rusted out. Remember the Army-Navy football game in 1998 when fans were crowding the railing in Veterans Stadium and it collapsed? Nine students were injured, one with a broken bone in his neck. What happens when some excited fans jump and stomp the shaky stands? It’s a long legal battle waiting to happen.
The same thing could be said of the baseball bleachers. There are only two of them, but they are in the same sad shape as the football stands. Main support beams are about to collapse, and the ones that remain scream “tetanus.” The seats and footrests are made of wood that needs to be replaced. Improvements to the baseball bleachers would make McBane Field more aesthetically pleasing, and increase seating capacity. I know men’s baseball Head Coach Gene Baker has the blueprints for the addition.
Finally, the tennis spectator seating is horrendous (and yes, we do have tennis seating at Guilford). The makeshift bleachers are dug out of the side of a hill, with wooden slabs serving as seats. That is all find and dandy except for one thing: the ground underneath the bleachers is eroding, making the seats flimsy and dangerous. Exposed nail heads are also numerous. Aren’t we supposed to host the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tennis championships soon? That ought to make the college look great.
The bleachers at the football and baseball fields look as if they have been there since the early ’80s, maybe earlier. It’s high time these are replaced, along with the tennis seating. This costs money, and a lot of it. But I bet a lawsuit would cost the school more. Be careful, Quaker fans.Kurt Cavanaugh is a senior sports managment major.