The Polo Report by Steve Crowder

Sept. 28,'03:Undefeated - That was Voyagers in the fall of 2003. They did not get beat, they seldom had a close call and they had the s---scared out of them today. It was Marcello Abiatti who needed the big one to win them all and today he was the man who did it. Marcelo put in the last goal to seal the deal and he did it after a huge comeback by Spyglass as they rolled in 5 goals to equalize the game. It was, in my opinion, Shane Rice who made the difference all through this tournament. He played at a minimum 3 goals and often 4 goals and he is rated 2 goals. That’s the way it is. Chris Maloney is probably one of the best patrons in the game and he played that way everyday. It was that way ever time he went to the ball and he was on a mission and it had Spreckels on the lips. He also often had his way. Chris won it and that was a big deal and it was the deal of the month. Voyager is in the history books as the 2003 Spreckels Champions.

It was a good game in the first chukker and a little bit less in the 2nd and the 3rd. Voyager jumped out by 4 and then added one in the 4th and then the rocks of Spyglass came back and they flew in their face. Spyglass scored 3 and were down by 3 going into the 6th and as fast as that they were tied and then it was a brand new game. It was 1 minute 21 seconds left and Steve Dalton said “we are going to win this game” and with a mighty try he got the ball to Abiatti and it was adios amigo's and it was all over. The champion is VOYAGER.

In the 6 goal it was Dudley White (of CasaBlanca) bringing back the house and winning it all. It was so good to see him and he did it, but we scared the out if him and we did it twice. So it was worth it as he had a team made to kill with his wife Ronai White 0, Ashton Wolf 2, Shane Rice 4, and Carlos Galindo 5. It was a good game and they will be tough next year.

09/26/03 And Now There Are Two - They are Voyager & Spyglass. They fed off the bottom feeders as both teams won their divisions and blasted the wildcard teams into oblivion. In game #1 it was Silent Chris Maloney doing a tap dance on the boys from Hawaii as Hanelei Bay was out matched and out played for 5 of 6 chukkers. Voyager, with the only man to make the finals last year, did most of the damage. M. Abiatti wants to take the Spreckels home this year. His hair is getting gray and time is ticking by. Marcelo has a good chance as through 2 tournaments they have not dropped a game. They have a very talented patron in Chris Maloney and a young gun who is doing his job well, Shane Rice. Shane learned well from his uncle Billy Sheldon, to win polo games you have to take the M A N. This is a very good lesson in the world of polo.

In game 2 it was Not So Fat Boy George Daou playing a very good game of polo as he took out his man in the throw-ins and then took the ball and ran down the field scoring 3 good goals and stopping Chris Collins from his big runs that were so effective on Wed. He helped the Midget (Tomas Pieres), Henry Zavaleta and Martin Ravina drill the Rancho squad into the ground beating them every chukker and then some. They thrashed them for a big score of 15 to 9 and the last one was a mercy goal.

The finals will be a big one and you have to believe Voyager is looking good, but its the finals so we shall see.

Saturday is an action day so be there

See ya.

Sept. 25,'03: NO MAS PARTI POR DOS - I do not know Spanish, but it means the party is over for two teams as both Madison Square & Tarahumara suffered their 4th loss today eliminating them from all chances of being in Sunday's show, The Spreckels Cup Finals at San Diego Polo Club.

The defending champs were doing well early in the game, but never in control. Rancho Valencia, with patron Chris Collins coming all day long on long balls from D.Q. started to make it happen late in the 3rd, but Madison Square hung on in the fourth to lead by 1 with seconds to go. Rancho Valencia tied it at 7. After that in the fifth, Brian Middleton and Chris Collins put the pressure on the champs hard and ended the chukker by ahead by 1. In the sixth they took the show full-scale as Chris Collins stole the first 3 throw-ins and made or lead to a goal and it was history for Madison Square as they did not have a prayer to return.

