The Polo Report
By Steve Crowder
For 45 years we have been doing the same thing … playing Polo on Super Bowl Sunday. Or should I say for the last 45 years they have played the Super Bowl during Sunday Polo!
Either way it has always been a big deal not to get the main game on this particular Sunday because the crowd may not be there, however, in today’s world the situation is much better. You can watch both in many places and time zones help as well. My first Super Bowl Sunday was in Boca Raton, FL. And we had met Joe and the Jets training near the Polo fields and he beat the Colts that day in a big upset and that was about all we knew about it. I do not even know what year that was, but about 1970. The Super Bowl 4 was on the front page of the Newspaper and on TV, but now it is just a huge deal. It is the biggest day in sports in the U.S. I am sure and we still play POLO. As we will in FL and CA this year. A question ? How many people knew what XLV meant before this Super Bowl ? Well there is a reason to remember that Roman Numeral.
That XLV GRAND is about how much the Winning team will get in the new and exciting Tournament at EMPIRE POLO in March. It is called the CHAMPIONS CUP, which I feel is the return of the International Gold CUP, started by John T. Oxley in 1990. In the Int’l. Gold Cup the purse was a 100,000.00 and 22 goals when it started. That is what the Champions Cup will be soon.
We have had very few Money polo tournaments in the U.S. and the Skins had been the biggest and the only one that kept going for years on the West Coast. Well this is a different format than the Skins and it pays much better, so if you think you have a good team this is the time to find out because this amounts to at least $10 grand a player and could get much bigger. So if you think you have the nerve to get in as there are supposed to be only 3 spots left and the prizes are getting bigger. Even if your team comes in 4 th, you still win money.
Call EMPIRE POLO for details. THE LIONS ARE ROARING AND THEY ARE VERY BIG. Tel. 760-342-7755. Click here to read the details.
On the Polo scene down South the CA, boys got smoked on Thursday so they need to make a big recovery Sunday for a chance at the Semi’s, but a win will be their ticket.
Out west, short on news from Eldorado PC … other than they are all happy in the 8-goal that Bones went surfing so Fast-Etta is watching and they do not have to see him on the fields.
Over at Twin Palms/Empire it was Shanghai smoking Trinity. A big win for AH4 as Empire won their first game of the new year beating Montverde/Tritech. In the low goal it is Cam Clark Ford dismissing opposition in similar fashion to Jan. as they are 2 and 0 on just the first 2 days of Feb. Polo. Sunday’s action at Twin Palms is Tri Tech/Monteverde taking on Trinity as Rick and Robin try to get by Silent Chris and avoid the Cellar. Over at Empire on the main field at 12 noon it is Shanghai trying to go 2 and 0 as they take on Storm Cat /Gypsy. At Empire you can see polo and then runoff to the Super Bowl party at one of the local Polo Taverns.
See y.
I could care less about the super bowl, but I know that makes me the odd one out! I will enjoy Sunday polo today because I am not showing property and it’s gorgeous outside. The Champions Cup sounds interesting..will await more details. Thanks as usual Crowder..Kim
My memories of Super Bowl Sunday during my playing career are not good ones at all!
In 1994 I was playing for a team called Karko-Davis which comprised of Deborah Couples, myself, Tommy Biddle and Luis Escobar. We were playing Kenelot the 3:00 game on field #1 at Palm Beach Polo in the 20 goal. 4th chukker running full speed to goal my mare broke her front leg and immediately went down. I woke up underneath her, she was dead having broken her neck when she fell and I cracked my sternum, broke my collarbone and jaw and severed my right ACL. Season ending injury and lost a GREAT mare.
In 1995(the following year), Super Bowl Sunday same field playing for Les Lions in the finals of the 20 goal against Ellerston I got into a hard ride off with Gonzalo Pieres in the same (4th) chukker as the previous year. We approached the boards at speed, he checked and I went over the boards. Unfortunately my right foot got hung up on his ponies left elbow and as I went over the boards my foot twisted completely around and I heard a “pop”. I took some time, did NOT get off as I felt if I did I might have trouble getting back on and continued to play and finishing the game allbeit in immense pain. In fact when the game was over I almost went into shock from the pain. I knew I was hurt but really wanted to watch the Super Bowl as we were going over to Adolphus Buschs house for a Super Bowl party. I went, and while I knew I was hurt I went home after the party and went to bed. Waking up to a swollen and purple leg my wife immediately took me to the emergency room where xrays showed 2 spiral fractures of my fibula. I did play in the 26 goal later that year but my luck on Super Bowl Sunday obviously wasn’t very good.
In 1996, the following year I went to the polo office on the Saturday before Super Bowl Sunday to sign up for Sunday morning practice, and Herbie Pennell and Marla Conner in the polo office told me NO WAY they were going to be responsible for allowing me to be on a polo field on Super Bowl Sunday!
I forced them to sign me up against their wishes and out lived my poor run by surviving that practice and joking with friends about my bad run on Super Bowl Sunday finally coming to an end!
I think it’s funny how 90% of the news on the California games on Polozone are about Empire/Twin Palms. If you actually go to the games, 90% of the people in polo are at actually at El Dorado watching the games, and 100% of the polo people are at partying at the new Cantina (including the Empire/Twin Palms members). Why isn’t El Dorado getting fair coverage???
I think it’s funny how 90% of the news on the California games on Polozone are about Empire/Twin Palms. If you actually go to the games, 90% of the people in polo are at actually at El Dorado watching the games and 100% of the people are at partying at the new Cantina (including the Empire/Twin Palms members). Why isn’t El Dorado getting fair coverage???
Eldorado does not want it. Eldorado has not submitted any game reports for the last year or two. That was the decision of their GM. I’ve offer the reports as a free service to all clubs who want to participate. If Eldorado’s players want to see reports on PoloZONE then ask the GM to please have the staff submit or post them.
I also want to note that I took the time a year or so ago to call the President of their Board of Directors to let him know that PoloZONE was no longer receiving news from their club and that it was a free service. Still no news a year later. I gave up trying. Maybe some of the players can get that decision reversed.
I think it is a disservice to members and advertisers when a club does not promote itself.
Poor Eldorado, always the victim. It’s always someone else’s fault why they don’t know how to promote their own club. You might want to do a recount on those totals of who’s watching and where. Empire has 3 times the crowd of Eldorado every Sunday. The Tack Room is packed every weekend with polo and non-polo people. As far as the coverage, ask Eldorado!