Steve Crowder's
Polo Report -August 2002 |
Aug.
26th, '02: Well the
party is over for Santa Barbara and it was Windsor Capital taking
the big show as the war on the Pacific had it all speed thrills
spills and danger. It was fun on a sunny day. The field was
not great, but everything else was good. The crowd was into the
game and the players were at their best most of the time.
It started out fast for Windsor
as they received 1 to start and added 3 then it tightened up
as Windsor saw the Texans blow right back in and tie it up at
the end of 2. It was 6 to 4 at the end of the 3rd it was 7 all
and it looked like Mighty Mike Azzaro and The Virginian were
getting things on a roll but their penalties were off and Mariano
Gonzalez was dead on, making 4 out of 5. Mike Azzaro was 1 out
of five inside 60 yards then in the fourth with 2.34 seconds
to go Adam Snow and Mike Azzaro went to a ball at same time and
Mike Azzaro took a taco to the eye. He was stitched up on the
field. The chukker ended up in a tie as well and then in the
5th, which was very exciting with near misses by both teams,
the thunder grew. With 13 seconds to go Adam Snow makes a goal
to put Windsor up by 1 and really give the momentum back to Windsor.
They all dug in the 6th.
It was Big John Goodman putting
the pressure on as he sucked the Governor (Pat Nesbitt) in on
a big # 4 but they could not convert the penalty. Then Isla
Carroll stole a knock in and did but the boys in blue and white
got a big break as a pass was deflected and The Governor like
a shot spun and took it to goal and the "WAR ON THE PACFIC"
was history. The all American teams were finally beat in Santa
Barbara.
Mariano Gonzalez was M.V.P.
and Mike Azzaro's mare Godiva was Best Playing Pro Pony of the
tournament. There were some very good horses on the field including
Puma (U.S. Open Most Valuable Pony), Hale Bob, Piratta, Lucy,
and Beetle Juice. You could find more valuable ponies than players
on this great day for polo and with a little field work it very
well could have been as good as the Skeene Cup. We need rain,
but I think its a little more than rain as we make the rain.
So get her ready for next year now, not next year.
Polo in California is not over
just yet. The 14 goal in surf & turf land (San Diego) brings
some big time names to Del Mar for September so be there. We
will.
See ya. --Steve Crowder
Aug.
22, '02: Well it was
a perfectly horrible day for 13 hours, but at 1 .p.m. the sun
came out and so did Isla Carroll. They were on the run from sunlight.
Grants Farm was in the dark and has seen too many finals as Abby
Riggs and Kris Kampsen have seen too many miles on their horses
and it was telling early. Mighty Mike Azzaro and Owen Reinhart
were on a fast track as were Andy Busch & Hector Galindo.
It was an Isla Carroll show as Kris Kampsen and Abby Riggs were
on the shuttle and It was behind schedule. Big John Goodman and
Julio Gracida were flying down town to the Sunday lane finals.
It was close as it ever got at the end of the first. Grant Farms
was down by 2 and at the end of three down by 4. When the final
bell was heard it was still at 4 as the boys from Texas finally
showed the Show me state their act. The flying Galindo and Andy
Busch fought hard but the draw was not there and rule 18 prevailed
again in the form of Isla Carroll.
In the second semis Antelope
proved a point they should not have been there and they really
were not as the Governor and the boys started quick and sent
Pancho Bensadon babbling and Santiago Trotz chasing and wishing
they were on the 5 O'Clock to B.A.
Windsor was up by 4 at the
end of 1 and 7 by 2nd and finished up by 15 to 6 and that was
not scoring in the 6th as Saniti and courtesy prevailed. Adam
Snow and Mariano Gonzalez just galloped in the 6th. With the
big show on Sunday we wonder if it will be the same as last Sunday?
I have a feeling it will not be the same as we look to not see
an 0 and 7 to start and we will be sure they will be a little
bit better as we hope to be with Pabalo Avalos proving the handicap
committee continues to be on top of it all. It's the best chance
for 2 Argentines to win the P.C.O. in a long time.
