Crowder Polo Report Archives '02-'04

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October 2004

Oct. 22^nd, ’04: Soaking No Smoking: A year ago we were rescuing horses from fires and tragedy. This year we are putting them out to wet green pastures. It’s nice to know everything changes and sometimes for the better. It’s been a good year in some ways. Boston won the American League and has a chance to win something they won in 1918, the World Series. They beat the Yankees. Geoff Palmer  and his team Antelope won the Pacific Coast Open and that could not have been better unless he beat the Governor Pat Nesbitt in the finals.

Polo is growing and we are a part of it. We need to keep it that way.  Young players and new Patrons. That’s what its all about.  In politics we have some Jim Dandy's running. One is bad and the other one  is10 times worse. He already says he can do so much. It’s much like the deal that is so good you cannot believe it.  It is that good and you cannot believe him. It’s like California drivers passing on the left. It cannot happen. They are always in the right lane until the exit and then look out. So look out. POLO IS ON THE MOVE.

See ya.  Pass on the left drive on the right.

Oct. 18^th, ’04: Mother Nature KO’s Mercari & P/K. Well the sun set on Sunday night with no trophies, no MVP or Best Pony.  It was so long to 2004 in Santa Barbara and on to the winter warfare where ever it may be. It was a good old fashion thing called rain and it ruled the night and it was just a big wet dream for players as they knew there was no manana.  It’s so long until next year. The game should have been a good one with new stars and old fellers. Only 1 poor DF he is the only one over 35 in the finals, but he will always know he was in the finals twice this year. Young gun Jared will know as well and he already knows. Jared wants to come back and Mercari still knows they are the champs because you have to be beat them to lose the title and they were not beat.   General Lee still has not lost a game in Santa Barbara. I don't think he has been here four years now and he loves it. Why not ?

 Well the real winner here is the fields as they need rain, grass seed and a whole bunch of TLC in order to return to normal. Maybe Mother Nature will be kinder this year and not just stop by for a brief visit like the last few years. It’s just a needed item. Rain that is. You leave S.B. and see Lake Chuchuma and it looks like a small pond. You drive into San Diego and see Lake Hodges and it looks like an Olympic swimming pool. So it would be nice to have a real winter of rain. So do your rain dance ASAP.  See Ya.  - Crowder.

Oct 16^th, ’04:  Mercari vs. Prime/Klentner - We might say today was a nice day for the final weekend on the Pacfic Coast for 2004, but it was not a nice day. It was dreary, cold and just downright ugly. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow, but that is not what the weather channel says.  We know they sometimes they are not right. In the 10.30 it was General Lee of Mecari heading for his third straight Wickenberg Cup as he was a big reason the door was slammed on Gehache today. Lee had a man and a good one all day long. He stuffed in a goal to round it off. There was some excitement for a while, but Fass-etta (Mariano Fassetta) took it out in the fifth on Star.  She carried him from end to end often and quickly. Fassetta pounded in 4 to win the chukker by 4 and the rest is history. In the other 10.30 it was the Walker Family having a marvelous gathering as they put on a BBQ, but they were cooking JCW. They found the frying not to be to their liking, but it was the Nurse (Christine Walker) and Grandpa plowing through and racking them up from the Son and Dad as Dan Walker was hot today. In the big one at 3 PM it was a nightmare for the cameraman, timers and a few players as well. The game was 6 to 5 at the end of the 3rd with 11 fouls in 3 chukkers. In the fourth it was like another game and lasted 25 minutes. First Justin Klentner hurt his back.  Next Agustin Zavaleta  got hurt and then David Flyn went down.  David’s horse got hit in the head with a ball and rang his bell and with all this there were 10 fouls and 2 goals scored. Then Agustin Z. was told he was finished by the Medic at the field because of liver damage in a headbutt. So M. Torres went and got his stuff then the game flowed for a chukker. Seven goals were scored in the 5th and the last was a tie, but the Prime/Klentner won it anyway. They now head to their 2nd final of the year. We will all be here tomorrow and hope the rain stays away for 24 hours to pull the curtain down on ‘04 in Santa Barbara.  Everybody looks like they are ready for the break and the fields look like they need of some major TLC.  So hold on Mother Nature,  we need you to get on the slow train arriving on Monday.

See ya one final time !!  

Oct 10^th, ’04: Powder Burns On The West Coast - It was a day for sharp shooters and there were a few today as they did burn the powder at Santa Barbara Polo Club.  In the 8-goal it started before the fog lifted so smoke was hard to see, but the JCW squad with the Falk Brother’s Chris and Will were on a mission. They were stuffed yesterday by Mercari, but today they were doing the cooking and they fried Gehache. Deep fried I might say by 11 to 8.

