Artificial White Christmas Trees

ISU no longer must deal with field of screams

    He took a stroll inside the arena, and immediately noticed the concrete-like playing surface he was about to call home.

“I said to myself, ‘Am I in the Twilight Zone?” he said.

    Although Holt Arena’s former artificial surface, which now has been carted off to the dump, seemed to be 40 years old, it had been installed in 1999. Somebody made a bad decision.

    Idaho State’s football players no longer have to live with that bad decision. On Friday, school administrators and personnel from Hellas Construction performed the final walk-through on the SoftTop Removable Matrix System.

    Interesting enough, about a week ago I went down on the field to give it the white glove test. Those little rubber pellets that are made of old tires had yet to be installed, but the fake grass was in place.

    I ran my hand through the stuff and was horrified. On my gosh, I thought the Bengals would be playing on stuff that felt like a fake Christmas tree.

    I came back to the office and immediately announced that ISU had blundered once again.

    But, I was indeed wrong. Once that rubber matting was put into place, those long blades of plastic grass were swallowed up by a soft cushion with only the very tops of the G.I. Joe material sticking above the surface. On Friday, it was obvious why the Dallas Cowboys installed the stuff. It was bouncy and kind of nice.

    “It gives me goose bumps,” said Jay McMillin, Idaho State’s assistant athletic director for development and major gifts. “We’re pretty ecstatic about this. It’s pretty neat.”

    While McMillin just loves looking around to see Holt Arena in a much better position to keep up with the Big Sky Jones, he also knows that his university did something pretty special in a short period of time.

    The playing surface itself isn’t going to pull ISU’s football program out the doldrums, but it is a sign of what can be done when people get together and get motivated.

    Besides making an out-of-date arena look pretty up-to-date, the fancy, new playing surface screams, “We want to be serious about football.” The old surface screamed, “We’re cheap and we don’t care.”

    Harrington and his teammates weren’t able to bad-mouth the former playing surface last year because it was their surface. Now that it is gone, they are free to say how ridiculous it was to perform on sandpaper.

Save Big on Artificial Christmas Trees

Smart shoppers know that right after Christmas is the best time to buy artificial Christmas trees. Christmas tree manufacturers like to clear out much of the previous season’s inventory. That way they have plenty of room for the new styles arriving for the upcoming season. ChristmasTreeMarket.com is one such manufacturer, and the Oregon-based company has deeply discounted several of its Christmas tree styles, including a few white Christmas trees. Here are a few of the amazing deals:

Shimmering White – These white Christmas trees are available for a steal. Get one for next Christmas and turn your home into a sparkly, winter wonderland. The 4-foot tree has 380 clear or multi-colored lights and 200 branch tips. It costs $129, reduced from $269. The 6-foot version has 400 clear or multi-colored lights and 662 branch tips. It costs $189, reduced from $409. The 7-foot tree has 500 clear or multi-colored lights and 960 branch tips. It costs $229, reduced from $549. The 8-foot version, still available with 700 multi-colored lights and 1,346 branch tips, costs $299, reduced from $739. The largest of these trees towers at 10 feet and has 1,000 multi-colored lights and 2,898 branch tips. It costs $499, reduced from $1,189.

Silver Tinsel – Inspired by tinsel strands, these Christmas trees come with a matching silver stand. The 4-foot tree is still available. It has 200 clear lights and 312 branch tips, and it costs just $69, reduced from $249. This tree also offers an alternative to white Christmas trees, for those who don’t want the traditional green tree.

Ticonderoga Pencil Christmas Trees – These bright-green artificial Christmas trees are perfect for those without much space, as the slim-profile is just 18 inches in diameter. The 7.5-foot tree with 650 branch tips is still available unlit for $99, reduced from $269. With 400 multi-colored bulbs, it costs $149, reduced from $369. The 9-foot version has 600 clear lights and 816 branch tips. It costs $199, reduced from $489.

Flocked White – The snowy branches of these artificial Christmas trees are spaced perfectly to allow for a large Christmas ornament collection. The 9-foot tree, with 1,050 clear lights and 3,200 branch tips, is still available at $469, reduced from $1,159.

All trees from ChristmasTreeMarket.com come with a sturdy metal stand and have hinged branches for easy setup and storage. Lights are strategically strung and are premium, UL-approved bulbs that stay lit even when one burns out. An off-season storage bag and a one-year warranty are included with all Christmas trees.

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