Feb. 1, ’04: Ambusched at 2 PM - It was an AMBUSCH AT 2 P.M. AND IT WAS ANTELOPE STEAKS FOR A LATE LUNCH as Grants Farm absolutely DESTROYED the previously undefeated ANTELOPE team. The Antelope were remembering the last game, not this game and before they hit chukker 2 they were almost history. Andy Busch had already scored more goals than they would the whole game and the Grants Farm team was on its way to a great big fat bronze trophy. It was a game of the young and old as the Young Guns Josey (Joseph Stuart) and Mikee (Mike Matz) were making monkey's out of the Riceman (Shane Rice) and the Palomino (Jason Crowder) as they are no longer the bad a** boys from downtown. Like the American dollar, its only a matter of time and you are history. No matter how high you are you will come down and they both have. The Antelope let their weapon MR. Palmer stay back. They should have said never come back as Grant’s Farm scored at will with him running through. It was Andy Busch and Fast-etta Express (Mariano Fassetta) scoring at will and Mikee and Josey were eliminating any thought of Antelope offense and it was the FASSETTA MVP of the day.
In the 4-goal it was more of the same. Fairview did a tap dance on the Hotel Boys from Embassy /La Quinta in the only close finals. It was the Doctor Von Wernich (Gaston) doing first rate surgery for Mansour as nurse Christine Walker continued to eat up men. Poor Carlitos found out the Doctor continues to operate well even with gentle Ben in the game and the Q-man Manny Questel watching. He still did the cutting on The Ranch hands of Rancho Valencia.
It was a pretty day. It got a little cool later and hats off to:
14-goal champs GRANTS FARM
8-goal champs Mansour
4-goal champs Fairview
Many thanks to the threesome for the Super Bowl party and that was Andy Busch’s A** in that ad of Budlight. Thanks DARREN Zuzow & JASMINE Batis & MICHEAL Rothbard. We all had a super time and BEVERLY DID WELL.
See ya. It all starts over this Friday morning. Be there.
Jan. 3, ’04: Rancho Valencia Heads To The Finals - It will be the Silver Fox (Harry Collins) and his cowboys headed to the finals where they will meet the Doctor (Gaston Von Wernich) and maybe his patron (Ben Soleimani) will come out of hiding. We will see. It’s finals time and it was The Silver Fox and a hard riding scrapping band of cowboys led by teenager Carlitos Galindo shutting down the B Boys in a very good game. The Palomino (Jason Crowder) failed to make it to two finals on Sunday and all because young Carlitos was always forcing one of the big sticks from Summerland to get him. Silver was eating up the big BB and someone seemed always loose and a lack of penalty conversion was the final blow as The Rancho Valencia squad head to the Doctors office to meet head surgeon Doctor Von Wernich and Ms. Walker, who is a man eating monster on the field. She takes no prisoners. The Patron in hiding keeps another young gun, Manny Questel, on call to do his work for the Doc who just keeps doing a surgical cuts as he sewed up the White Oak squad. Hard riding Laith saw his first setback of the season. It will be very entertaining to see Sunday’s games as the Doctor comes to the Ranch and is scheduled to operate on the cowboys. He will need double duty out of Nurse Walker if The Big Ben shows up for bronze time.
In the 4-goal it will be show time for another as another baby Flying Galindo. Nicolas Galindo helped out big while taking the place of injured Katie Moon. They rode by Fish Creek 2 into the Finals. Empire was taken over by Dan Brown’s La Quinta/Embassy Suite in a big upset by the Desert homebred polo team.
