Sunday, March 28th will seem the same as most Sundays, but it will not be. You can bet on that and when you get there on Friday you will feel it in the air. Its the finals of the 2009 Skins weekend and it should be a dandy. Julian ‘Mini Mac’ Mannix and his HAWKS take on Bolko Kissling’s ATLANT. Both teams will play on Friday, but just to tune-up as they both deleted their competition heavily. Both have problems . . . who can fix them best? We shall see. The Hawks lost their big gun when Smokin’ Joe Henderson broke a collar bone last Sunday along with a couple of other famous people including Lance Armstrong and Giorgio Brignone (Costa Careyes). It was a bad day for collar bones. The Hawks seem to have found a replacement in the form of Tomas Obergon. Atlant lost Big Matt Walker . . . it seems like with a mangled knee he will if necessary be replaced by Nicolai Galindo who is also a good sized hitter. Both teams will be different, but they will both be aiming for the final minute of every chukker. Each chukker is a game and each winner is $4 grand richer. It will be six games in one and there will be a party going on all day long on both sides of the field, which usually has huge crowds. The Super Bowl of the West Coast Polo is on here are the Players?
Patrons:
They both Play # 1
Julian Mannix – Son of Big Fred Mannix and brother of Fred, Jr. who may also be in the Gold Cup finals on Sunday 3500 miles away in West Palm Beach. Julian is likely the youngest Patron to get to the Skins final and this is his second trip. He is in his final year of high school in Calgary, Canada, so he knows about traveling.
Bolko Kissling – A German businessman who plays around the World and loves to run as well. Much like Julian, Bolko is a little older, knows no fear and will head for the goal without a blink. It will be his first Skins final.
At the # 2 position the Hawks have Juan ” Batata” Curbelo a native of Uruguay, neighbor of Argentina who did not qualify any players in the Skins for the first time in years. Juan is fast, tough and ready to roll. He is quite accurate and likes the ball.
Atlant has Danny Walker. At 55 he has no limits and has a set of very quick Ferrari’s and they will catch you just about anytime, no matter where he is when the play starts. Danny is going to be close to the ball, very quick and fear is an unknown word to this Grandpa and I say this with a smile.
Behind them:
Hawks replacement’s for Smokin’ Joe is most likely Tomas Obregon. He will be the only Argy on the field as a player and I am not sure if he was even born there because he was here in pee wee polo a long time ago. Tomas is only 24 or 25 years old. He is one of the young guns of the West polo community and I am glad he got a chance to play in the Skins. He is not Joe Henderson, but he is 30 or so years younger and faster.
Atlant’s replacement Nicolai Galindo, another young gun even younger than Tomas, but he was born to play polo as well. He has plenty of silver on the walls already and he is probably also in his first Skin finals. Nicolai is part of the “Flying Galindos” but he needs to stop the fliers Sunday as he takes Matt Walker’s place.
In the back of the pack:
The Hawks bring Pierre Henri Ngoumou from the country of France. He likes to run and not away from the fight. He is quick, young and recently played for his country in the last FIP World Cup Championship. Pierre will be in his first Skins final as well.
Atlant has Jason Crowder aka The Palomino, who is not a rookie to the Skins. In fact, this may be his 5th finals as he has had pretty good success in this Tournament. Jason has won all six skins once and also lost all 6 skins once, but he is going to be running to goal and he will be easy to see as speed and power are part of the game and he likes both.
So that’s the way it stacks . . . five countries are being represented on the field, three Yanks and a German against the rest of the World as 4 flags fly in the Hawk Camp, actually 5 now including Canada, Uruguay , South Africa, France and Argentina.
SO COME ON OUT AND SEE THE {{ KING OF GAMES NOT – THE GAME OF KINGS }}