SOGGY CARPET

First-timers at the field hockey events were aghast to see sprinklers wetting down the artificial turf. In the kind of heat Atlanta is having, couldn’t that only make things worse?

But watering the field has nothing to do with the weather; it has to do with uniformity.

Since 1976, artificial surfaces have been mandated for international play, but the ball tends to bounce, rather than roll, on dry turf. Hence, the watering.