Irish Grass Polo Video from '06

Great video on modern grass polo. Not sure how i missed this one but it's pretty neat. Notice how few people are there for an "international" tournament. Has hardcourt surpassed grass? It appears so.

-W.

100 mallet heads

Lots of polo related construction has been going on in my basement lately. One of the many projects has been to cut up all the yellow hpde we received from the gas company. Thank the gods we finally have a chopsaw!

You might not be able to tell from this photo, but those three boxes contain 100 heads. So far we have 50 six-inchers, 25 fives, and 25 fours- plus all these little three foot sections. The funny thing is we still haven't even made a dent in the stash! Easily another 100 ft.

Therefore I'm offering free material to any club in need. You'd have to cover shipping, but that's still cheap compared to what you'd pay at Benscycle for them individually. I remember when we used to play with pvc and golf clubs until the COMO boys finally hooked us up with some legit orange stuff, so i wanna return the favor and share our good luck with others. I'm especially thinking of places like South America and Asia where polo is still pretty young, but I'll send this stuff anywhere in the world if it's needed. I'll probably make a post on the League about it, but anyone who reads this should pass to my information on to interested parties...

polovelobloomington@gmail.com

-W.

Brooks/Worlds video- my new favorite!

This has got to be my new favorite video! Of course i expect something of this quality from Brooks.. lots of Cosmic, L'equipe, Chicago, and MKE- very nice!

~ 3:28: "the American teams player rougher than we do here in Europe, and its always like if they meet in a game someone always complains about that."

Favorite quote has to go to the MVP- cause it's not an elbow, it's not a check.... "it's a buffer, a protection for our saftey." lol! i'm so happy that midwestern toughness won out over european fanciness.

-W.

What's in a name?

^the team Cosmic font/logo/stickers.

From my new favorite website- cosmic3bikepolo.blogspot.com.

Our local a-squad is in need of a team name and I need your advice. Yes, you!

While the "Bloomington" moniker has worked so far, Bloomington is a club, not a team. We're specific guys that play together competitively and should differentiate from the larger group (which also includes more, other teams). We've used "Cutters" a few times (for obvious reasons) but despite the symbolic value the Cutters actually are a legit little 500 team. Hell, they've become a frickin' dynasty at this point and Eric Young is on the verge of becoming a legend. But i digress. Trex, Lembo and i once used "the Young Abe Lincolns" which i found fun and appropriate. I really, really liked "Electric Wizards" (Evan, Ian, and I at the Invite) but that's a band, not a polo team.

In my opinion, a good team name should say something of both you and your city. I've always raved about how great of names "the Beaver Boys" and "Machine Politics" are, and not just cause they're midwestern and amazing, but because they remind me of their respective cities. Chicago is old, epic, industrial. It's Gotham and Al Capone. It's clockwork and cogs. Then there's Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Beavers and lakes and rivers and cheap beer. There's a youth and a humor to it- solid all around.

Now many i'm overanalyzing, but i think a name is powerful and worth putting some thought into.

Other teams names that rule? London seems to know what's good...
-Zombie United
-Rotten Apples
-Team Cosmic
-Malice International (formerly Mallets of Malice, i believe)

I've always loved "L'equipe", "the team". But those Swiss have tons of class, so a good name is to be expected.

Team Smile has always been a solid one, especially since (down a usual player) in London they changed it to Team Frown. Nice guys!

Minneapolis' the "Peter North Stars" has gotta be one of the best, ever! Old school hockey and porno references while still sounding casual to the average joe. I also remember a team from the Lexington Invite called "Pedalphiles"! For some reason there was a lot of deviant, sexual team names at that one. Anyway...

Our brothers in Japan run the gambit from odd names like "Yellow Stick Mania" to awesome ones like "Black Wrist", which sounds like an old video game/metal band. I'm not sure how relevant they are, but hopefully the name we decide on locally will be.

So what's your recommendation?

-W.

Short match video from NAHBPC

Terrible quality video of the second half of Machine Politics vs. Wisconsin Takeover at NAHBPC '10. Best part of the whole thing is a lefty joe full court shot around 2:40. and of course Dumptruck yelling "fuck-ing gold-en" the whole time. I'd only recommending watching this if you're bored, but here it is anyway.