Its time to dance and there
are just 2 on the dance floor Isla Carroll and Windsor Capital
see you at the party.
See ya.
Aug. 18, '02: It's History Now For the Big Ones -It was a day of surprises and a day
of mistakes not often seen. In the 11 a.m. showdown between Grant's
Farm(G.F.) & Antelope it was the thoroughbreds killing the
short horses as G.F. had only to worry about the t-breds of Super
Sunny Hale, the best woman player in the world. She was always
there getting Antelope back in the game with some brilliant passes
to Mr. Palmer who converted them all to goals. In the end it
was not enough as the horsepower that has given G.F. two titles
already this season, blew away the desert animals by 3. The Antelope
were out of it all for about 3 hours.Later good old winless Dundee
put them back in or maybe Mr. Gracida did because at the 1 p.m.
burner on a perfectly terrible day, no sun just plenty of heavy
marine layer, it was Duende 0 & 2 vs 1 & 1 Piocho Ranch.
It was a very close game. One team would be up, but not for long
and then a huge mistake by the 10- goaler, who once said American
kids cannot ride if they do not have a mallet in their hand,
showed how not to be a professional by attempting to back a 5
foot penalty 2 through the goal and missing it by 3 feet and
losing a game to get them into the semis by 1. Not to shiny on
this cloudy day, but it made a NICE DAY FOR Dunde as it gave
them their first win of the P.C.O. It was all down to who played
who at 3 or who was in, and who was out. For Piocho to get in,
Windsor had to win by 3 and Isla Carroll would be out. Otherwise
it was just who was 1st and 3rd. It started out terrible for
Windsor as Mariano Gonzales and Adam Snow got a lesson from Mighty
Mike Azzaro as he, Owen Reinhart and Big John Goodman scored
7 goals in a row before the wake up call got to Windsor. It was
7 to 1 in the 3rd as W.C. got 1 on handicap because of the handicap
committee. Then Adam Snow and the Governor got on the right end
of Mariano Gonzalez' passes and scored 3 unanswered to go 7 -
4 at halftime. Windsor won the 4th 2-1& 5th 2-1 then in the
6th it was 2-goal Pablo Avalas making two incredible goals to
put Windsor up by 2 and a # 4 by Mariano Gonzalez sent it up
to 3. Then Mighty Mike and Owen Reinhart got it right back and
sent it into OT at 11 to 11.
3 minutes into OT a foul was
comiitted by Isla Carroll and converted to send Windsor thru
for 1st and put Isla Carroll in at 3rd for the big one.
The end of brackets was:
Dunde 1 - 2 -10 goals
Isla Carroll 1 - 2 0 goals
Antelope 1 - 2 -1 goals
Div 2
Windsor Cap 3 - 0 + 12 goals
Grants Farm 2 - 1 + 2 goals
Piocho Ranch 1 - 2 - 2 goals
The final 4.
Thursday 1 p.m.
1st place Windsor Cap vs 4th
place Antelope
Thursday 3 pm
2nd place Grants Farm vs 3rd
place Isla Carroll
Down south in San Diego it
was Madison Square missing 1/2 of the woman connection and losing
by 1 to Mr. Maloney (Voyager) even with Silent Chris out of town
it was a tough game as Steve Dalton got out in front by 4 and
Graham Bray and gang had to fight like heck to get back to a
tie, but Dalton and Mr. Jordan were rested up when they did tie
and sent them back again to win the big one as these two teams
have vied for every finals thus far this season. I think it puts
the Pop and Son combo (Voyager) up by 1 .
See ya next Sunday some where
they play polo. Steve Crowder
Aug. 17, '02: It
Ain't Over Until the Lady Sings -
Well in the P.C.O. it's a turn around for most, but it was fireworks
in August. The sky was foggy and the play on less than average
fields was very cloudy, but the results made things very murky.
It was showtime in the 12 noon fog bowl. The 10-goalers hooking
horns and father time was the winner as the yellow hat of Memo
Gracida (M.G.) stood just a little taller on this soggy day.
