Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Coolavin Park
NoC Sports Desk
If you had Brad Flowers in your fantasy bike polo league, you awoke last Thursday morning with a great big grin on your face. Flowers scored three goals in pedaling Team 1 (Flowers, Tiff Morrow, and Kristen Avis) to a 3-1 victory over Team 2 (Tim “Mad Dog” Buckingham, Grant Clouser, and Nick McLean) in the fourth game of bike polo action at Coolavin Park last Wednesday night.
With only one set of lights functioning at the courts, the 8:00 joust time created visibility problems as the two teams battled under fading sunlight in the late summer dusk. The darkening conditions seemed to play most havoc on Tim “Mad Dog” Buckingham, who spilled off his bike and onto the scorching blue surface of the court at several times throughout the course of the match.
His first spill, at the 8:01 mark, left Buckingham splayed on his face at mid court and Brad Flowers, dressed this night in stylish pink shirt and matching blue gloves, all alone to ride it in going the other way for a 1-0 T1 lead.
True to his name, Mad Dog fought back erratically from the embarrassing face-down. On the upside, at the 8:03 mark the bearded giant blasted his way through bike traffic for an 8 foot goal. Moving from right to left at 25 feet out, Buckingham furiously cut an acute angle to the goal and manhandled a shot back across his bike and through the cones for the tying score. After making the shot, Mad Dog immediately circled back left, raised his mallet with one hand, and with the other began blowing kisses to both fans and players, who in the two minutes since his first flop had been heckling him with sordid and rotten names.
As the game wore on, Mad Dog—some say the nickname is a shortened version of “Mad Dog with Rabies”--continued his revenge romp, though admittedly with less than stellar success at the scorecard. At the 8:05 mark, he bear hugged Morrow near mid-court, falling once again off his bike and forcing Morrow to go foot down. Later, Mad Dog's emotions got the best of him when he brutally bent Avis' mallet with a hard karate chop to the middle of the shaft, which caused a one-minute equipment time-out.
Things settled down after these eruptions, though, and at the 8:09 mark Flowers made it 2-1 T1 with a steal at left mid-court that led to a contested shot and goal over some tight transition defense by McLean. Two minutes later, Flowers finished things off with a streaking open goal shot from twenty feet out, which gave T1 a 3-1 victory. Fittingly, the breakaway shot was set up by an Avis block of a Mad Dog shot on goal.
More on Mad Dog's bent shaft
Though she was using it at the time, Kristen Avis was not the owner of the mallet that Mad Dog Buckingham bent at the 8:06 mark. Rather, Avis was playing with a mallet borrowed from the stash of bike polo player Alex Brooks. Still rehabilitating from a broken arm that required surgery last year, Brooks had left the bike polo courts early for scheduled bariatric treatment on the arm. When Brooks learned several hours later at Al's Bar about Mad Dog's antics—and the great chuckles players and fans had with Brooks' pathetically bent shaft—the rehabbing bike polo player expressed disgust. “It's like fifth grade up in here,” Brooks railed. “And I want that [placed] in big bubble quotes.”
Bubble Quote: “It's like fifth grade up in here,” Brooks railed. “And I want that [placed] in big bubble quotes.”
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Sunday Bike Polo grows in popularity
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Coolavin Park
NoC Sports Desk
Sunday turned into a crowded day of bike polo at Coolavin. Many of the familiar faces showed up for the late afternoon weekly pick-up games—Morrow, Flowers, Brooks, Tedder, Simpson, Texas Phenom Lopez, Hord. And quite a few recent additions pedaled up as well: Stanton, Wood, Katie Jo, and Rozzi, among others.
But what had some grizzled veterans taking notice were the increasing numbers of new players taking up mallets and going foot-down for the first time. Pickup games that earlier in the summer drew eight or ten participants have morphed—on this glorious fall Sunday afternoon, at least—into a full scale Bike Polo happening. This was a far cry from just a year ago, when players gathered and played on the rooted Woodland Park lawn, or even six months ago, before the converted tennis courts at Coolavin had been parceled into two bike polo courts. Indeed, an unsuspecting spectator coming upon the bike pit that separates Courts 1 and 2—where bikes, mallets, balls and all manner of human shapes and gesticulations all but spilled out onto game action—might have mistook the gregarious crowd for a mob of bikers up to no good, which of course might not be all that far from the truth.
Today's rookies are of course tomorrow's tournament MVPs, and one couldn't help but notice the teaching going on: Simpson drawing up strategy with his bike mallet to a throng of eager faces in the bike pit, Morrow informing about “tournament” rules after a 15 foot ball-jointed goal by Wood, and Brooks instilling court awareness by sending giant forearm shivers, willy-nilly, at any number of unsuspecting rookies who had already gone foot-down and found themselves trapped helplessly against the court walls.
While the influx of players seems only to have increased the joy experienced by everyone involved with the sport —both during play on the court and in conversations off the court—the increase has also made for longer waits between games. As one long-time player remarked casually, “Games go two, three deep now.” What was once a one-game wait to get your mallet back into play now takes three, four games.
