BR Polo Status Update

BR doesn't have regular polo these days. All of our regulars are in graduate school or involved heavily with their professional careers and we haven't been able to make it happen. It's kind of weird too, because even with a major university here in town, we haven't been able to tap into the student crowd the way I thought would happen.

We still love the game, pay attention to it, and love playing it, so if you are visiting and want to play, hit us up! With an added incentive, you can be the catalyst for a game or 11 here in town.

Update!

Upcoming polo events:

Tuba is going to go to LSU and the city to find us a place to play that is lit and covered and has a storage facility that we can utilize nearby for boards. We need to make this happen if we are ever going to play enough to get to a truly competitive level.

April 3-5: Lexington Polo Invitational - Chris from Lexington invited Baton Rouge to this tourny. If anyone can go on the first weekend of spring break, let me know so we can start forming teams and practicing.

July 16-18: North American Championships - This will be fun. Madison, WI is a great biking town. You would all have a blast there. Let's make a week and a half journey out of this and visit cities on the way up. Memphis, Lexington, Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis are all within reach.... Let's do it!!!

IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone who wants a say in where the North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships are needs to go to bikepolo.ca, read the bids, and let me know by Tuesday. I will be reporting the thoughts of BR to one of the regional reps (Rob ATX or Ryan PCOLA) so that our voice is heard.

Both bids are very strong. Keep in mind, Madison will be cheaper in every respect, they've done it before, and Madison kinda rules.

Boston is an amazing big town, there will most likely be free lodging. And maybe we could check out a preseason Red Sox game...

New Orleans Tourny

What's up, BROLO!!!!

Good times were had at the New Orleans Bike Polo Tournament.

Team Coonass Smash (Mark L, Dustin L, Andy Tuba L) finished somewhere in the 9-12 range, out of 19 teams.

Saturday record: 2-3.
Wins against one of the Austin teams, and FTL teams.
Losses to COMO (came in 3rd,) FTL (came in 2nd,) and BOT 9 (Frazer, Jace, Paul NOLA.)

Sunday record: 2-2.
Lost first game to Lonesome Beards (Travis BR, Cien and Mikey NOLA)
Win against The Originals (Anne Savannah, Angel BR, Tiffany PCola?)
Win against a team from Mobile (Don't remember their name)
Loss to a NOLA team (Will and Lando NOLA, and Trevor from Calgary?)

Travis's team had a good run too. They ended up finishing in fourth place. They had an epic tie game against team Pandzig (Chris and Peter from Philly, Jeff NOLA) They reset and played a sudden death game-first team to score moves on.

Good times, good times.

Talk to any of us that went for more details.

P-Cola recap

So from what I hear, Dave and Travis rolled over to Pensacola this past Friday for the 2009 edition of Bike Polo Fall Break. This was a random team polo tournament with teams chosen once you get there. Dave ended up on a team with Jeff from NOLA, and they were the winning team! Way to GEAUX Dave!!!!! Great job Travis and Dave representing the BROLO style.

We will play polo this Sunday. I have heard from Nick that since the Saints are playing on Monday he will be able to make it. I hope the same goes for Colin as well. Those games last Tuesday night (Travis, Jason, Weeber, Colin, Mark, Rosanne, and Andy) were some fun games. Keep BROLO happening!

Important Dates for BROLO-ers

It is winter tournament time guys...

Let's get organized and push it to these tournaments!

October 23-25 - Bike Polo Fall Break, Pensacola, Florida

November 20-22 - New Orleans Hardcourt Bike Polo Open

February 22-28 - Bike Polo Spring Break, Pensacola, Florida

WHO IS IN!!!!!!!!!!

Great Turnout!!!

This past Sunday we had another great day of turnout. Nathanial (sp?), Kenneth, Jon Peterson, and another guy on a Giant Mountain Bike whose name escapes me at the moment came out and played for the first time ever!!!! Unfrotunately, Nathanial is moving back to VA soon, so we are losing him. Hopefully he returns to Harrisburg stoked on polo and plays up there.

In addition to those four folks, Dave, Travis, Jeff (NOLA), Angel, Mark, Keller, Colin, Mikey (NOLA), and probably someone else obvious that I am forgetting, came out to play.

I am sidelined with a shoulder injury from a bike crash so I didn't play. Clay came by to hang out, as did Mark M., and Timarie (Mikey from NOLA's lady). Travis's parents also came by to watch for a short spell.

It was a great day of polo until......... it rained........
All the water from the interstate above came rushing down to where we were below, sending us running to move our bags and coolers to get out of the way of the nasty oil/water from the roadway above us...