On the other field Big Bro Ben and Benjamin were rockin’ as if they were not fouling, but laying the carpet, royal red. The flag was flying as they blew by Chadmar on their way to win # 2 to go along with their last championship. At 1 p.m. General Lee let Long Beach know they may be the head of the trust of Santa Barbara, but they should never trust a General to be kind. General Lee and squad bombed the enemy in red by 15 to 9. The General is one game away from his 3rd final in 3 years, 2 of them say 1st and he needs 4 to set the table, so it could be coming. At 3 pm it was the Lawman trying to keep the family together as they took on Klentner and company and as often happens the Developers got by the law somehow. They did again, but it was the closest game of the day as they slid by the Lawman by 2. Nobody is home free to the finals yet. Sat. will tell the story its like this .

Bracket A            

Mansour 2 & 0 + 9
def. Nicoma 12-6
def. Chadmar 11-8

Nicoma  0 & 2 - 8
L to Mansour
Lost to Primesource/Klentner

Chadmar  0 & 2 - 6
Lost to Prime/Klentner
Lost to Mansour 

Prime Source/Klentner Dev. 2 - 0  + 7

Def. Chadmar 11 - 8
Lost to Mansour 

Bracket B

Long Beach 0 - 2  - 10
Lost to Gehache
Lost to Mansour 

Gehache 1 - 1  + 1 
w 11 - 8 vs LB
Lost to JCW 

Mercari   2 - 0 + 15
Def JCW  15  - 6
Def. Nicoma    12 - 6

JCW  1 - 1 +
Lost to Mansour
Def. Gehache 11 - 8

See ya soon. 

Oct 9^th, 04:  General Lee Is Back With A Bang - As flags flew at 1/2 mast for young Jimmer Newman, polo went on as he would have had it.  Many of his friends played hard on this final tournament of the year. It started early and hard with Mansour and Nicoma meeting again.  As in last Sunday's finals the team was different again, but the results were not. Mansour buried them by six and Benjamin showed big bro Ben how to finish the deal. In the other 10.30 it was Justin Klentner doing the boardwalk on Chuck and not in a neighborly way. They stuffed by 4 and head to the second round.  At 1 PM it was Gehache getting tied in the 6th by the Walker family, but finally getting away from the Nurse and Grandpa Walker who scored 3 at 78. His goals were good goals as well, but not enough as they went down to the Shellar Crew.  In the 3 PM game it was General Lee showing why he comes to town as he was hungry for polo. Mercari got all excited and buried JCW in the canal next door by quite a few to move on to round 2 .

See ya there        

Oct. 8^th, ’04: Tragedy On The Gold Coast - Young Jimmer Newman lost his life last night in Santa Barbara, Ca. Jimmer was the assistant polo manager and was handling all the duties now during the Fall season. He was a 2-goal player, not able to play for a while as he had to have major surgery on his shoulder and he thought it was recovering well. Jimmer was hoping to resume playing next winter.

He was about 22 or 23 years old. Jimmer is the son of Super Polo Manager Jimmy Newman who manages Palm Beach, Santa Barbara & Aiken. It’s a big loss to the polo community and we send our best to Jim and Family to get through this tragedy.

Crowder & The Polo community

Oct. 6, '04: It Ain't Over Yet - That’s right, there is one more tournament before the lights go out on California polo on the coast. There are two more weeks of the Wickenden Cup and guess who is coming to town?  General Lee Pettigrew and MERCARI. They have owned this tournament in this century like 3 times thus far, I think. Guess who he is bringing to town  . . . the big gun is Fast-etta.  There is also a new young gun by the name of Jared Sheldon and he is a hot one watch.  It all starts this Saturday at 10.30 am.

What often happens is happening again. The 2 finalists of the last tournament drew each other for the first one this time. Mansour and the unknown but Champions of the last one, take on Nicoma who has been in both finals this year. Here is the Sat. & Sun. schedule and who we think is playing.

10.30 am
Mansour	vs.	Nicoma
B. Solemoni B Solemoni J Crowder   ?		C. Ladin M. Ladin J. Ladin J. Baker
Chadmar  C. Fairbanks  G. Teves R. Zeda C. Lande	vs.	Prime/Klentner J. Klentner M. Gutierrez T. Rudy D. Flynn
1 pm
Long Beach C. Walker D. Cruz  K. Walker D. Walker	vs.	Gehache M. Shellar S. Tkacik A. Gianico W. Ru
3 p.m
Mercari L. Pettigrew D. Fargy M. Fassetta J. Sheldon	vs.	JCW W. Falk C. Falk A. Cameron K. Berry

  

So come on over and see the shadows fall.