This is, of course, not a problem at the moment, nor might it ever be. Bike polo players—like the larger bike community, it seems—are notoriously giving and happy to have more people share in the game. But with more players arriving, it may now be time for Court 2, which sits to the north of Court 1 across the bike pit, to finally get retrofitted for bike polo action.
A little context. This past summer before the Bluegrass State Games Bike Polo Tournament, most of the players then associated with Lexington bike polo donated their time to construct a lumber court—essentially, a 2x6 treated piece of lumber that frames the court and ensures the ball will not get caught in the fence that encloses both courts. (The frame is taller on the bike pit side.) The lumber-ed in section acts as Court 1, and it has always (since summer, at least) sufficed for play. Sufficed wonderfully, actually.
But Court 2, which sits on the north end of the bike pit, has yet to be finished. Currently, it sits as a dumping grounds for pets, a unicycle stage for when Lay brings his unicycle, and as an occasional practice space on which players may warm up. But mostly, it sits unused.
Lexington bike polo has already put in their sweat equity to fix up one court. With a potential influx of new players to the park, might the city or community residents offer the meager support and help necessary to fix up Court 2?
Coolavin Park
NoC Sports Desk
Sunday turned into a crowded day of bike polo at Coolavin. Many of the familiar faces showed up for the late afternoon weekly pick-up games—Morrow, Flowers, Brooks, Tedder, Simpson, Texas Phenom Lopez, Hord. And quite a few recent additions pedaled up as well: Stanton, Wood, Katie Jo, and Rozzi, among others.
But what had some grizzled veterans taking notice were the increasing numbers of new players taking up mallets and going foot-down for the first time. Pickup games that earlier in the summer drew eight or ten participants have morphed—on this glorious fall Sunday afternoon, at least—into a full scale Bike Polo happening. This was a far cry from just a year ago, when players gathered and played on the rooted Woodland Park lawn, or even six months ago, before the converted tennis courts at Coolavin had been parceled into two bike polo courts. Indeed, an unsuspecting spectator coming upon the bike pit that separates Courts 1 and 2—where bikes, mallets, balls and all manner of human shapes and gesticulations all but spilled out onto game action—might have mistook the gregarious crowd for a mob of bikers up to no good, which of course might not be all that far from the truth.
Today's rookies are of course tomorrow's tournament MVPs, and one couldn't help but notice the teaching going on: Simpson drawing up strategy with his bike mallet to a throng of eager faces in the bike pit, Morrow informing about “tournament” rules after a 15 foot ball-jointed goal by Wood, and Brooks instilling court awareness by sending giant forearm shivers, willy-nilly, at any number of unsuspecting rookies who had already gone foot-down and found themselves trapped helplessly against the court walls.
While the influx of players seems only to have increased the joy experienced by everyone involved with the sport —both during play on the court and in conversations off the court—the increase has also made for longer waits between games. As one long-time player remarked casually, “Games go two, three deep now.” What was once a one-game wait to get your mallet back into play now takes three, four games.
This is, of course, not a problem at the moment, nor might it ever be. Bike polo players—like the larger bike community, it seems—are notoriously giving and happy to have more people share in the game. But with more players arriving, it may now be time for Court 2, which sits to the north of Court 1 across the bike pit, to finally get retrofitted for bike polo action.
A little context. This past summer before the Bluegrass State Games Bike Polo Tournament, most of the players then associated with Lexington bike polo donated their time to construct a lumber court—essentially, a 2x6 treated piece of lumber that frames the court and ensures the ball will not get caught in the fence that encloses both courts. (The frame is taller on the bike pit side.) The lumber-ed in section acts as Court 1, and it has always (since summer, at least) sufficed for play. Sufficed wonderfully, actually.
But Court 2, which sits on the north end of the bike pit, has yet to be finished. Currently, it sits as a dumping grounds for pets, a unicycle stage for when Lay brings his unicycle, and as an occasional practice space on which players may warm up. But mostly, it sits unused.
Lexington bike polo has already put in their sweat equity to fix up one court. With a potential influx of new players to the park, might the city or community residents offer the meager support and help necessary to fix up Court 2?
Players Experience Worlds, Return with Beards
One thing became noticeable during bike polo action last Wednesday at Coolavin: the soft clean faces have gone the way of summer. And while the bearded action is no doubt the practical end result of falling temperatures and strong seasonal winds, this sports commentator would like to offer another reason: the playful boys and girls of summer have grown up into the hardened, weather-worn men and women of fall.
Things came so easy to the players this summer, as various individuals and teams began racking up deep tournament runs, culminating in the wildly successful Bluegrass State Games Bike Polo Tournament, held right here in Lexington. But with the end of summer, our freshly shaved sports heroes left the friendly confines of the state and traveled to the World Bike Polo Championships, a tournament held on the hard streets of Philadelphia. With teams flying in from as far as Europe and the Pacific Northwest, the competition was fierce. No Lexington bike polo player or team placed in the tournament; even the Comosexuals from Missouri, who blew through last year's BG Games Tournament undefeated, failed to place.