-W.

It's not easy being green..

I have no idea where i originally saw this, but isn't it awesome? My friend told me that today the original Kermit the Frog was donated to the Smithsonian! So raise your glass to our little green friend!

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/25/original-kermit-frog-donated-smithsonian/

-W.

New goals in the works!

Trex, Donnie, and a few other hands built up some heavy duty, midwestern-style hockey goals. Wider at 6 ft and shorter at 3 1/2 ft i think they're the perfect balance for polo. Width wise it matches up with those euro style goals (which i like) and "slightly larger than one bikes length" seems to be the average that people are moving towards (more scoring action). Some people don't like the extra height that hockey goals bring but how many polo goals do you actually see scored up in the 3 and 4 holes? Not many, but they're sweet when they do happen!

Now we just gotta find some fishing net...

-W.

Field Trip to Chicago

Lightning Lembo is back!

Yes i realize these photos are all a couple weeks old at this point, but life's been busy...

The mighty square court!

Note the awesome hockey-style dasher boards.

I really am fond of tennis court surface. Not too slick, not too sticky.

I believe the sign in the upper left reads "Ivan Evans Court". I've no idea who that is or how they relate to polo but i love the space!

Rob- our host, friend, and all around polo stud.

He's also an excellent photographer.
Late into the night he broke out this beauty...
(That's sheet metal and hockey tape, fyi.)

This book is a compilation of photos Rob took at the NACCC polo tourney in 2008. I love this because it's like a little piece of history. While places like Seattle, Chicago, and NYC had established clubs polo was really starting to take off. Rob mentioned that this was sort of his initiation into the poloverse. And thank the gods because eventually that virus would spread to Indiana and a bunch of rookies would eagerly look at photos at that which came before them...

I'm not even gonna explain the story behind this guy. It's too awesome. Or dark.
Hopefully i'll meet him someday.

The "best lefty in the world"- before he was the best lefty in the world?

A well known New Yorker takes shot to the forehead, needs a rest.
And is that a lil' Hunter in front?
I swear those kids have been to more tournaments than the entire state of Indiana combined....

Ouch! I mean- really- ouch!

I'm betting this is when people started seriously considering facemasks...

"Without a cat it's just a house."

Rob thank you so much for your hospitality! Brian too, you're a slayer and a gentleman. Hopefully we'll make it back up real soon. And the windy city better be hosting one of those "majors" next year!

-W.

World Championship Match! MKE vs. CHI

I finally found a video of the final!!! Welcome to the Brian Dillman Show! Three men up, no turtling, full court shots!!! A hat-trick in the world's finals!! Exclamation point!

Thank you teamcosmic for filming this!

-W.

Edit: I didn't know that the Cosmic crew had a blog until now. Read more and see the original post at cosmic3bikpolo.blogspot.com.

Beaver Boys vs. l'Equipe - WHBPC full match

I'm not sure who "brassy" from Italy is, but thank you for this video! The camera work is pretty really shaky but it's totally worth it to see two of the best teams in the world going at it. I noticed that people were really cheering for the Geneva boys, but when MKE would do something cool it tended to get quiet! Home-continent advantage maybe? Who cares though- the gold and silver belong to the Midwest!

-W.

Dodici/Apologie Team Bikes

Daaaaaaaamn those are some pretty bikes! Apologie is the team that won the French Championships a couple months ago and Dodici is small shop out of Milan. I love how Europeans embrace the team concept right down to fancy uniforms and coordinated bikes... well, the French do at least.

Here is Marc's all built up (from the Dodici site)-


Now bloomington just needs to make those team jousts happen!

-W.

STL Bike Polo in the News

video at STLtoday.com

Great to see the STLWK boys getting some press! Hopefully it means more polo players, but at least we're left with great quotes like- "if i didn't have bike polo i think i'd just sit around and be really boring". Hah, i doubt it! They'd probably just invent some other sport... like bike hockey ;)

-W.