Across America youth is catching on in polo. In the 22-goal finals at Palm Beach International they have 15 year old Julio Gracida leading Crab Orchard against 17 year old Facundo Pieres, who by the way is 8 goals. With Neil Hursh's Blackwatch in Boca Raton you have young gun Kris Kampsen, 6 goals, going after Hartmoors for the silver with MR. South Carolina Newbridge team. Here in the desert you have plenty of young guns in the finals. For the Bronzes you have four in the 14-goal for Grants Farm Mighty Mikee Matz and Joesy Stuart and for the Antelope The Riceman Shane Rice and the Palomino Jason Crowder. In the 8-goal, The Rocket Carlitos Galindo and the man who made it work for the Doctor, Manny Questel who may or may not play, he helped get them there. In the 4-goal finals young Nicolas Galindo will be there if Mrs. Moon is still out.
So if you want action, be there. They will use Texas Polo Balls.
See ya.
Jan. 29th, ’04: The Sunshine State Report (Florida) - Well not all polo is slacking off. There are 17 teams in the 22-goal in the new PBI Club in Florida and 5 in Boca. A brand new stadium and a first class facility. It’s hot and not the weather, but the polo. It has yet to get to 75 F since I have been here. Fields are not exactly green, but close enough. Outback Polo fields are very green but only the ones using the desert rye. Polo, polo, polo wherever you go. T Canadians finally got rolling yesterday as Millerville smoked BudLight by 6 or 7. Other than 3 or 4 red flags, the trio of Mannix, Gonzalez and Roenisch are back on track as they head into the second month of 22 goal. We will not discuss the first month it was cold in Florida and so were they. There is as much trouble here with the handicaps as in CA. Just like CA it does not pay to be a Northerner. You get it bounced, but think they will “monster” (move a handicap up by 2) a foreigner? Not a chance. But then there guests of the USPA. I guess one even had his “T” taken off with 10 days and guess what he is playing now? I did see a very dear friend of many of ours yesterday. He remains very un-mobile. He looks good, but it is sad as I think of an Irishman who was and is one of the best men on this planet. If there was anyway to help him it would be so good. It’s been 4 long years this month since he was hurt, so do say something nice for him. We all remember BRIAN MURPHY and he is still ticking.
If your ever down this way drop by and see the new PBI center. It is awesome to see and there are many stables down here that you should drop by and visit. They are incredible.
See ya were we do not need a barn and its not cold.
Jan. 27th, ’04: Water Terror At Polo – News From Florida . . . This happened a few days ago, Friday I believe. It was one of the most terrorizing things seen at polo in along time. Jeff Blake (JB) and Carlos Gracida were racing to a ball on the sideboards at a field in West Palm Beach, FL. JB was trying to knock the ball out as clock was ticking down while CG was trying to get it as his team was down. Anyway, the horses went flying over the boards and the runoff was quite short. The horses were trying to stop before a water canal. Jeff’s horse checked and then must have panicked and lept with current momentum trying to get over the canal. It was never going to make it. The horse did a roll into the water with JB still in the saddle with no time to escape. JB was under the horse and the horse and JB were both10 feet under water with lilies and general canal weeds on them causing them to be tangled up. Some observers say as they raced across a polo field to help, 30 to 45 seconds after it happened, they jumped in to help JB as he came up, but with only his head showing still holding the reins. He was trying to help his horse up to air, but they were tangled in all the weeds in the canal. They pulled JB and horse out, amazing that they were unhurt, but seriously out of breath to everyone’s cheer. They have survived a real potential tragedy. JB says he was under his horse and the horse was fighting and he finally got loose enough to get up. The real tragedy in this story came out after 2 or 3 of our Southern polo players were on that side of the field, as there was little room for spectators. Apparently these players were sitting on the side boards and made absolutely no attempt to help JB and his horse when the accident happened. Later one of these guys said “he did not care.” Well we should give him a free boat ride home as even in war, people and warships picked up the survivors. I think the one who said this and if he reads this he will know many of us know he should think about life just a little. Be it a dog or a human, it always comes around friend.