He had a little help as T.B. is back in gear and the other 2,
the Palimino (Jason Crowder) and Sapo Caset are together 10 years
the juniors together of M.G. and he has been to more finals than
they have had birthdays, but he had them celebrating for 5 chukkers
and 6 minutes and 57 seconds as with 3 seconds to go. While defending
goal a hard hit ball took the life of Jason's best horse Roscoe
that he made headlines on in the World Cup in Australia. It was
a sad ending to a superb performance as Piocho Ranch came from
downtown to send Isla Carroll to their second loss this summer
by 2.
In the 2 o'clock, it was a
good battle as Sunny Hale continues to be the best player for
her handicap in S.B. and caused more trouble than l7 goals wanted.
They finally gave it to the Governor and he sent Mr. G.P. a horse
mail that said so long to the day as Windsor Capital slid by,
by 1 for a 14 - 13 win. Then in a battle of non-winners at 4
it was a classic of how not to play polo, but thank God for dear
old Abby as in Riggs. She pulled a miserable Grants Farm effort
into a overtime goal win aganist Dunde to get to the + side of
polo.
Down south in surf $ turf land,
as expected, the ladies Lisa Bosstick and Suzanne Figi put away
Gaston Von Wernich. Silent Chris Maloney and Pop buried the Fatboy
(George Daou)and will meet Sunday at 3 for the fifth time a tie
breaker.
The way it looks in S.B.
Duende 0-2 -11
ISLA CARROL 1-1 +1
Antelope 1-1 +2
Windsor Cap 2-0 +11
Grants Farm 1-1 -2
Piocho Ranch 1-1 -1
Sunday is the day
at 11 a.m. Antelope vs Grants
Farm
at 1 p.m. Duende vs Piocho Ranch
at 3 p.m Isla Carrol vs Windsor Cap
Be there where they will be
playing polo.
See ya. Steve Crowder
Aug. 15, '02: Its
Show Time in S.B. and S.D. -Its
not the end of the world to lose today, but it makes Sunday a
bloody day on both sides of L.A. In Santa Barbara it is a bender
at noon as 1& 0 Isla Carroll tries to keep their record clean.
Piocho at 0 & 1 will try to equal theirs to 1 & 1. They
need a big trip from Sapo Caset & the Palimino (Jason Crowder)
as M.G is having a tough time staying with Mighty Mike at the
moment and Big John is causing a lot of gray hairs to show under
the yellow hat.
At 2 p.m. it is winning Windsor
and believe it or not, a+ Antelope looking to take the lead on
one side or the other as the Governor tries to keep up as Secretary
of Defense and send Pancho to the minus land and ruin his partner
MR. Palmer's day and send him home on a train not the chop chop.
4 p.m. sees the double winners
Grants Farm will try to get back in the + column after a shaving
by Isla Carroll last Sunday to see if they can be there 1 more
time. They have to deal with Mr. Hakan and the yellow and blue
who were mostly blue last Sunday night. Both are at 0 & 1.
At surf and turf land in Rancho Santa Fe, it's the ladies on
target as Lisa Bosstick and Singing Suzanne Figi try to fly by
Lillian Heller. Storming Norma Owen goes after the Silent One
Mr. Chris Maloney. It's all this Friday night at 3 and 5 just
in time for tea time with the Little Lisa Lady at the Cantina.
See ya this Friday night somewhere
they play polo and it may not be Houston Or Calgary they are
trying to copy PRAGUE.
|
August 12, '02:
It was a very nice day in Santa Barbara but it was hard on some
teams as Duende was blistered by the Governor and camp as they
scored 6 to 1 in the first 3 and repeated in the second 3 to
finish 12 to 2 in a very dominating fashion. For Windsor lots
of hustle by Pablo Avalos freed M.G. (Mariano Gonzalez) and A.S.
(Adam Snow) to run wild to goal could have been 6 goals more
if the ball was finished in the goal and the Governor shut the
door on the other boys.