The Pretty Lady (Lisa Bosstick) had a fall when Carlos Galindo proved it was a foul and knocked her off her horse. She landed on her very nice butt and took a little time to recover. She was back in the saddle with a lift and was back in the action, trying no matter how bad it got.

Game 2 was more of the same (Hanalei Bay vs. Tarahumara), but it started early in this one and did not change as Hanelei is headed to what may be the real finals. As they go head on with Voyagers this Friday in the semi show down. It all starts on Friday at 12 noon as we need time for the real crash and burn party come Friday night.

See ya there.

Sept. 21st, '03:SanDiego Polo was rocking!

6-Goal Spreckels

Bracket 1 this is a brutal bracket
Gypsy.com 2 - 0
beat Owens Polo
beat Rancho Valencia

Owen Polo 0 - 2
lost Gypsy
lost CasaBlanca (C.B.)

Rancho Valencia
lost to C.B.
lost to Gypsy

Casa Blanca
beat R.V.
beat Owen Polo

Bracket 2
Adeptus 1 - 1
lost to H.B. in OT
beat Photo Polo

Hanelei Bay 1 - 0
beat Adeptus
bye

Photo Polo 0 - 1
bye
lost to Adeptus

Bracket 3
White Star 0 - 2
lost to RDR
lost to Mont.


14-Goal Spreckels

Bracket 1
Spy glass 2 - 0 (winners)
Hanelei Bay 1 - 1
Madison SQ 0 - 2

Bracket 2
Voyager 2 - 0 (winners)
Rancho Valencia 1 - 1
Tamarhumara 0 - 2

Polo was the name of the game there were some tough games Sat. Despite the fog all games got going and it was safe footing. The house Dudley built rolled and they rolled again on Sunday as they blew by Owen Polo. All running and on fd. 3 it was an OT loss by Owen Polo playing a very good game and taking Gypsy.com to the 5th before losing to Hanelei Bay. Bones (Ron Bonaguidi), the polo man in S.D. this fall, set it up and pilled a big one upsetting Adeptus in OT. Sunday was a little less exciting as close games were far and few as the only close one was in OT at 3 p.m. A fired up Spyglass came back and put the title back a few days for Hanelei Bay as the Fat Boy (George Daou) seems to be shaping up and it was a fired up Topo Mendez doing the most damage as he scored some brilliant goals, made several suicidal plays and in the last chukker suffered a major wreck. He will be out the rest of the big show where the surf meets the turf. He made a bad decision as he rode for a foul on a tired horse. It cost too much to take the risk. It was a great game and it was the Midget (Tomas Pieres) standing tall as he made a big run down the west-side to sink the final blow to Bones and Boys.

Up in Los Angeles in the oldest Cup in California, it was Atlant/Summerland making their second finals in 7 days. The won it all with Texan Nevins, Peter Ganibi on Saturday and The Palamino (Jason Crowder) and Peter Ganibi on Sunday. It was the "B" boys Bielo and Bolko and they added another B today as Bielo got the red flag today and had to watch the last chukker from the side. It was also his b-day and he got to start on the Victory Champagne first. Well done A/S.

In S.B. it looks like Mansour and Nacoma with the Surfer and the Ladin Family heading for a showdown next Sat. They may not be able to keep the rolling Gehache out as Lande and Shellar are aiming for the platform on Sunday as well.

We had some new people in town and they were a great help. Bill Reed from Petaluma. He just got back from climbing the Russian Mtns. and he climbed on a horse and rode it. The # 10 looking Jessica Bailey from Ca. Polo Club and a couple of fine newcomers in Kim and Alex keeping it all in state.

See ya at polo in Calif. from the North in Petaluma /Santa Rosa and all the way to the southern paradise of Del Mar.