As a sports journalist covering the local bike polo beat, I have been hard pressed to get much out of the players who went. Lopez smiles and looks off into the distance, whispering something about stealing the Comosexual flag; Combs mentioning how great an experience it was.
Vague utterances, but reverent ones. The players returned, beaten yes, in some games to a messy pulp, but they survived and learned. They returned home a bit wiser for the experience.
The beards says so: In the month since they've returned, the game at Coolavin has picked up. As Flowers noted last week, the defensive intensity has picked up all around. Flowers should know. He did not attend the Worlds for what some say was a chronic case of athlete's foot, and he wore no beard this Wednesday night.
Things came so easy to the players this summer, as various individuals and teams began racking up deep tournament runs, culminating in the wildly successful Bluegrass State Games Bike Polo Tournament, held right here in Lexington. But with the end of summer, our freshly shaved sports heroes left the friendly confines of the state and traveled to the World Bike Polo Championships, a tournament held on the hard streets of Philadelphia. With teams flying in from as far as Europe and the Pacific Northwest, the competition was fierce. No Lexington bike polo player or team placed in the tournament; even the Comosexuals from Missouri, who blew through last year's BG Games Tournament undefeated, failed to place.
As a sports journalist covering the local bike polo beat, I have been hard pressed to get much out of the players who went. Lopez smiles and looks off into the distance, whispering something about stealing the Comosexual flag; Combs mentioning how great an experience it was.
Vague utterances, but reverent ones. The players returned, beaten yes, in some games to a messy pulp, but they survived and learned. They returned home a bit wiser for the experience.
The beards says so: In the month since they've returned, the game at Coolavin has picked up. As Flowers noted last week, the defensive intensity has picked up all around. Flowers should know. He did not attend the Worlds for what some say was a chronic case of athlete's foot, and he wore no beard this Wednesday night.
Hord and Rozzi take 2 on 2 tournament
Coolavin Park
Saturday October 25
With a sudden death joust 2-1 victory over Andy Stith and Ben Wood in a thrilling championship game, Kyle Hord and Mike Rozzi completed their improbable run through the loser's bracket to capture the Lexington 2 vs. 2 Inter-City Bike Polo Tournament and Velo Swap this past Sunday at Coolavin Park.
Acting Bluegrass State Games Commissioner of Bike Polo Brian Turner described the day's action best when he stated, “"You couldn't have asked for a prettier Fall day to hold a polo tournament and velo swap. Hearts were broken, blood was shed, names were called and many bike parts were swapped." All in all, the tournament proved to be one king hell of an event.
After the fevered excitement of the early afternoon velo swap subsided, tournament play began in earnest around 1:30 P.M. The 2 vs. 2 tourney format represented a slight departure from standard bike polo rules and regulations. Rather than play to a fixed score and pit teams of three against each other, the Inter-City format developed by Dogtown operator Chris Simpson featured randomly-drawn teams of two playing fixed 10 minute games. (Commissioner Turner reportedly OK'd the changes.)
In effect, the changes made for a competitive tournament filled with plenty of offensive fireworks. As Brad Flowers commented between sobs over a Game 1 loss to teammates Shane Tedder and Katie Jo, the randomly drawn teams created parity. “The format mixes the best and the newest of players together, so it has a middling or evening effect, in a good sense, and so you have to re-adjust what you know about the game.”
Nowhere was this re-adjustment more evident than with Hord and Rozzi, affectionately known as Murder Town. The future champions were bested 4-3 in their first match and effectively began the tournament in the loser's bracket, but they learned quickly and peeled off six consecutive victories en route to the championship..
Their only loss came in a first round blood match, turned instant classic, that pitted Murder Town against Blood Brothers, comprised of the Commish Brian Turner and Boyd Shearer. Hord took the opening joust and first zigged around a fast-closing Turner before then zagging around a lifeless Shearer for a breakaway shot and score. Shearer evened the score less than a minute later for Blood Brothers when he flipped a backhand shot past Hord to the delight of the crowd.
From there, each team went on 2-goal mini-runs to bring the score to a 3-3 tie with approximately 1:48 left in regulation game play. From here, the two teams battled to a bloody draw until the closing seconds of the match. Then, with ten seconds to play a visibly bloodied Shearer shook free in front of the goal where Rozzi stood guard. The ball went into Shearer, who collided with Rozzi, sending both players flying from their bikes and Shearer blood splatter on a six foot north by northwestward trajectory. Before collapsing to the ground on top of Rozzi in a bloody mass, though, Shearer managed to stay aloft long enough to send a dribbler through the cones for a 4-3 Blood Brothers victory.
Hord and Rozzi would rise from the ashes of the disappointing and messy defeat, though, and win their next six games enroute to their well-deserved championship trophies.
Notes:
Tedder's return to action
Shane Tedder returned to the court after a month-long absence, but you wouldn't know it from the box score.
Tedder, who recently became a proud pappa, finished second in tournament goals scored with a staggering 16 points before retreating back home before the tournament championship game, reportedly to help feed or re-diaper his child. To keep this number in perspective, tournament points leader Kyle Hord of the championship winning Murder Town scored 17 points in 7 tournament matches; Tedder's furious 16 goal eruption came in only 4 tournament games.
