The Polo Report
By Steve Crowder

The normal way is going from A to Z, but nothing is normal about Zacara or their run in the Open’s. Zacara always seems to be starting at Z, at the end of the previous tournaments, both here and the UK, like 0 and whatever they played. The other thing that keeps happening is Adolfo Cambiaso should withdraw when Zacara is in the Open because he has been hurt/injured in the last two. There is no doubt when it gets to “Open” time they reverse the alphabet.

Zacara started at the end of the 1st two 26-goals like 0 and 6 then the Open began.  Zacara had a big win over Alegria then moved on to Orchard Hill and over to Valiente 2 then headed for a Coke and ran by ERG. Zacara were now definitely playing their A game and kept it up. In a very exciting Open Finals against the defending Champs, Lechuza and Victor Vargas.  I was not there and saw on the Internet, which was better than the radio, but a bit slack compared to the job they did on the semis which was much better especially the first semis looked sort of like Snoopy’s job very good. All in all they are trying with the online coverage and that is a huge + for Polo.

Back to the Open … it was Lechuza and Superstar Nero hitting first, but it was returned quickly by Facundo and this is the way it went pretty much the rest of the game. Some great plays by everybody on the field. Victor scored a big goal. Lyndon did the same on a big run as well. It was just a fun, clean, and exciting game.  It ended sadly for Lechuza, but it was still a lot of fun for both teams to play.   So now we know it was Audi, Crab Orchard , Lechuza and now Zacara.  The name ought to be either Z or late alphabet or an A or early on and it is the 13 th year next year so it may go backwards.

The 2012 Open was a lot more than just what we saw on Sunday. It all really starts at the end of Feb. and there were 12 teams then. It started about the 25 th of Feb. and concluded Sunday, April 22. That means 9 weeks of kick-ass polo. It seemed rather tough early, as Bob Jornayvaz had two teams that  seemed very hard to stop and they were for the first 5 weeks. They were not stopped!  They owned the Whitney and the Gold Cup and they split them … Big Bob done one and son Robert won the other.  It is Polo and Polo is ranked very close to the top as one of the most dangerous sports. There is a reason … besides being expensive there are 8 horses going as fast as they can, 8 people as determined as their horse and 10 acres with sideboards to get up to speed, so that is why they call it the “Fastest Team Sport” in the World and it is. The trouble is that there is a thing called a ball and 8 mallets to hit it and they do not always go where expected. One, tiny little ball changed it all … it hit Adolpho Cambiaso in the hand and it was the right hand and that hand has a lot of tiny bones who can say whoa no matter how big you are. That changed the 2012 US OPEN! Valiente 2 was basically out of  it barring a miracle and there was not one. Up steps 10 teams who are back in it and they were.  Lechuza probably was the only team not so worried. They had won the Triple Crown last year and were focused on the Open. Few people know Victor Vargas and I am the same, but he is a person who says what he feels and means what he says. To me  … Rich or Poor …  that is real and not BS. It is just the way it is!  He is a great guy, great sportsman and  a polo patron, who would have kept going 3 years ago.  He suffered the Titanic loss of 23 horses that died due to a mistake. Those horses meant much more than the money.  They cost him, but he wanted to prove they meant so much more to him and he would play on in their memory.  He was a champ 2 years later. You just never know the real world of Polo. Nobody does and that’s why once Adolfo Cambiaso, aka AC, went out we all knew it was another game and it was.  I am not saying it was a guarantee, but I am sure I was not the only one. With him and Pelon it was trouble with Robert J @ 0 and that young gun from Uruguay. I doubt even Victor thought positive, but that’s Polo. Something will happen and it usually does and it did. All of a sudden Robert is minus the best player in Polo … well find a sub. Oh yeah, might as well find Man Of War. At that level it is just not going to happen. So away we go. There have been 108 Opens and probably 54 did not happen the way experts thought they would play out.  And neither did this one.

Zacara was a story on their own. Lyndon Lea does not spend much time on dealing with these things. He has it done well. Facundo set it up and it was done. Well it was not working, so like a good leader the problem needs to be fixed, but now boss is involved.  I was there.  I thought there needed to be a change, but not the one he picked, but it does not matter as he is the boss and that was the way it was. Well after 2 games it was not much better, but it was going to b, e so fix it and they did.  Mike Azzaro a former 10-goal player was not going to play 2, but he was on the team.  He proved right.  He went to # 4 and Zacara went Wild. They have not lost since that last change and they are the 2012 US OPEN CHAMPS.

Lyndon has quite a story himself last year. Here in the Open the night before his first game in 2011 Open he broke his shoulder. He could not play and despite his thoughts, the injury did not get well in 3 weeks, so so- long FL. He gets healed up and starts UK season and another health issue is in fact not healing, a hip problem. Lyndon decides to live with it and does. Then the Open starts, so forward he goes and then in a pre final game he suffers a broken finger and a severe bruised body. But like some say, the English are tough!   How else could a country 1/2 the size Texas rule the World for centuries?  They are TOUGH. Anyway he plays on and they win the British Open. Well this year he is crippled before it starts, but a guy named Trevor keeps him moving and then he runs past a player in the first series of games and breaks a bone in his knee. Now he is mad and the rest is History. He is the CHAMPION. HERE in the U.S. AND IN THE U.K. LOOK OUT AC HE MAY ENTER PALERMO!!!

A lot has to be said of the IPC crew. They made it happen and they made it fun.  Ray Mooney was a God to put the finals on with that weather on Sat. night. AS THE SUN SETS ON 2012 HIGH GOAL SO LONG IPC AND THANKS JOHN GOODMAN THERE WAS NEVER A PLACE LIKE THIS IN ”POLO.”

SEE YA