Painting by the numbers

0 Comments | USA TODAY, December, 2007 | by Lee Feinswog

College football's annual bowl bonanza gets rolling with tonight's Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego and Friday night's New Orleans Bowl. But the on-field competition has been underway for weeks in workshops in Leland, Miss., and Cleveland.

That's where workers for two little-known companies have been crafting the huge stencils and vibrant paints that give life to what has become one of the more visible parts of postseason college football: the bowl, corporate and team logos that dominate midfields, end zones and just about any other part of the playing surfaces not covered by white stripes or numerals.

It's a busy time for 15-person, family-run World Class Athletic Surfaces, which fell into this line of business with the help of three Mississippi universities in...