One thing seems evident: the former Tripple Lexx member still retains his characteristic burst of speed.
Chris Simpson: King of the reach-around
In game 7 action, Chris Simpson pulled off a fairly rare feat: the triple reach-around. The reach-around, where a player from behind the goal reaches his mallet around only to jab the ball back through the cones for a score, is one of the more difficult shots in bike polo. To pull off a reach-around, one must be equal parts cunning, quick, lucky, firm, and precise.
Simpson's first reach-around came at the 1:40 mark on an assist from teammate Andy Stith. Less than a minute later, Simpson scored again on another reach-around, this time giving it to his competitor, Shane Tedder while Stith looked on intently from two feet away. By the time Simpson had his third reach-around, at the 4:00 minute mark after a Tedder footdown near the goal, the player seemed clearly spent—and frankly, disinterested.
It takes a certain amount of stamina to pull out two reach-arounds in one match, but to pull it a third time is just about unheard of. To have the stamina for three in an incredibly short 4 minute time-span brings Simpson to near cult hero status.
Garnett and Rozzi create trophies
Trophies for the first, second, and third place teams were reportedly donated by players Patrick Garnett and Mike Rozzi. Garnett, who welds, created the trophies from various bike parts. Though players commended his welding, some questioned its effects on Garnett's bike polo game. One player, who requested anonymity for fear of on-court reprisal, observed, “As soon as Pat started his welding job, his offense just died.”
Garnett finished in last place with teammate Matt Burton, losing both their games in unspectacular fashion.
Rozzi a new force on the scene
Tournament co-champion Mike Rozzi is a recent transplant to Lexington. Rozzi moved this past summer from West Virginia and met up with some bike polo fellows through Bike Lexington and Alley Cats channels. “It's great. It's nice to enter a city and right off meet a community like this,” Rozzi noted.
Still a rookie, Rozzi came into the day as a wildcard. His August arrival—after this past summer's Bluegrass Games State Tournament—meant that he was relatively untested in harsh tournament conditions where he would go up against bruisers like Alex Brooks. While he's still learning the nuances of the game, this much is evident: the rookie has exhibited a quick pedal and a feathery brake hand.
Long live Bill
The velo swap, essentially a flea market for buying or trading bike supplies and parts, preceded the tournament by several hours. The small-time vendors simply displayed their wares starting around 11:00 A.M. in the bike pit separating courts 1 and 2. Throughout the day players and spectators swapped and bought well-priced things such as seven speeds with Shimano breaks, sprocket-less frames, handlebars, frameless sprockets,and various chrome-colored biking trinkets and gadgets. Tripple Lexxx member and reach-around expert Chris Simpson hawked bike polo t-shirts.
The biggest uproar of the day occurred when Bill arrived packing some serious bicycle heat. His appearance, with all manner of bikes and spokes and sprockets, with two different plastic pullout drawers of bike parts—some even having “Italian shit” in them—mesmerized both the crowd and players. The courts emptied; the grill was left un-womaned. One vendor, who espied Bill, started bouncing up and down against the plywood walls of the bike pit, screaming at the top of his lungs for Bill to drive his truck and trailer of bike goodies right up to the gate.
Everything stopped, even the tournament, which was postponed thirty minutes to allow the frenzy at Bill's to subside.
Saturday October 25
With a sudden death joust 2-1 victory over Andy Stith and Ben Wood in a thrilling championship game, Kyle Hord and Mike Rozzi completed their improbable run through the loser's bracket to capture the Lexington 2 vs. 2 Inter-City Bike Polo Tournament and Velo Swap this past Sunday at Coolavin Park.
Acting Bluegrass State Games Commissioner of Bike Polo Brian Turner described the day's action best when he stated, “"You couldn't have asked for a prettier Fall day to hold a polo tournament and velo swap. Hearts were broken, blood was shed, names were called and many bike parts were swapped." All in all, the tournament proved to be one king hell of an event.
After the fevered excitement of the early afternoon velo swap subsided, tournament play began in earnest around 1:30 P.M. The 2 vs. 2 tourney format represented a slight departure from standard bike polo rules and regulations. Rather than play to a fixed score and pit teams of three against each other, the Inter-City format developed by Dogtown operator Chris Simpson featured randomly-drawn teams of two playing fixed 10 minute games. (Commissioner Turner reportedly OK'd the changes.)
In effect, the changes made for a competitive tournament filled with plenty of offensive fireworks. As Brad Flowers commented between sobs over a Game 1 loss to teammates Shane Tedder and Katie Jo, the randomly drawn teams created parity. “The format mixes the best and the newest of players together, so it has a middling or evening effect, in a good sense, and so you have to re-adjust what you know about the game.”
Nowhere was this re-adjustment more evident than with Hord and Rozzi, affectionately known as Murder Town. The future champions were bested 4-3 in their first match and effectively began the tournament in the loser's bracket, but they learned quickly and peeled off six consecutive victories en route to the championship..