Anywho, great day of polo, keep it up BR, keep the turnout coming, spread the word, and we'll see you next Sunday.

Reminder

This weekend, I will be out of town. BR(p)OLO will go on though!! America Street @ I-110 is now officially labeled Tina's House of Pain. Sooooo......polo, this Sunday, 1PM @ Tina's House of Pain. Bring it on Baton Rouge....

GREAT TURNOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a great day of polo yesterday. We had nothing but B.R. people show, and we still had 9 people! That may be the most we've ever had with only B.R. folks showing up.

In addition to our 9 players, we had Amy from 225 magazine come out and take a few shots and talk to us about polo. Mark dropped by and brought us some much needed water, and Rosanne showed up with a bowl of fresh watermelon! What a great day.....

Keller---I think you may have left your helmet. Call me 3eight6-5eight9-67eightzero.

Everyone who ate pizza....please throw me 3 or 4 bucks to help me cover that.

Possible magazine interview...

225 magazine will be doing an article on BR(p)OLO in the next few weeks. So....if you show up to play polo consistently, you might get interviewed....

shut up and play polo

Nuff said. When we say we are gonna play, show up. :-) Better turnout promotes better play promoting better polo.

June 28th, 2009

This past Sunday, BR(p)OLO was lucky enough to have AB from Pensacola, Frazer (temprarily) from Mobile, and Jeff and Paul from NOLA come up to play polo with us. Colin, Jason, David, Jared, and myself were also there.

Thanks to Clay for bringing us popsicles.

Thanks to the DPS officer for kicking us out of our parking garage. We found a better spot anyway.

Thanks to Jeff and Paul for having polo eyes open and finding our new spot for us.

If anyone has sheets of plywood that are going unused, please let me know. We can use it.

Atlanta Midsummer Invitational 3 v 3 Polo Tournament

The AMIPOLO Tournament was this past weekend. Team BR(p)OLO got smashed.... We went 0-5 getting outscored 5-0, 5-1, 3-1, 5-0, and 5-0.

The first round of this tournament was supposed to be a round robin style day of polo. I believe there were roughly 20 teams that showed up. This would mean that each team should have played 19 games. Well, the two courts were not managed very well, and the format was not thought out very well, so each team playing 19 games did not happen. Some teams played as few as 4 games, some played as many as 8. We got a draw that included Carve Smash from New Orleans, Pensanola of Pensacola/New Orleans, COMOsexuals from Columbia Misouri, XXO from Ft. Lauderdale, and Shanty Chasers from Jacksonville, FL. All of those teams, except for Shanty Chasers, were in the final 8....

Other teams got a draw of teams that were not in the final 8 at all....and ended up in the final 8 with a perfect (or near perfect) record.

All those things aside, the tournament was a learning experience. I know that I personally felt out of place and intimidated and didn't play my normal game. Roadrash played well, and Weeber played his normal brand too.

Baton Rouge just plays weak, slow polo in comparison COMO, RVA, FTL, and others. That said, we have been playing since March, and have already shown up to a polo tournament. So, BR(p)OLO has the devotion, and the motivation. I think we have the setup now with our rides to be comeptitive. We just need to consistently play. We need people to show up. So, if you come out to Polo on Sundays, keep on showing up. If you show up every once in a while, SHOW THE FUCK UP every time. We need consistent play. We need consistent attendance. It would be a dream if 8-10 people show up every week. That way some folks could take a rest every other game or so, and we could work on our game. Let's make BTR a hidden gem of bike polo.

Austin post

Hi all---

there is a post at http://atxbpsc.blogspot.com/2009/06/lft.html that kinda recaps this past weekend's polo from the Austin, TX point of view. It was a good time! Robert, Israel, and Jordan had supremely good bike handling skills, and I look forward to getting to play them in Atlanta.

Come on out to polo tonight. We are going to be playing everyone against BTR-A in order to prepare for the tourny this weekend. It will be fun! Please show....

Polo in NOLA

Weeber, Roadrash, and Dr. Tuba drove down to NOLA to play some killer polo yesterday. Luckily, no one suffered any broken bones or major injuries. Last week, one of the NOLA guys had to get stitches in his knee...

The trips to NOLA are in preparation for the Atlanta Midsummer Invitational in Atlanta, Georgia next weekend. Travis, Andy, and David are on a team, and Jared is rolling with us up there.

We have a free place to stay, so all should be fun!

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/saucecherry/sets/72157619366766713/

Polo! Polo! Polo!

