Why it's hard to tear down the goalposts at KSU.

[sonofdaxjones]

Merchants Environmental Industries. The piping company has been manufacturing goalposts for the past 12 years and guarantees their steel goals won't fall from shear human force alone. Two years ago, Merchants Environmental gave Kansas State two new goalposts after one fell following a victory over Nebraska.

From ESPN article in several years ago.

[Kat Kid]

Merchants Environmental Industries. The piping company has been manufacturing goalposts for the past 12 years and guarantees their steel goals won't fall from shear human force alone. Two years ago, Merchants Environmental gave Kansas State two new goalposts after one fell following a victory over Nebraska.

From ESPN article in several years ago.

The last time ('98) we had rodeo ropes.  This time, everyone was completely unprepared.  We finally got some of that cheap yellow rope and it might've worked, but a stupid Nazi security guard cut it with a knife.

[McGrowlTowelZac]

maybe we sure just tear down ku's next week 

[BarryMcCockner]

I've helped do that before...God bless Chad May.

[Dirty Sanchez]

'00 nu was the last time.

Used to do it almost as often as ku (when they won games). Did it against ISU about '92 or '94 just because we were on Thursday night national TV.

[michigancat]

Tearing down goalposts/rushing the field is 10x more fun than "acting like you've been there."

I know this from experience.

[dmartin]

I remember tearing down the "indestructable" goal posts in 98.  Espn made so much fun at us for taking so long to tear them down. 

[ChicoRodriguez]

The posts would have come down if the students hadn't tried to tear them down the "traditional" way.  The company is banking on the fact that the students wouldn't think to pull them "up" out of the ground. They're in there about twenty feet deep but they can be pulled up and out with enough people working together. Just a little info for next time.  

[sonofdaxjones]

The "insurance" doesn't cover the goalposts if anything besides human hands are used to tear them down.

[badke]

COLUMBUS -- Fans at Ohio State hung and swung without bringing the goal post down.

The school is one of about 20 across the country with $30,000 steel goal posts designed to withstand rowdy football fans.

"We put them in before the Notre Dame game in 1995 because there was a chance we'd win," said Don Patko, assistant athletics director for facilities at Ohio State. "We won and the fans rushed the field. We had some 20 people on the crossbar and they didn't even knock it out of square."

The scene has been played out at college stadiums nationwide, fans swarm the field and carry off the goal posts after a big win. Schools say the melee is dangerous and has caused life-altering injuries. So, some schools have moved to steel posts, which can cost up to six times as much as aluminum.

To get the posts down, fans climb them and stand on the cross bar, rocking it until the aluminum gives way and the post breaks off.

In October 2001, 21-year-old Ball State student Andrew Bourne was paralyzed after the goal post snapped during fan celebration after win over Toledo. The post fell on him, breaking his back.

Bourne declined to be interviewed.

His lawyer, Scott Montross, said Bourne was standing on the field with his back to the goal post when it fell. Montross said Bourne now uses a wheelchair, but he has returned to classes at Ball State.

Ball State officials declined to comment on Bourne's case, citing pending litigation.

After Ohio State's 14-9 win over Michigan on Saturday that clinched the Buckeyes' share of the Big Ten title and a shot a the national championship, thousands of Buckeye fans rushed the field at Ohio Stadium.

Stadium workers had greased the crossbar on the goal post and police using pepper spray to try to keep fans at bay, but about 15 people still were able to get up on the crossbar.

Patko said the posts remained square despite the stress.

Chicago-based Merchants Environmental Industries, which makes the goal posts, installed the first set at Northwestern in 1990. It says the goal posts aren't indestructible, but they can buy security an extra half-hour or so to get fans off the post before it starts to fall.

"We had done a lot of mechanical contracting work at Northwestern and the athletic facilities director asked our company if we could come up with something that would hold up better than the aluminum ones," said Mark Nelson, superintendent at Merchants Environmental Industries. "It's not brain surgery. We designed a goal post out of steel, which won't snap like aluminum. It'll bend but you can't really break it."

The posts are set in a six-foot steel sleeve that's embedded in a five-foot concrete cube. It takes a crane to hoist the 1,800-pound posts into place.

Nelson said the company has installed the steel posts at about 20 college stadiums including many of the Big Ten schools such as Notre Dame, Stanford and Arizona State.

Kansas State fans managed to damage their stadium's steel post during the 2000 season after the Wildcats beat Nebraska for the second time in about 60 years, said Jeff Steele, assistant athletic director for event management.

"It took them about an hour and 15 minutes to get it down. They were rocking the crossbar, they took TV cables and threw them over the goal posts, they were looking for anything they could find to rope it."

Steele said even when the post did begin to fall, it tipped slowly rather than snapping off as with aluminum. No one was injured.

Ball State facilities director Dan Byrnes said his school installed the steel goal posts for safety.

Connecticut-based Gilman Gear makes about $1 million a year making aluminum posts for the NFL and many colleges. Neil Gilman said his company has replaced eight sets this year after fans tore them down, and may get more orders after celebrations last week at California, Utah, North Carolina State and Clemson.

"We had an all-time banner season in 2000, when we replaced 16 sets -- we replaced two sets for South Carolina that year. We did 10 last year," Gilman said.

The company's goal posts are made to withstand wind and weather, not a mob of crazed fans, Gilman said. They have considered making the heavier steel posts, but Gilman said there is a limited market.

[opcat]

Why make goalposts out of indestructable material

Because they're so damn expensive ? Can kill someone ? I think some students have died this way.

So why not make them easily replaceable and inexpensive. People WANT to tear them down !!!! It's tradition !!!!!!!!!!!

Make them out of plastic.