Jan. 26th, ’04: Tiny Steps To The Finals – It’s time for the finals and 8 teams took a tiny step forward as they have to do it one more time to make the final run for the bronzes in the 4 goal, 8 goal and in the 14 goal. Two teams took the big step to the finals as no one else can change it. The high-flying Antelope became a scoring machine. They have scored 15 goals in 4 out of 5 games and they do it quick. Geoff Palmer (GP) has to be close to 20 and The red head (Steve Dalton -SD) from Canada has been putting them in at will. The Riceman (Shane Rice) and Palomino (Jason Crowder) set it up and then Palmer and Dalton head to a flag raising. They thumped on Fish Creek and did the same jump over them they did last time in the first finals. It’s been a long while since the Big Mac (Fred Mannix) and Macho Man (Julio Zavaleta) had to watch this kind of treatment. Maybe a storm is brewing muddy water over there. In the other one it was Grant’s Farm sliding by a hard riding Cassidy West with Tiny Tom’s boys getting a big game from the M boys. Young gun Mariano Gutierrez and Marcello Abbiati took it to the fifth tied then Andy Busch and the Fas-Etta (Mariano Fassetta) express started running and Mighty Mikee took out the big guns and Josey started finding the goal. As a 4 goal lead in 4 minutes closed the door on Tiny T's party.
In the 8-goal it was the Palomino (Jason Crowder) and Rasvavina (Martin Ravina) putting fuel on the fire of the Burning House (Casa Blanca). The B boys (Bilo & Bolko) kept running to goal and did send the Casa Blanca cuatro to their third straight defeat. The House ain't burned out. They will be back soon I am sure.
In the battle of the Ranches it was the Silver Fox (Harry Collins) doing the damage as his hard riding cowboys put a kink in the racing machines and put them back on the ranch road as Rancho Valencia went by Piocho Ranch. Ms. Walker and the Q Man Manny took out the big sticks Dad and honey and making it fun for Doctor Von Wernich to operate on them as Big Ben Soleimani was hiding in LA for this one. Mansour takes a step to the semis and ruined Bad Brads day, not to say Pop’s day too. After this was the best new player of the month so far "Laith Alsarraf" leading the charge as they did a job on Mighty Mikee and Big Graham Bray as they took all day, but it was a White Oak poke that sent the flag flying in overtime to send White Oak past Hanalei/Gypsy.
In the 4-goal it was the Gray Ghost (Dempsey Mork) watching his running gunning kids following young Rhi to the semis. They sent Mr. Gilstrap back to the tack shop and they put it on JHHE/Paneno Farms. It was Fish Creek 2 making the Carnation Farms milk a little sour on Sunday as the FC2 crew made Mr. Anderson look not at Gypsum, but the next one.
Come out and see the fun.
Jan. 24th, 04:Tune Up Time - Friday looked like tune-up time for the Patrons of using their check writing hands for something and they were scoring lots of goals. In the Fish Creek - Grants Farm game it was the Big Mac (Fred Mannix) and Andy Busch putting them in often. Of the 20 goals scored it was Fred Mannix putting up 4 and Andy Busch scoring 7. Grants Farm got by Fish Creek in a pretty good game to head to the Cassidy West Show on Sunday in the main affair. It will be fun and I did not see it, but the Gringos continue to run wild with Mr. Palmer and the Antelopes as they say Geoff Palmer stuffed 5 goals in the box. Antelope smoked the Cassidy Boys and they ill see if they can jump the Fish Creek again come Sunday.
In the 8-goal it was Mr. Z the Leather Doctor (Darren Zuzow) making his first showing in the big leagues. He did well with no practice and little saddle time lately. Darren stayed aboard new horses and helped Bad Brad Schlei and the boys head to top of the bracket and look for the bronze round.
There is one more match to settle the finals round and it comes on Sat. as Lady Susan Figi and The Hawaiian Flash (Ron Bonaguidi) head to the field to deal with the Silver Fox (Harry Collins) to set the final placing. We will get the standings to you as soon as we can.
This year is becoming a young gun show and here are a few of them to watch. They are easy to find on the field since they are the ones flying on the green.