Their only loss came in a first round blood match, turned instant classic, that pitted Murder Town against Blood Brothers, comprised of the Commish Brian Turner and Boyd Shearer. Hord took the opening joust and first zigged around a fast-closing Turner before then zagging around a lifeless Shearer for a breakaway shot and score. Shearer evened the score less than a minute later for Blood Brothers when he flipped a backhand shot past Hord to the delight of the crowd.
From there, each team went on 2-goal mini-runs to bring the score to a 3-3 tie with approximately 1:48 left in regulation game play. From here, the two teams battled to a bloody draw until the closing seconds of the match. Then, with ten seconds to play a visibly bloodied Shearer shook free in front of the goal where Rozzi stood guard. The ball went into Shearer, who collided with Rozzi, sending both players flying from their bikes and Shearer blood splatter on a six foot north by northwestward trajectory. Before collapsing to the ground on top of Rozzi in a bloody mass, though, Shearer managed to stay aloft long enough to send a dribbler through the cones for a 4-3 Blood Brothers victory.
Hord and Rozzi would rise from the ashes of the disappointing and messy defeat, though, and win their next six games enroute to their well-deserved championship trophies.
Notes:
Tedder's return to action
Shane Tedder returned to the court after a month-long absence, but you wouldn't know it from the box score.
Tedder, who recently became a proud pappa, finished second in tournament goals scored with a staggering 16 points before retreating back home before the tournament championship game, reportedly to help feed or re-diaper his child. To keep this number in perspective, tournament points leader Kyle Hord of the championship winning Murder Town scored 17 points in 7 tournament matches; Tedder's furious 16 goal eruption came in only 4 tournament games.
One thing seems evident: the former Tripple Lexx member still retains his characteristic burst of speed.
Chris Simpson: King of the reach-around
In game 7 action, Chris Simpson pulled off a fairly rare feat: the triple reach-around. The reach-around, where a player from behind the goal reaches his mallet around only to jab the ball back through the cones for a score, is one of the more difficult shots in bike polo. To pull off a reach-around, one must be equal parts cunning, quick, lucky, firm, and precise.
Simpson's first reach-around came at the 1:40 mark on an assist from teammate Andy Stith. Less than a minute later, Simpson scored again on another reach-around, this time giving it to his competitor, Shane Tedder while Stith looked on intently from two feet away. By the time Simpson had his third reach-around, at the 4:00 minute mark after a Tedder footdown near the goal, the player seemed clearly spent—and frankly, disinterested.
It takes a certain amount of stamina to pull out two reach-arounds in one match, but to pull it a third time is just about unheard of. To have the stamina for three in an incredibly short 4 minute time-span brings Simpson to near cult hero status.
Garnett and Rozzi create trophies
Trophies for the first, second, and third place teams were reportedly donated by players Patrick Garnett and Mike Rozzi. Garnett, who welds, created the trophies from various bike parts. Though players commended his welding, some questioned its effects on Garnett's bike polo game. One player, who requested anonymity for fear of on-court reprisal, observed, “As soon as Pat started his welding job, his offense just died.”
Garnett finished in last place with teammate Matt Burton, losing both their games in unspectacular fashion.
Rozzi a new force on the scene
Tournament co-champion Mike Rozzi is a recent transplant to Lexington. Rozzi moved this past summer from West Virginia and met up with some bike polo fellows through Bike Lexington and Alley Cats channels. “It's great. It's nice to enter a city and right off meet a community like this,” Rozzi noted.
Still a rookie, Rozzi came into the day as a wildcard. His August arrival—after this past summer's Bluegrass Games State Tournament—meant that he was relatively untested in harsh tournament conditions where he would go up against bruisers like Alex Brooks. While he's still learning the nuances of the game, this much is evident: the rookie has exhibited a quick pedal and a feathery brake hand.
Long live Bill
The velo swap, essentially a flea market for buying or trading bike supplies and parts, preceded the tournament by several hours. The small-time vendors simply displayed their wares starting around 11:00 A.M. in the bike pit separating courts 1 and 2. Throughout the day players and spectators swapped and bought well-priced things such as seven speeds with Shimano breaks, sprocket-less frames, handlebars, frameless sprockets,and various chrome-colored biking trinkets and gadgets. Tripple Lexxx member and reach-around expert Chris Simpson hawked bike polo t-shirts.
The biggest uproar of the day occurred when Bill arrived packing some serious bicycle heat. His appearance, with all manner of bikes and spokes and sprockets, with two different plastic pullout drawers of bike parts—some even having “Italian shit” in them—mesmerized both the crowd and players. The courts emptied; the grill was left un-womaned. One vendor, who espied Bill, started bouncing up and down against the plywood walls of the bike pit, screaming at the top of his lungs for Bill to drive his truck and trailer of bike goodies right up to the gate.
Everything stopped, even the tournament, which was postponed thirty minutes to allow the frenzy at Bill's to subside.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Fall cycles into Lexington Bike Polo games
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Coolavin Park
NoC Sports Desk
Both Kyle Hord and Chris Simpson scored three goals apiece in a defensive showdown at picturesque Coolavin Park on the last day of September bike polo action. The weather was crisp, the bike gear flashy, and the play decidedly defensive. As player Brad Flowers noted of the evening's matches, “The defense is getting so good now that it's hard to dribble around and score.”