Weird Brazilian Bike Polo video

EDIT: I'm having trouble with the video embed, so just in case here's the link- San Paulo BP at R7 videos

I know a decent amount of spanish so this is slightly intelligible to me, but ascetically it's pretty out there. The announcer's voice alone is makes me wanna laugh out loud, but throw that music in and it gets a lil' silly. Still, i love getting to see what's going down in San Paulo. I hope polo keeps exploding in South America so they can start hosting tournaments! Good food, low costs, and reasonable flights from the US- count me in!

-W.

Mr. Do NAHBPC edit

North American Hardcourt Polo from Mr.Do on Vimeo.

The long anticipated Mr.Do video from NorthAmericans! Yes, I know it took me a while to post this and we've all watched it five times, but why not go for six? And ya gotta love that new logo..

-W.

World's Double Elimination Brackets

Midwest represent! The google document at http://tinyurl.com/whbpc2010-finals was a brilliant idea! It allowed live updating, but only after the games were finished. Not nearly as nice as it would've been to actually watch it, but it was thrilling nonetheless when results would appear. During the final match the twitter page BikePoloBerlin was updating goals so fast i wandered what the hell was going on, and apparently that was Brian Dillman scoring a quick five goals! All five by himself! That's gotta be a polo hat trick or something- and in the final match of the world championships no less. Damn i hope there's video of this.. anyway..

http://www.whbpc2010.org/

Sounds like Berlin did a fantastic job. Worlds 2011 - Milwaukee??

-W.

The Beaver Boys are World Champions!!!!!

This trophy now belongs to Brian, Joe, and Kremin! I've been following the twitter updates all day long and boy am i glad i did. And wouldn't ya know, it came down to Machine Politics and the Beaver Boys. Those guys fly halfway across the world and battle through teams from all over Europe just so they can have what is becoming a perpetual rematch. I really, really hope there's live stream next year.

Midwest represent!!!

-W.

Danny MacAskill epic trials video

Thank you Rob! Often I will figuratively say "this is the greatest thing i have ever seen" but in this case in may damn well be true! I had never even heard of "trials riding" before but it makes BMX look tame and Fixed Freestyle pedantic. I've watched this about 7 times in the past two days and right now i think i'll go for 8.

And someone over in the UK needs to get this boy out to some polo events ;)

-W.

Polo Night in Lafayette

Here's a few blurry shots from the jaunt up to Lafayette last week. It was actually one of the better nights i've spent in that city. Met a few guys that have some real potential, hopefully they start to travel and see them around more. Especially at that State Championship i hear is happening soon ;)

-W.

Drew's 'a Cruisin'

Summertime!

-W.

Lexington vs. Atlanta - Bluegrass Games final

This match had it all! Textbook passing from Nick and Chris, a taco'd rear that gets hammered out, precision turning, a full court pass that coincides with tapping out and, of course, priceless commentary from Jared throughout the match. But especially the exchange at the very end! That girl from Atlanta did not like him very much.

"Welcome to Kentucky, honey!"

-W.

Indy's New Court

Indy's new court, located behind a public school near MLK park.
The lot is abandoned but the asphalt is actually pretty nice, not too many cracks.

The boards are simple, yet functional.
The only real problem was the soft red getting stuck in the fence.

A good time was had, especially since Ft. Wayne came down.

Doug Gi shows 'em how its done.

"I guess you're not so bad."

Fun times! It's too bad some of the regulars weren't around, but with Stas and the Ft.Wayne crew coming down it was a helluva time. The court itself has a lot of potential. They say it'll eventually be demolished, but for the time being it's theirs for polo. Bloomington can definitely contribute some boards and building knowledge, especially if it means the State Championships can happen there.

-W.

Holy Grail!

Whew! My vigilance has finally paid off. Thanks to the good boys at Vectren and Miller Pipe Company we finally have all the HDPE we need. Actually, we have more gas pipe than we'll need for this year and the next. Aaaah.... does this shot qualify as gas pipe porn? Is there such a thing?? Do i need professional help?!?!

Probably, but you know what i don't need? :)

-W.