Game 2 was the best by far
and it was another fast and clean game as Grant's Farm (GF) &
Isla Carroll put on another fast ride to the seaside. G.F was
up by 2 at half-time, down by 2 in the fifth and tied in the
6th with 4 minutes to go and no fouls. Nobody could change horses
and Julio Gracida and Mighty Mike did the job on G.F in those
240 seconds and came out on top by 3, 11 to 8.
Game 3, I have to eat crow
as Antelope did what they did last Sunday and beat Piocho again.
This time with the Palomino (Jason Crowder) and it was Sunny
Hale, the worlds best woman player, showing why she was featured
in the news as she drilled the boys for some outstanding plays.
Piocho Ranch fell in the freezer as they missed 22 shots on goal
in 6 chukkers as many inside the 30 and that was the way it went.
Somebody may have to pay for that later as they may do a few
buckets this week.
div 1 div 2
Duende 0-1 -10 Windsor1-0+10
Isla Carrol 1-0 + 3 Grants Farm 0-1 -3
Antelope 1-0 + 3 Piocho 0-1 -3
Way up North it was Fish Creek
going 1 more step to the next finals as they drilled A.Z (Agustin
Zavaleta) and the surfer (Diego Cossio) and Millarville got by
J.H and the Rooney crew they look to be a barn feud for the next
finals as its F.C vs J.Z and Casey
See ya.
August
11, '02: Sexy
Lady Down . . .We regret
to say Miss Dorie Forestman has been injured in a horse
accident in Wyoming and we all pray she makes a full and speedy
recovery . We hope it all works out for you as the polo world
needs you and we want you to recover . The polo world supports
me in this. --Steve Crowder
August 11, '02:
Pacific Coast Open (P.C.O)starts today and it will be
a new show in town. It's cross-bracket and it's crossed continents,
states and oceans, but it's the P.C.O. and it is the Daddy of
high-goal polo in California.
Windsor Capital, runner-ups
in the second tournament the America's Cup, returns to play Duende.
The Governor tries to rally the troops back to their high-end
offense that was obliterated by Grants Farm in the finals. Duende,
1 step ahead of Antelope in the summer run, tries to bring 3
Argentines to the winners table. Something not done for a long
time in the P.C.O. There have actually been more women win in
the high-goal in Santa Barbara than Argentines in the last 5
years, an unusual statistic. In the second game, its a barn burner,
and they are tied on games, but Isla Carroll is 2-up on goals,
but not on titles as Grants Farm is 2 & 0 in tournaments.
The flying Galindo (Hector Galindo) and Dandy Andy Busch go for
another title for the show me state. The Texans (Isla Carroll)
try to prove they should have won the last tournament, the 1
they were 3 & 0 and no where to go.
Be there by noon and you will
see Andy hit the big ones and the Big Bird and the Flying Galindo
make big Mike run. It will be a Sunday delight then at 3:00 you
have Antelope hoping they can repeat last Sunday's consolation
finals as they take on a revamped Piocho, who takes the Palomino
(Jason Crowder) back to the high-goal. I think they are one bad-ass
team now as Sapo Caset and the Palomino were made for the Master
M.G. (Memo Gracida) and Mr. Hustle T.B. (Tom Barrack) to make
a Antelope sandwich for the 3 O'clock.
In San Diego they have opened
back up, but it's a canter as they get ready to rock on Friday.
So be there or be square. Where ever you are Sunday will be a
better day if your at "polo"
See ya. -- Steve Crowder
NOW 9 OUT OF 10
Aug. 4th,
'02: It was a busy
day and the polo world was saying how is a 1 & 3 team in
the final? Well do not ask Windsor Capital because they
suffered a royal-beating and they won by 4 against this 1 &
2 team, so for the second straight tournament. The show me boys
have done just that with the flying Hector Galindo (HG) doing
the damage and Andy Busch (AB) and Kris Kampsen
showing they're half as good on a bad day as anyone else. The
word is CUP and they do rise to the occasion as the red-headed
terror (Kris Kampsen), who must be a semi-preacher, plays like
we won't say on Friday, but takes the lead on Sunday and holds
court or service as he and AB delivered the mail to HG and he
made the pay off. Grants Farm drubbed Windsor by 6 going the
other way.