The third game of the night featured a plethora of beards. On Team One (T1), Chris Simpson (hippy beard), Brian Ronk (Jesus beard), and Jarid (with an “I,”) (red beard) sported a formidable and diverse amount of facial hair. Opposing them, Kyle Hord (scrappy beard), Texas Phenom Rich Lopez (scruffy beard), and Megan Stanton (lacking beard, but didn't shave all month—or year, for that matter) looked less imposing, but were no less prepared when bystanders in the player's pit announced the 7:19 joust time with a spirited “3-2-1 Bike Polo.”
Perhaps because her smooth face provided less wind drag than the rest of the bearded players (an aerodynamic observation reportedly first made by Mad Dog Buckingham as faster bikes passed him by), Stanton controlled the joust, though to no scoring advantage. The opening minutes featured back and forth action and solid mid-court defensive work on both sides. Each team attempted passes at the goal, only to be stoned on their approach by stealthy steals and well-timed tie-ups. The closest thing to a score,for both teams, came at the 7:22 mark when a hard shot by T1's Ronk careened off the spokes of Texas Phenom Rich Lopez at the T2 goal and catapulted to midcourt. From there, a waiting Hord took the puck and balljointed it in the other direction to within eight feet of the T1 goal before Jarid (with an “I”) stepped in to foil any goal-producing shot.
Finally, at the 7:23 P.M. mark, a Lopez blooper at midcourt allowed Simpson to break the scoreless tie by hitting his first of two consecutive goals. Lopez had tried to leave a drop pass for the circling Stanton, but the Texan inexplicably left the pass instead for a waiting Simpson at the near-side midcourt wall. Simpson grabbed the gift and sped around and dribbled the ball to within 8 feet for an easy tap-in 1-0 T1 lead. He would add to the lead less than 30 seconds later on a backhand shot and score that trickled in for a 2-0 T1 lead.
The 2-0 lead would not stand, however, thanks to some crafty work by T2's Kyle Hord, who went on a two minute scoring binge of his own. His first goal, a hard shot over the middle that sailed past the outstretched mallet of Jarid (with an “I”), brought T2 to within one score at the 7:25 P.M. mark. A little over a minute later, Hord brought his team back to even with an impressive slap shot at halfcourt that sped past a bevy of menacing, bearded, defensemen who were charging in.
Momentum continued to see-saw and gain in intensity as the two teams traded goals. The first, a Jarid (with an “I”) rebound off the back wall that he slapped in with furious force from 3 feet out, pushed T1 out to a 3-2 lead at the 7:28 mark. The ever-steady Hord evened the score, though, at the 7:31 mark with an uncharacteristic burst of speed down the far side of the court for an uncontested shot and score.
With the score now tied and audience excitement ratcheting to a near violent frenzy, defensive guru and human ball crusher Tiff Morrow, who had just watched from the pit as her dog Elliot relieved himself on Court 2, tempered the audience and players by making a simple observation and asking an even simpler question (before then going to clean up Elliot's gift to Court 2): “We have free beer at Al's. What's the score?”
The question got immediate response. Crowd noise dissipated. Collectively, the players decided to hold a sudden death joust to decide which team could declare themselves Game 3 Winners (of a random September night of Bike Polo). Less than a minute later, Simpson dutifully serviced Morrow's thirsty needs by sending a half-court prayer through the cones for a hardfought 4-3 T1 victory.
Coolavin Park
NoC Sports Desk
Both Kyle Hord and Chris Simpson scored three goals apiece in a defensive showdown at picturesque Coolavin Park on the last day of September bike polo action. The weather was crisp, the bike gear flashy, and the play decidedly defensive. As player Brad Flowers noted of the evening's matches, “The defense is getting so good now that it's hard to dribble around and score.”
The third game of the night featured a plethora of beards. On Team One (T1), Chris Simpson (hippy beard), Brian Ronk (Jesus beard), and Jarid (with an “I,”) (red beard) sported a formidable and diverse amount of facial hair. Opposing them, Kyle Hord (scrappy beard), Texas Phenom Rich Lopez (scruffy beard), and Megan Stanton (lacking beard, but didn't shave all month—or year, for that matter) looked less imposing, but were no less prepared when bystanders in the player's pit announced the 7:19 joust time with a spirited “3-2-1 Bike Polo.”
Perhaps because her smooth face provided less wind drag than the rest of the bearded players (an aerodynamic observation reportedly first made by Mad Dog Buckingham as faster bikes passed him by), Stanton controlled the joust, though to no scoring advantage. The opening minutes featured back and forth action and solid mid-court defensive work on both sides. Each team attempted passes at the goal, only to be stoned on their approach by stealthy steals and well-timed tie-ups. The closest thing to a score,for both teams, came at the 7:22 mark when a hard shot by T1's Ronk careened off the spokes of Texas Phenom Rich Lopez at the T2 goal and catapulted to midcourt. From there, a waiting Hord took the puck and balljointed it in the other direction to within eight feet of the T1 goal before Jarid (with an “I”) stepped in to foil any goal-producing shot.