Oct. 3, ’04: Smokin’ Joe Is Back - Yep he's back and Mansour the team of many faces was glad he was close.  Nicoma and the Lawman (Matt Ladin) probably wish he had taken a detour. It’s been 2 weeks of who's playing today as Ben & Benjamin missed last Sat., Augi Zavaleta missed last Sunday and Henry Zavaleta had to watch today. He liked it just the same as the boys of Mansour blew the Door off the Law Office and headed to the bluebook for 2005. Mansour won the Regional President’s Cup for 2004. It was a funny set of things that happened in this tournament. On Thursday, 2 weeks ago, Ben said he needed a replacement for him and Benjamin as Sat. was a Jewish holiday. He could not play so we found Toby in town and needed a -1 and not many available, so someone said Spike or Mike of S.D. would do it. I called him and he did. He played so well he was wanted for the whole deal, but not to be. Then Augi got hurt and Henry came in. They were in the semis yesterday and Henry was hurt and on the way to the hospital. Augi called and said we need a player for Sunday in the finals, then about 10 minutes later Smokin’ Joe Henderson called and said he was almost to Indio and asked if I wanted want dinner. I said yes, but I have a deal for you and that’s the way it worked. Joe left for S.B. in the am and played for Henry Z. and they won.  The Palomino (Jason Crowder) was the only one who made all the games, but they are the 2004 Champs of the USPA President’s Cup and they are happy Smokin’ Joe was in town. 

Oct. 2nd, ’04: See ya Mansour & Nicoma In.  Prime/Klentner Out – Mansour, who has more players than the LA Lakers, will go to the finals with another line-up for the finals. Most likely as Smokin Joe Henderson may fill in for EZ Henry Zavaleta (who is now also injured) who was substituting for Agustin Zavaleta who is out with broken ribs. Ben and Benjamin are back and Spike is out and Toby is out. The lone survivor to date is the Palomino (Jason Crowder), but they made it to the finals of the Regional President’s Cup.  They will be playing with the Lawman (Matt Ladin) and Nicoma a family affair, who slid by Prime/Klenter Dev. yesterday who looked to be headed for their 2^nd straight finals. Prime/K ran right into the Lawman and he said whoa boys there’s a detour ahead and sent them to the consolation round. I think Prime/K will take on Chadmar in this match, but I’m not sure on that one.

Down in San Diego Graham Bray is having fun trying to get the Chicks Tournament running, but maybe there's too many gals to look at with that many lovely ladies around. Rumor is Josey & Mikee are headed there to help. Downtown in Los Angeles it’s the big one of the year, the Will Rodgers Memorial. They will be doing battle at Will Rodgers State Park, so let them run. Everybody else can go see them run as the seasons are closing down all around the U.S.

 See ya there, wherever they play polo.

Oct. 1st, ’04: Santa Barbara Is Still Ticking - Yes the SB season is still ticking on the clocks and there are still 3 weeks to closing time. It is just the second final on the way to the USPA President's Cup, the second of 3 thus far this Fall. Each has had 6 teams in the final tournament and this one has 8 to finish the show. So far in the President's Cup its been like this:

bracket (A) (B)

Prime Steak/Klentner Ranch Long Beach
beat L.B. 14-4 lost to P/K
beat GH 13-9 lost to CM
Mansour Gechache
beat GH 15-5 lost to P/K
beat N 13-10 lost to M
Lande/ Nacoma
lost to N beat CM 13-12
beat LB 10-9 lost to M

It all adds up to .. .

Klentner Ranch 2-0 + 14
J.Klentner
M.Guiterz
T.Rudy
D.Flynn

Mansour 2-0 + 13
B.Solemoni
B.Solemoni
H.Zavaleta
J.Crowder

Oct. 1st, ’04:  Special Thanks In Order . . .There were some people who just do good things for polo and some of them were in France.  They did not have to be there, but they were and of all the fiascos  that happened in France, they made their system work.

They were the Pony Judges.  Their job is not just judging the polo ponies performance. Their job is to keep all horses play time to 7 minutes or less and for sure no more.  Does it sound easy? Try it.  There are 56 horses available for each game and 8 riders at all times. All are able to change whenever they want or need to.  The judges have to keep track of the time each horse is played and they do count every second the horses are on the field.  Believe me, they do. I have tried to get an extra minute every now and then and you hear them shout “you have 30 seconds on horse #55” and it has to be done or they will award a penalty shot against you. Even in the overtime during the finals, 2 players had to leave the field for changes because of the judges. It is probably the biggest reason people do loan horses to the FIP Tournaments.  They know these people will be there and they are ever 3 years:

Bob Bradley - USA

Bud & Geri Dardi - USA

Emanuel Seidner - Guatamala

They received the same negative treatment by the French people,  but they were very good at their job as judges.  We do thank them as they pay all their own expenses and do not get to sit & watch or even avoid the rain or wind.  They do keep the World Cup working and I am sure all horse owners do appreciate them. We do.

Thanks again.