Adam Snow cracked his jaw in the 2nd minute
of the 1st chukkar, but Grants Farm with the big burrito Andy
Busch broke their back in 4 of the next 5 and had the wild child
on the rampage and Adam should have left when his wife said go
Honey. She meant to the hospital, not to the field.
In the 1 PM game it was Antelope winning the 0 & 3
game as Isla Carroll wanted no tainted silver they did
not play and Memo Gracida had a horse exercise.
The Pacific Coast Open (PCO)
starts next Sunday be there.
See ya at polo. -- Steve Crowder
Aug. 3, '02: It was a dark day for Isla Carroll . . .
As good as they are they were
just a little behind. It was a cloudy and a dark day for them
as they are 3 and 0 and just a little better than the rest, but
they can only watch the finals. Well its the sad fact of another
thing that points to the handicap committee. As if Julio Gracida
was 0 as handicapped before the circus they would have had 6
extra goals and not been watching. But then Windsor Capital would
have had to play with an over-rated player instead of an Argentine
who is much better at this level as he gets a chance to play
good polo not so if you carry a U.S.A. passport anyway that s
the way it is now. He can go fight the Iraqi's for some good
reason.
Well the Isla Carrol vs Grants
Farm rematch of the last finals was not what it should have been.
Grants Farm was in a no score zone and maybe a no-zone day. They
lost by 3 even though they shot at goal 3 to 1 over Isla Carrol
they did not get the flag to wave on this day.
The second game was a big game
for Isla Carrol, Grants Farm and Windsor Capital (WC). The Governor
(Pat Nesbitt) let him know he was here to play with polo on his
mind getting a huge piece of 3-goal Silvester and scoring 3 goals
from the 4 position. WC got out to a 7 goal lead before Piocho
could rally in the 6th to get within 3, but it was 1 goal less
than needed. With 1 more goal it would have been a tie on net
goals + 13 & 12 a tie on gross goals at 41 and a big investment
settled on a 25 cent flip it didn't happen. As Pablo and Pat
showed the way with hustle to see the 3 p.m. match on Sunday.
The funny part is Grants Farm is in the finals with the results
of the Piocho game and they are 1 & 2 but that's polo. Sunday
could be a barn burner, but the last time they met it was a 6
goal sixth that put WC on top by 4. We shall see as the smoke
settles on Sunday. The other game was a champs or chumps title
bout as Duende kept Antelope hopping south on the board to win
by 3 and leave them at minus 18 not a prerequisite for Rule 18.
The final look :
| Division
1 |
Division
2 |
Piocho 0 - 3 -
6
Antelope 0 - 3 -17
Grants Farm 1 - 2 - 3 |
Duende 1 - 2 -1
Isla 3 - 0 +12
W.C. 3 - 0 +13 |
| |
|
Sunday
Consolation - Piocho
0-3 vs Isla Carroll 3 - 0
America Cup Finals - W.C. 3-0 vs Grants Farm 1 - 2 |
See ya on Sunday. -- Steve
Crowder
Aug. 2, "02: Ride the Waves . . . The sea is flowing and
the boys are rolling and its (show time ). Yesterday is history
and tomorrow never comes but its now or never.
Grants Farm tries to see their second finals and
Isla Carroll(IC) wants that spot. They need help and that
is best done by winning not whining. IC brings 4 Yanks to the
table and Grants Farm with the Yanks tries with 4. The other
big one is the Piocho boys trying to stop a hard hitting
Windsor Cap. Piocho WITH 1/2OF LAST YRS. FINALS WINNERS
AND Windsor with 2 Argies and a hope will beat Piocho who packs
1 and a bad as group. The other game is a story of how not to
play polo as horses and personal are history there will be a
winner, but that's as far as it goes.So be there for the big
show. We will see you where the waves are not breaking but running
to shore .
See ya. Steve Crowder
|