Finally, at the 7:23 P.M. mark, a Lopez blooper at midcourt allowed Simpson to break the scoreless tie by hitting his first of two consecutive goals. Lopez had tried to leave a drop pass for the circling Stanton, but the Texan inexplicably left the pass instead for a waiting Simpson at the near-side midcourt wall. Simpson grabbed the gift and sped around and dribbled the ball to within 8 feet for an easy tap-in 1-0 T1 lead. He would add to the lead less than 30 seconds later on a backhand shot and score that trickled in for a 2-0 T1 lead.
The 2-0 lead would not stand, however, thanks to some crafty work by T2's Kyle Hord, who went on a two minute scoring binge of his own. His first goal, a hard shot over the middle that sailed past the outstretched mallet of Jarid (with an “I”), brought T2 to within one score at the 7:25 P.M. mark. A little over a minute later, Hord brought his team back to even with an impressive slap shot at halfcourt that sped past a bevy of menacing, bearded, defensemen who were charging in.
Momentum continued to see-saw and gain in intensity as the two teams traded goals. The first, a Jarid (with an “I”) rebound off the back wall that he slapped in with furious force from 3 feet out, pushed T1 out to a 3-2 lead at the 7:28 mark. The ever-steady Hord evened the score, though, at the 7:31 mark with an uncharacteristic burst of speed down the far side of the court for an uncontested shot and score.
With the score now tied and audience excitement ratcheting to a near violent frenzy, defensive guru and human ball crusher Tiff Morrow, who had just watched from the pit as her dog Elliot relieved himself on Court 2, tempered the audience and players by making a simple observation and asking an even simpler question (before then going to clean up Elliot's gift to Court 2): “We have free beer at Al's. What's the score?”
The question got immediate response. Crowd noise dissipated. Collectively, the players decided to hold a sudden death joust to decide which team could declare themselves Game 3 Winners (of a random September night of Bike Polo). Less than a minute later, Simpson dutifully serviced Morrow's thirsty needs by sending a half-court prayer through the cones for a hardfought 4-3 T1 victory.
Tripple Lexxx falls in OT to Comosexuals
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Coolavin Park
[Author's Note: This is a more correct version than appeared in print. Thanks to Brian Turner for the corrections.]
After it was all said and done at Saturday's inaugural Bluegrass Games Bike Polo tournament—after five hours of tournament play had whittled seventeen teams down to two, after an intensely fought 1-1 draw in regulation of the championship game, and after Charlie Hill slipped a ten-foot scoot-shot past Tiff Morrow for a 2-1 victory over local mates Tripple Lexxx in the seventh minute of overtime—it was three Comosexual boys from Columbia, Missouri who would walk away with the title “Champions of the Bluegrass (Games Bike Polo tournament).”
Tournament play started at 12:56 PM with Bluegrass Games Commissioner of Bike Polo Brian Turner announcing the tournament brackets and court rules for the double elimination tournament. Ten minutes later, hometown boys Jesus, the Spic, and the Little Kid (Brian Ronk, Texas phenom Rich Lopez, and Kevin Kliment, respectively) opened tournament play with a 4-1 victory over Atlanta team Down Low. While there were occasional sprinkles—notably whenever Lexington team Pray for Rain actually played—the weather held up and made for glorious bike polo and grilling conditions. In all, five Lexington teams entered the tournament, with the No See Ums (Turner, Drew Combs, and Kyle Hord) placing fifth to go with the second place finish of Tripple Lexxx.
The championship showdown will certainly go down as one of the more thrilling finishes in Bluegrass Games Bike Polo tournament history. The game had it all: two dominant teams, precision passes, smart shots, dazzling defensive displays, bike crashes, scorekeepers, a vocal crowd cheering on the hometown underdogs, fast-paced action, and above all else, a championship drama that pick-up games just can't simulate.
Hometown favorites Tripple Lexxx, featuring Brad Flowers, Tiff Morrow, and Chris Simpson, emerged from the loser's bracket to face the unbeaten Comosexuals, and at 5:35 PM, the championship game began with a hard offensive by the Comosexuals that lasted all of two minutes before Flowers pushed a half-court runout to within four feet of the Comosexual goal. With a flick of the mallet, Flowers fended off a trailing Comosexual, Nicholas Jacob, by dribbling the ball through Jacob's wheels and tapping in for an early 1-0 Tripple Lexxx lead.
The crowd went bonkers—throwing chairs, guzzling Ale-8s, and pounding the court walls with mallets like a pack of coked-out wildebeests. They knew that a one-goal lead might be a virtual lock with Morrow, a certified ball crusher, guarding the goal.
But championships have a way of writing their own scripts. Much of the rest of the game was marked by unwanted Comosexual advances on Flowers,Morrow, and Simpson. Five minutes in at the 5:40 PM mark, Comosexual Pete Abram snuck one through a scrum in front of the goal to tie the game up at 1-1. From here, the game settled into a strategic match of bike-chess, with both teams looking, unsuccessfully, for the other team to flinch. By the time regulation play ended in a tie, both teams seemed physically and mentally drained. It was only the excited roar of the onlookers that kept the players going when play resumed at 5:47 PM after a water break.