Real young guns :
Jessie Bray - probably the youngest gun. He is still cap gun size. Sterling and his brother (Giannico) are a couple of these cap gunners. I do not know all of their names, but they fly Sat. and Sunday morning at 9 a.m. Come and watch them. The sawed-off shot gun answers to the name of Santi Torres. He plays like a Pieres. The Rifles are Pretty Rhi Hosea, Juan Jo (yes he is a Gonzalez they say) - he is hot and very good. Another Rifle is Lighting Miguelito Torres. He is all of 15 years old. Carlitos Galindo is packing the same age and a fast trigger. The older under 21 big kids who are leading the pack;
Josey Stuart, he is a football player gone horsey and soo goood. Mighty Mini Mikee Matz. He comes from somewhere, but he always arrives. Manny Questel is a little bigger than his Dad (Domingo Questel) and hits it hard. Gabby Questel is as good as Manny, but he will not agree. Shane Rice is shining so well and he don't eat rice its BBQ time. Ashton Wolf opposite of Mikee, he combs his hair.
Jason Crowder is still swinging for the fences. We just spotted another Pee Wee polo product, Clemente Zavaleta. He has been gone a while, but must be 18 or so by now. They say Juan Martin (Negro) Zavaleta is somewhere near the U.S. border so we may be short on patrons, but we do have some major polo player production. So where is the money? These kids have a lot of time and talent.
Come and see the wildest show of them all this Sat. night. Alex is on stage.
See ya
Jan. 22, ’04: If Only Life Was So Simple - Polo this weekend will be brutal and it will not be the weather. Iit is time to cry or carry on. In the 14-goal it all starts over as Grant’s Farm takes on Cassidy West and Tiny Tom & his toy horses, but it will not be a circus ride as they are getting better. The team, not tiny's toys. In the other it’s a repeat Fish Creek and Antelope do it all over, but its not over Macho Man (Julio Zavaleta) & Big Mac (Fred Mannix) learn everyday so saddle up.
The 8-goal is getting downright nasty and it will get down in the trenches this weekend. In the Bronze round its like this:
A Bracket champs Stone Canyon will play Burnt House “Casa Blanca,” but they still have fire in that old house.
Summerland 2nd in (A) will deal with the 3 T's Tom ,TJ & Torres.
Rancho Valencia will deal with Mansour.
Gypsy/Hanalei Bay has the biggest task taking on Mr. Aliaf & White Oak who were the Bracket (B) champs. So saddle up and pull the girth it's show time.
Polo will be fun this month and polo is enjoying a monster success in the USA right now. Florida is going out of control to the good and California seems on a major rebound. I heard this was a quote by TIM GANNON a major player and supporter of polo and a major winner in polo. " HE SAID POLO IS A REWARD FOR SUCCESS. " That is so true.
You pick up the paper and see the real World often sucks and you go to polo and forget it in the polo world. It is a reward that we can play this sport. We read 500 men & women have died and billions of dollars are spent and in a world where they hate most anything, especially the fun and games as we play. How many of those billions would it take to educate people to avoid these things? We have people dying here of starvation and bad health. Maybe spend 1 of those billions improving nurses and doctor aides wages. We have the usual greed of the big. Grocery store workers go on strike because they are being driven to a lower quality of life. We support the strikers and go to other stores not on strike and guess what? These other stores jack up the prices. Check out Stater Brothers Oct. prices vs. Dec. Or like Halliburton asking for leniency through bankruptcy from the U.S. Govt. here and raping the U.S. govt. and taxpayers in Iraq charging $1.60 for gas over there where it comes from. Then they ship it here refine it and deliver it to Indio, CA for the same price. Nice isn't it, but we still have our polo world and we complain about a bad horse a rough field or a 10 a.m. game. We may have to get a lawyer, who are my favorites if we took the stand. Any lawsuit is paid by the loser's attorney. How many dollars could be saved by the Govt. and individuals? We could probably support the Police Dept. and give them reasons to do there job without worrying about getting in trouble. Ever heard of arbitration? Well its probably spelled wrong, but its settling a problem with a neutral rep. not a gold digging lawyer. As a lady named Ann said in Japan you have a problem you call an engineer and in America you call a lawyer. Maybe its a cruel world, but damn its fun at polo. So why do we not have a million polo players? Probably because the patrons spend so much money on the Lawyers. Lets just play polo and be happy. We can and we do. Come to El Dorado this weekend and see for yourself. You will be happy. See you where the sun will shine 365 days a year sometime during the day.