Sept. 20, '03: Polo - Well polo today was not boring, but it was not rock & roll. Both games were controlled by the best teams. Madison Square was just not in the league with Hanelei Bay and it showed. They came on late in the first half and then it was a one-way show after the center bell. Madison Square only scored twice and Macho Man (Julio Zavaleta) stuck it to the boys in black and it was not always so nice. It was often and they ran away by 3 in the end which sent Madison Square into Wednesday with a hope and a prayer.

In the second game it was Tarahumara looking for a miracle as Voyager did a royal a-- beating on them. Silent Chris (Maloney) was a major force as he sent the flagman waving often and friendly as they blew by the running Indians and went up the hill looking for the bye on wed. It was a fun game for them.

Sat. looks like this:

10 a.m. Gypsy plays Owen polo
& Rancho Valencia plays CasaBlanca

12 noon it is:
Photo Polo plays Monteverde
& Adeptus plays Hanelei Bay 2

2 p.m. White Star plays Rancho del Rio

And Wed. can call it a day as that's the way it is !!!!

See ya

Sept. 19,'03: Williams #4 - CONGRAGULATIONS TO ALLISON AND JIM WILLIAMS
They have a #2 and its a girl well done. Former California Wild Man Hurricane Williams has been tamed by a sexy lady named Allison. He will be busy for a while as he has double trouble now. It its the best thing in the world for him. His tires will last much longer and his gas bill will go down as he finds a brand new line of go carts for JP, Jr. who has the Wild Man's eye and maybe he has his Mother's disposition. Hope they do not name the daughter Isabel, as one hurricane is enough.

Good work Allison and JW.

Sept. 18th, '03: It is Show Time - Spreckels Cup
It's the last big tournament on the West Coast in '03 and it looks to be a good one. Two games have been played and both non-winners won their 1st game. So get ready to dance. The show is on and it's 2 brackets of 3 in the 14-Goal and 3 brackets in the 6-Goal, one has 4 and 2 have 3 with a semis. There will be so much polo in the next 10 days you can see it all, maybe, but you can see a lot of it. It will be fast furious and frequent. It all starts Friday at 2 p.m.

Madison Square Vs Hanelei Bay

Sept. 14th, '03: VOYAGER -IT WAS A GREAT GAME! The two finals Sunday were very good games. The first finals had a underdog Summerland/Atlant with big Bilo Z. and Bolko Kissling (two out of town patrons) with Ravina and Texan Nevins and they went at it hard with 2 young guns in the form of Lil' Joe Stuart and Ashton Wolf with old timer Graham Bray and Lady Figi. The difference was Lady Figi just stopping B.K. enough to turn the play as they got one on handicap and they had to have it as the final 10 seconds was needed as Lil' Joe put it in with 9 ticks on the clock. I was a very happy gang of Gypsys as they go into the book as 2003 Rancho Valencia Cup champs. There was no doubt the two out of towners came to win as they took the lead early and made a down and out war of it. This was just an appetizer as they led up to the high-goal war between Silent Chris and the Voyagers and Mr. Bones of Hanelei Bay. They did get it on as Marcelo Abiatti and Steve Dalton clicked for 3 quick ones and looked to be going away when Macho Man (Julio Zavaleta) and Lil' Joe (who was playing in his second finals of the day) came rolling back to knot it all at 5. The Hanelei Bay squad took the lead twice in the last 2 chukkers only to have Silent Chris come flying through and tie it up and make a great play to put them up by one. With 4 minutes to go it was still tied when Steve Dalton got loose and took it to the hoop in flying style. Then he sent a 60 yd. # 4 in the flaggers vision to put the final nail in the coffin and it was M.A. putting his name on the Rancho Valencia cup 2 years in a row. All 8 players played well but the young guns shined on Sunday. As in the first finals it was Lil' Joe Stuart playing very well again and Shane Rice making a big game in #2 and Daniel Roenisch from up north showing why he is just a little ahead of the southern boys, but not out of sight. If you missed it today come on out for the next 2 weeks. We promise it will to be more of the same.

See ya.