The game appeared over at the 5:49 mark when Simpson rebounded his own miss along the fence, slipped back underneath to the goal, and tapped the ball over for an apparent 2-1 Tripple Lexxx victory. Bluegrass Games Bike Polo Commissioner Brian Turner, however, was right on top of things with a ruling that negated the shot because Simpson did not allow a second player to touch his ball after his first missed shot. Ultimately, however, it was a run-out by Comosexual Hill off a rare Tripple Lexxx offensive that ended the game. Hill reached around to steal a pass over the middle intended for Flowers. On the sprint the other way, Comosexuals Abram and Hill converged with Flowers, which resulted in a foot-down for Abram.
Abram's foot-down gave Hill the daylight he needed to spring to center court and slip a ten foot shot quickly past Morrow's pedals for the win at the 5:53 PM mark. Although vaguely disappointed with the outcome, the crowd appreciated the spectacular play by both teams and roared with delight for all six players.
Coolavin Park
[Author's Note: This is a more correct version than appeared in print. Thanks to Brian Turner for the corrections.]
After it was all said and done at Saturday's inaugural Bluegrass Games Bike Polo tournament—after five hours of tournament play had whittled seventeen teams down to two, after an intensely fought 1-1 draw in regulation of the championship game, and after Charlie Hill slipped a ten-foot scoot-shot past Tiff Morrow for a 2-1 victory over local mates Tripple Lexxx in the seventh minute of overtime—it was three Comosexual boys from Columbia, Missouri who would walk away with the title “Champions of the Bluegrass (Games Bike Polo tournament).”
Tournament play started at 12:56 PM with Bluegrass Games Commissioner of Bike Polo Brian Turner announcing the tournament brackets and court rules for the double elimination tournament. Ten minutes later, hometown boys Jesus, the Spic, and the Little Kid (Brian Ronk, Texas phenom Rich Lopez, and Kevin Kliment, respectively) opened tournament play with a 4-1 victory over Atlanta team Down Low. While there were occasional sprinkles—notably whenever Lexington team Pray for Rain actually played—the weather held up and made for glorious bike polo and grilling conditions. In all, five Lexington teams entered the tournament, with the No See Ums (Turner, Drew Combs, and Kyle Hord) placing fifth to go with the second place finish of Tripple Lexxx.
The championship showdown will certainly go down as one of the more thrilling finishes in Bluegrass Games Bike Polo tournament history. The game had it all: two dominant teams, precision passes, smart shots, dazzling defensive displays, bike crashes, scorekeepers, a vocal crowd cheering on the hometown underdogs, fast-paced action, and above all else, a championship drama that pick-up games just can't simulate.
Hometown favorites Tripple Lexxx, featuring Brad Flowers, Tiff Morrow, and Chris Simpson, emerged from the loser's bracket to face the unbeaten Comosexuals, and at 5:35 PM, the championship game began with a hard offensive by the Comosexuals that lasted all of two minutes before Flowers pushed a half-court runout to within four feet of the Comosexual goal. With a flick of the mallet, Flowers fended off a trailing Comosexual, Nicholas Jacob, by dribbling the ball through Jacob's wheels and tapping in for an early 1-0 Tripple Lexxx lead.
The crowd went bonkers—throwing chairs, guzzling Ale-8s, and pounding the court walls with mallets like a pack of coked-out wildebeests. They knew that a one-goal lead might be a virtual lock with Morrow, a certified ball crusher, guarding the goal.
But championships have a way of writing their own scripts. Much of the rest of the game was marked by unwanted Comosexual advances on Flowers,Morrow, and Simpson. Five minutes in at the 5:40 PM mark, Comosexual Pete Abram snuck one through a scrum in front of the goal to tie the game up at 1-1. From here, the game settled into a strategic match of bike-chess, with both teams looking, unsuccessfully, for the other team to flinch. By the time regulation play ended in a tie, both teams seemed physically and mentally drained. It was only the excited roar of the onlookers that kept the players going when play resumed at 5:47 PM after a water break.
The game appeared over at the 5:49 mark when Simpson rebounded his own miss along the fence, slipped back underneath to the goal, and tapped the ball over for an apparent 2-1 Tripple Lexxx victory. Bluegrass Games Bike Polo Commissioner Brian Turner, however, was right on top of things with a ruling that negated the shot because Simpson did not allow a second player to touch his ball after his first missed shot. Ultimately, however, it was a run-out by Comosexual Hill off a rare Tripple Lexxx offensive that ended the game. Hill reached around to steal a pass over the middle intended for Flowers. On the sprint the other way, Comosexuals Abram and Hill converged with Flowers, which resulted in a foot-down for Abram.
Abram's foot-down gave Hill the daylight he needed to spring to center court and slip a ten foot shot quickly past Morrow's pedals for the win at the 5:53 PM mark. Although vaguely disappointed with the outcome, the crowd appreciated the spectacular play by both teams and roared with delight for all six players.
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