Sunday, Jan. 18th, ’04: Antelope Can Jump Fish Creek. Yes Antelope can jump Fish Creek. It has not happened before as Fish Creek has owned Antelope in the finals of whatever for years, but as 2004 rolls into the first finals with a North American line-up it was a wipeout. Antelope with their young guns blistered the Big Mac (Fred Mannix) and Macho Man (Julio Zavaleta) something that seldom happens in the desert sun. It got worse by the chukker for Fish Creek. It was 3-2, 5-4, 8-5, 11-7, 13-9 and finished 15-10. It was a team effort as Mr. Palmer led his kids well and straight to the Silver table in the first finals of ‘04 everybody scored and it was for the best part a very good game. Shane Rice and Jason Crowder played smart and hard making Dalton run wild as he wins his 4th tournament in a row over the last 6 months while losing none. Geoff Palmer is playing very good and getting much more ball time and action than he has ever had and doing it so well they will be a factor for time to come in the desert sun. Hats off to the first champs of ‘04.
In the consolation match it was Grants Farm getting Tiny Tom. The umpires who may think Fast-etta is invisible, as he was never fouled at any angle all day or at least that was the umpires read. They said they were being paid. I do not know why! Maybe they were tromping divots after the game, but even they could not help Cassidy West win. In the 8-goal it’s getting hot as Piocho and the 3 T's and Mig are on fire as they won their second of the weekend. They blew by BTA/DMI as young T.J. Barrack seems to be getting his Pop’s attitude . . . lets get tough right now you had 2 days to get ready and it seems ok with him. Bad Brad was on fire today as he showed Sean Keys the rookie the ropes and fired at will against the other rookies Erick & Steve of Kentfield Polo. Sean is playing in his first real tournament and doing very well. He seems to see the game so well and now he is stopping for a while and you will not believe why? He is getting married. You have to admit it’s a pretty nice trophy for your first tournament. The Silver Fox Harry Collins felt the bad vibes today to be the final team to go out of the undefeated list today as Mr. “Hair” Bilo led the charge for Summerland Winery to pour the champagne. They put it on the Rancho Valencia squad for the first big win of the day for the Palomino (Jason Crowder). It was a long weekend for Dudley as the Whitehouse got burned again for their second loss in 2 days as Mansour got by the Casa Blanca crew. In the 4-goal it was Empire firing up for their 2nd of the weekend and Mr. Rothbard getting another + with DQ over Fish Creek 2. The weather was awesome and the fields are playing great. We are using Texas Polo balls and if we stomp those divots we can have some good fields all year. Otherwise we will have the Santa Barbara problem of hopping balls and it does not matter who sells them it happens. Come see the ponies run. It starts all over on Friday.