6-Goal Salad - The Gypsy's drove up in a Ferrari and left just cruising down the lane. The Photo polo drove up in Cornish and left faster. It was not a good day for Big Ed (Masterson) who is playing well, but had a hard day playing Lady Figi and her band of Broncos. She does lead the pack putting the high-flying Surfer Doc in her pocket. It was 3 against 2 much of the time with 2 young guns dealing the blows and Graham Bray, the knockout. It happened to often late in the game as youth and fire rise. Norma Owen came smoking back from being down by 3 in the 4th as the Midget (Tomas Pieres) broke them down on Pancho like 1-2-3-and got a 4th to stop bones (Ron Bonaguidi) bid to get to two finals that honor goes to little Joe as he heads to a double finals with a good chance to see them both in the trophy lane. Rancho Valencia with 3 generations going for the big one against Tomas Pieres and Norma with the Silver Fox back in the saddle. There will be plenty of action tomorrow as from 10 a.m. to sundown there will be some flying cavios where the surf meets the turf.

See you there.

Sept. 10th, '03: A Day Of 3's - Friday was a day of 3's . . . three teams were undefeated, two won by 3 goals and there were at least 3 # 3's missed. Three was not enough for Madison Square (M.S.) as they only won by 3 beating Spyglass in the first game of the day. It was a bad day hunting for Big George as his aim was not up to anything, but that was good for M.S. They needed those misses to reach the + section, but it would not be enough as Silent Chris Maloney and a new #1 Marcelo Abiatti (MA), destroyed the running indians from Taharmara. It was Shane Rice making some major contributions taking out the big guns and freeing M.A. for so many runs they were + 7 to start and by 1/2 time + 12 and looking for 3 p.m. finals. Marcelo Abiatti would be the only player to make it back to the finals. He won last year. At the 4 o'clock it would take a big upset by Rancho Valencia to send Madison Square to the finals otherwise the Hanelei Bay boys knew they were in as they started the day + 9 and it was close as Chris Collins and D.Q. kept the game very close, even with constant fouls coming against them from the 3 spot. In the fifth it was even R.V. up, but D.R. 1/2 of the wolf brothers did some schooling on Carlos giving him a thumping and turning the ball and stuffing it in the goal 3 times. I think there were some lessons taught at the old schoolhouse today and the finals will be Bones (Ron Boniguidi and his flyers with Little Joe up front and Macho Man sending the mail against another young gun Shane and 2 old campers running at the goal for Silent Chris. So be there for a real banger. Run where the surf meets the turf come Sunday afternoon.

See ya there

Sept. 10th, '03: Macho To Mas - A bunch of 20 & 30 year old boys found out 40 is much better as Macho Man (Julio Zavaleta) and Hanelei Bay did step on Daou's polo sort of hard today to get the lead in the race to the finals in Bracket 2. Bracket 2 is unbeaten by Bracket 1 which now is 0 - 6 and looking to find a way out of the hole. Hanelei Bay had some competition for 3 chukkers, but they were 2nd, 3rd and 5th. The rest of the time they were in a hole dug by themselves with lack of man to man coverage. Bones did a good job of shutting the door and the rest were on offense. As often as Daou would close in on them Macho would turn up the heat and burn them again. They have 1 game to go and a + 9 on goals and are looking to have lunch at the snack bar with Rancho Valenchia on Friday. It may all come down to goals if Bracket 2 continues to roll over Bracket 1. Here is the way Friday shapes up:

At 12:00 PM MADISON SQUARE 2-0 (+5) vs. DAOU 0 - 2 (-5)
AT 2 P.M. VOYAGER 2 - 0 (+7) vs. TARAHAMARA 0 2 (-8)
AT 4 P.M. HANELEI BAY 2 - 0 (+9) vs RANCHO VALENCIA 0- 2(-8)
SEE YOU FRIDAY AT SHOW TIME.

Crowder Polo Report Archives '02-'03

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