Played about 8 hours of polo yesterday in New Orleans with NOLA and P-COLA. Some good lessons were learned, I think. Polo is a game of ball handling and bicycle control, not so much speed and hard shots. It is about creating an opportune moment and then siezing that opportunity. Bring it on, Baton Rouge!

Race To The Ends Of The Earth and polo equipment redux

Polo first:

Last night we had a sucessful Baton Rouge Bike Polo equipment re-make. We took the mallets apart and put new, larger ABS pipe on the end. The folks in New Orleans are using an ultra strong polymer pipe. Perhaps next month when we have to remake the mallets again, we will order some of that stuff. If you plan to come out to Baton Rouge Polo, please bring some cash ($5+) to help defray the expenses of the pipe, bolts, nuts, etc.


Race To The Ends Of The Earth second:

Mike and Lauren have created BEAUTIFUL hand drawn spoke cards. Each one is hand drawn
and hand colored. Check them out!!!!

Bike Polo Mallet Making Party

Thursday, 4/2/09, 7PM, Andy Weber's house on Maximilian.
If you play polo, please come help us redo our mallets.
BYOBeverage, and bring a few bucks to help reimburse for
cost of materials (this shit ain't cheap!!!!)

Possible polo location

Hello all!

I have been thinking and looking around the city for possible polo spots.
In particular, I've been scouring for possible rain locations, and I think I've found one!!!!

At the corner of Acadian and Bawell there is a parking garage. I haven't been by there on a weekend yet, so I was hoping to do that this weekend and scout it out. It is behind a business, so I don't imagine that anyone would be there on weekends, but I may be wrong. I'm not even sure which business it is...

But, potential exists!

http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=acadian+thruway+and+bawell+st&sll=30.430118,-91.150689&sspn=0.008326,0.013733&ie=UTF8&ll=30.43084,-91.150367&spn=0.00877,0.013733&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr

AND, I was just informed by a co-worker that Jacobs Engineering on Essen Lane has a parking garage behind it that we may be able to play in as well... I will check both of these locations out this weekend and post more here.

Rainy day situation

So, Baton Rouge polo players, we have ourselves a predicament.
Saturday evening we met to play polo in the garage behind the Clerk of Court Building at 222 St. Louis St in downtown Baton Rouge. We played from about 6PM until 9:30PM with no problems. People were parking in the area closer to the stairs and the entrance ramp for the Monster Truck Jam that was in the River Center Arena, but they stayed out of our way, and we out of theirs. After such a great experience, we were feeling rather excited that we had apparently found a covered place to play polo for when it rains!!

We went back on Sunday afternoon and a BRPD officer was sitting in his car in the garage. We set up and started to roll around and he drove over and told us we had to leave. I asked him if the garage was public property. He said "well it is, but it isn't. If the mayor happens to come down here on a Sunday and sees you guys playing down here, its on me" Me: "what if I get permission from the Mayor?" him: "If you get permission from the mayor you guys can play all you want." So we left, armed with information. (more on that later)

We rode down to 6th and State Capitol Dr on the edge of Spanish Town and played on the lower level of the old Insurance Building parking garage for about 4 hours. After several games, I got a flat tire and went to get my van. I pulled my van down into the garage and we played for a short while more. As it started to get dark, we decided to move to the top level and play in the light for what little time was left. As I was pulling the van out of the garage, a capitol cop pulled me over. He said we weren't allowed to be in the garage because it was state property... which confused me. Anyway, I told him I was a member of BRASS (Baton Rouge Advocates for Safe Streets) and go to council meetings and went to the mayor's listening meetings, and that we were just playing polo, not spray painting or defacing public property. He said we could finish our games for the day and then head out. He also took my information to give to the Sgt of the D.P.S. bike patrol unit.

So we were playing on the roof of this garage and Don Coppola pulled up. At first I thought it was just another BRPD cop coming to hassle us. He is a BRPD bicycle cop. He watched us play and said that polo looked like it would be really beneficial for his guys to play in order for them to develop extremely useful bicycle handling skills.

So, what did we learn? If it is raining, we will try to play in both spots. I am going to post a letter to the mayor on this blog later for you to copy and paste and email to the mayor's office. He needs to know that this is a worldwide sport, it is not anymore dangerous than riding on a velodrome with no brakes or riding/skating on a public skatepark. So, I will be emailing this letter to the mayor probably every day and encourage you to do the same. He needs to know that this is in demand, and unless he wants to build a covered roller hockey rink for us to play on, he needs to let us play in a parking garage. The only liability would be if the garage fell apart and crushed us to death....