See ya
Jan. 17. ’04: T-Time - It was T-Time. The time to burn the house which Dudley built (Casa Blanca 8-Goal Team) and it came from an old neighbor. Tom Barrack, T.J. Barrack, Miguel Torres and his son Miguelito beat up on Casa Blanca like they were from out of town and threw a big wrench in the standings of one 8-goal bracket. Miguel torres must of eaten some of “Rocket Miguelito's food because he was on fire today. He burned the house down with his goals. Summerland Winery, with big bad Bilo got rolling and ran by The Gypsy/Hanalei Bay. It was 2 fabricated teams with White Oak getting by Mansour as Ben stayed away trying to get to the trophy round. It still did not happen as he put in young Manny Questel, but it was not enough as Juan Jose Gonzalez (Juan Jo) showed he really is a polo player and put it through the goal to kill them. You might think of watching Juan Jo, he is not just a Gonzalez. Matt is good, but this is something totally different. The Palomino (Jason Crowder) and Ravina jumped on the Gypsy's and let Bilo do the talking as Mr. Hair put it on them and did it often. It was The Silver Fox (Harry Collins) sliding by the boys from
Curt Hughes Dodge with young Mr. Hughes showing he is back to playing polo and he is ready to play this game. In the 4-goal it was Zhenya doing a tap dance on Joseph Stuart and group and Palm desert without Dandy Dan Horn doing a walkover on Mr. Wayda. Domingo Questel ruining the day for Fairview. Playa Grande put the lights out on Fish Creek 2.
Sunday is a brand new day and it will be fun any way. The best at 10 will be Bad Brad meeting the Northerners Eric & Steve of Kentfield Polo. At 12:00 it’s a good one with Big Ben and Dudley hooking up. At 2 PM it will only be the Macho Man and The Big Mac (Fred Mannix) taking on Geoff Palmer and the band of Yankees from North of the equator. It should be fun.
See ya there !!!!!!!!!!
Jan. 17th. ’04: Taking The Title Run - This weekend is the telling story for most teams to find out if their in the Bronze round or looking at silver . Bronze is the best.
Those in the running :
Gypsy Haneli Bay - they lost 1 today but they still have a shot at 2-1.
Casa Blanca is in good shape at 2 & 0 headed to a showdown with Mansour in their bracket. Both are 2-0 going into the weekend .
Rancho Valencia is solid as a rock . The Silver Fox (Harry Collins) has them on a roll.
Stone Canyon is looking good at 2 and 1 with a win today.
Summerland Winery is still in the hunt but needs a good weekend.
White Oak with Sir Laith guiding the ship is staying in the hunt also with a win today at 2-1.
Silver is looking good for Piocho, BTA, Curt Hughes Dodge and Kentfield.
In the 14-goal it’s Antelope and Fish Creek at the top taking a run at each other on Sunday in the first finals of the year and in the consolation it is Tiny Tom and his speed demons looking at the guns of Grants Farm, as both get set for the next one .
Seeing some new blood coming in for Feb. Amin’s Hugo Barbabucce is in as well as the Governor’s ,running around and they say the Ambassador is also in town. Paul VonGontard is cadillacing the grounds and Pacific Oopen Champ Mr. Haken is looking for green grass again , so it should be fun. Get your teams in and oh we have lots of players for sale.
Hats off to some new men on the field as Sean Keys blew in from Oregon and has done a very good job on his first trip to the tourney field . He is winning too. A very good person for polo as is some other new blood like hard riding and playing very tough Laith Alsarraf and the New Yorker Mr. Rothbard and his very attractive partner Jasmine. The new young gun TJ Barrack and two other little men from up North CA. (NOT REALLY) Eric Hammon and Steve Chamberlain both playing well and hopefully ready for another month of fun.
The Wounded list is short, but not short enough :
Negro Gularte - broken leg
Alex Hagen - broken collarbone
Laura Handley – Separated Shoulder
Come see the action there's plenty.
Sunday, January 11th, ’04 - The second game often tells the tale and it did today for some . . .
Cassidy 0 - 2 + they lost Negro Gularte
Grants Farm 0 - 2 M.F. lost his bridle
The 10 o’ clock was a barn burner as The Big Mac (Fred Mannix) and Macho Man (Julio Zavaleta) went to work early on Grants Farm. Macho Man got deadly on the foul line and kept them just ahead until late in the 6th. It was Mr. Fast -etta coming on so strong to knot it up and then came OT. It was looking good for Mariano Fassetta to make a run when he stole the ball, but something else was stolen. His bridle broke and Julio Zavaleta said sorry and took the ball straight to goal and it was history.
