(This post will be better if you play the video at the bottom while you read)
At Bavarian Grass Works, we have been following the state of the pitch at Bayern Munich’s beloved Allianz Arena very closely for YEARS.
When the stadium’s grass had to be replaced earlier season after the NFL played a game there, the state of things was, well, not good.
There have been complaints from players about the playing surface and concern from fans. One question remained about how things ended up this way: “Was the infamous ‘Sodfather’ to blame for the poor grass?”
Since that fateful day in November when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks squared off, The Sodfather has found himself mired in controversy, which reached peak levels at the Super Bowl where players from both the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles were slipping everywhere — and has now declared that he was not at fault for the slippery mess per ESPN.
The Sodfather will not take the heat for what he considers mistakes made by the NFL:
The 94-year-old told ESPN that he believes the field was overwatered in the days leading up to the game. According to Toma, who has been nicknamed The Sodfather, the field was watered the Wednesday morning before the game and promptly rolled into the stadium on the moveable tray that housed the grass field for the last time before kickoff four days later.
It remains unclear if The Sodfather (aka George Toma) played any role in helping the NFL replace the turf at the Allianz Arena in the wake of there in November, but one thing is clear, The Sodfather is not content to let the NFL besmirch his good name:
“So, what he does,” Toma said, referring to Ed Mangan, the NFL field director who was in charge of the Super Bowl field and worked under Toma for years, “he waters the hell out of it and puts it right into the stadium and that’s it. Never sees sunlight again. He can’t do that.”
A tarp was laid over the field to protect it from the rehearsals for the pregame, halftime and postgame shows, Toma said, and that led to the field emitting an odor. Toma said he was told during the week that the field was starting to decay and rot.
“It had a rotten smell,” he said.
Toma also alleged that Mangan did not sand the field enough.
“He sanded it two weeks too late,” Toma said. “He had only one sanding. He should have had two or three sandings, but he didn’t do s—. And that was it. And not only that, he didn’t take care of it. He wouldn’t listen to anybody.”
If you come at The Sodfather (even at 94 years old), you best not miss.