In the 2 o'clock it was Cassidy West getting a new gun in the name of Hugo Barabucce, a very good guy and a very good player. Hugo is in town getting ready for Mr. Amin’s Golden Eagles in Feb. Trouble was Tiny Tom keeps buying those speed balls from somewhere and he cannot get out there in time for the cannon balls and it’s a problem Mr. Palmer enjoyed. Palmer just took it the other way as all 4 players were on the board for 4 and they did do a tapping on Tiny's hiney. The only bad news was Negro Gularte suffered a broken ankle in a collision with his teammate and will be down for a while I would guess. So that’s not cool. This means Antelope and Fish Creek meet next Sunday afternoon in the first finals of 2004.
The weekend was fun in the sun on Sunday. It was so nice. Rancho Valencia and the Silver Fox (Harry Collins) getting up to 2 on the + side as they put away Kent field and then sent Stone Canyon to the minus side. Gypsy- Hanalei Bay were put away Curt Hughes Dodge and came back on Sunday to blow by newcomers Kentfield. Stone Canyon and Bad Brad kept it to 50/ 50 as they split it down the middle and so did Summerland Winery as they split as well. In the other bracket it was Mansour taking 2 and Casa Blanca doing the same and BTA and Piocho going the other way with minus 2. White Oak held it to 50/ 50 as they split the weekend.
It was a very busy weekend and the fields and the weather could not have been better. Most of the balls were from Texas Polo so it was so much fun.
We will get all the standings in ASAP.
See ya
January 10, ’04: Tumbles On Day Two - If you played Friday you were so much stronger today as you and the horses were rocking. White Oak with Alsarraf going to the whip put it on Piocho in a big way shutting them down to 1 in the last half. To walk away happy after losing on Friday and it was Mansour getting by BTA/DMI. RanchoValencia and the Silver Fox (Harry Collins) drubbing the boys from Kentfield. Stone Canyon with Bad Brad Schlei and new comer Sean Keys did the victory dance on the Summerland Grapes.
The 14-goal was dark today, but they will be back in town tomorrow as everyone has a chance to even up as Grants Farm goes to brunch with Fish Creek and Stone Canyon finishes with hop-along Cassidy with new power in the form of Hugo Barabucci (a good guy from down South, but he cannot carry T.C. even as big as he is)
$ goal all I know is Dempsey Mork and La Mancha got beat in OT and the rest will be Monday news .
Come and see us.
Jan. 10th, 04: Polo Time - Yes it is 2004 and were out the door into the new year. It started early. In the 8-goal The House Dudley built, Casa Blanca, tries to get back to winning in the desert and they did when they slipping by a fired up White Oaks who played hard ball until some horse questions showed up in the 6th. The White House boys and girls got rolling.
In the 14-goal it was The Palomino (Jason Crowder) getting a bit of charity when a missed ball fell in his lap and in front of goal and he sent it thru to take the lead for the first time in 41 minutes and 45 seconds of a 42 minute game. It was the one that counted. It was a very good opening of the 14-goal. Mr Palmer and Antelope slipped by the Grants Farm squad of new boys on the block . They will be ready for the next one. It was a very clean, running, and good game. They needed side boards, but at least we had Texas polo balls.
In the 4-goal it was Mrs. Moon and MIss Trish ganging up on Fish Creek 2 and winning in OT. Lady Figi and Mr. Hawaii, Ron the Bones Bonaguidi, putting a thumping on Boys from Curt Hughes Dodge as they head to round two with a big smile on their face. In the grand final it was the Big Mac (Fred Mannix) and Macho Man (Julio Zavaleta) grinding up Cassidy West as Tiny Tom still rides the tinker toy ponies from the fair merry go round and they still only circle. It’s just a bigger circle. Big Mac was stuffing the goal so Macho Man could save his horses all in all it was a very nice day. 80 degrees, sunny, and the fields played great. We had Texas polo Balls and some very satisfied people, so come be one. There are 21 more games Sat & Sun.
Be there.
January 8th, '04: It’s Showtime! - It’s time to hook up and hit it hard. It all starts this Friday morning as the desert explodes into action. And we have! There are 11 teams in the 4-goal, 11 teams in the 8-goal and 4 teams in the 14-goal for the month of January. So ‘04 is more as it’s show time. It should be fun, it always is.
There are a lot of new faces this season . . .
In the 14-goal :
Shane Rice
Mighty Mikee Matz
Rodrigo Moran
8-Goal
Lauren Beal {she’s hot}
Christine Walker {she is so sweet, hot too}
Julian Aguilar
Steve Chamberlain
Eric Hammon
Alfredo Goti
T.J. Barrack {he’s hot}
Carlito Galindo {he’s young}
Bryan Middleton (he’s not hot, but he’s cool)
Laith Alsarraf {he is a polo patron so he is really cool}
Dan Walker { he’s Christine’s Dad }
Daren Zuzow {he is leather fresh}
Sean Keys {he has no lock}
Jasmine {don't you want to know ?}
In the 4-goal:
Micheal Rothbard {he is a NY catch}
Matias Machado - {he has hair }
Katie Moon { here is a full moon }
Shelly Geiler {she is so fine }
Juan Jose Gonzalez (he cannot be a Gonzalez}
and the rest we already know.
New power (handicap changes):
Rhi Hosea -1 to 0
Miguelito Torres 1 to 2
Joesph Stuart 0 to 1
Mike Matz 1 to 2
Brad Schlei 0 to 1
Mariano Guiterez 3 to 4
Miguel Guiterez 3 to 4
Nicolas Maciel 2 to 3
Dan rowlands 2 to 3
Friday is a special day, be there. WHY? Come and see.
New things . . .
-good fields
-cold weather
-I hear TEXAS POLO BALLS
-Susan Stovall
Be there. See ya. They have to prove it now!
January 6, '04 - What is up for 2004? We do not really know as life changes. Is there a reason? Yes. It is so easy to see today at the airport or any public movement. Less than 20 people created the message on 9-11. Why? They are bad and they wanted to! We have probably less than 20,000 people in the World basically running all of us scared, why? I think the media loves this crap and we must love to read it. Michael Jackson gets charged with child molesting and gets all the media in the World. The Roman Catholic priests are convicted of it and we get a blurb every now and then. It does not add up. There is something like 400 million Catholics and less than one million Jackson followers. Then why all the hype? It is the Press.
It is the same with lawsuits. One out of every 100 or more cases wins a big settlement, but when they do its big news. Someone does well. I think if an attorney takes a case for someone and loses he should have to pay, not his client. I think 90 % of the cases are not going to win and will either settle out of court or charge you anyway. So it’s a no lose situation for attorneys. Why not save us all a lot of money. See how often they sue.
I read recently the state of California pays somewhere around 5 billion on lawsuits. How much would that come down to 60 %? That money could be spent on arbitrators and still improve the Police force or teachers salaries. This would encourage the Police and Teacher’s to stay at their jobs and do their jobs well. Maybe they would give tickets for people in the left lane not passing and control traffic if they were paid and educate drivers and save billions in road improvements.
If you think about it there are approximately a billion miles of traffic each day in the US and 1/10 of 1 % of these cars are involved in an accident each day or maybe 100 thousand fender benders a day. Not bad odds that you will be OK. Take out accidents caused by drivers in left lane blocking traffic and I’m sure it would become 50% less. Why are drivers are not educated when learning to drive. Why are Police not paid to worry about it and they swerve around them when in pursuit. Why? We do not make it a law, just a suggestion which is the way it is. Just like polo. We get new people and we do not help them understand the costs. So the next time someone says “this looks like fun.” Tell them it is and show them why. It takes an hour and it just might make a difference. California Polo Club is doing this. So what are we doing? What? Think about it. See Ya - Crowder
