Saturday, January 30, 2010

Polo Visitor!! Birthdays! Farewells!! Sunday!!!

Hey Austin, I want to make sure everyone in town will be coming out on Sunday so we can get in lots of great pick-up and LEAGUE GAMES!!! Also, we have a lot of Aquarians in the club celebrating birthdays right now (Dan, Keith, Jasmine, Me...who else?!), Derek will be celebrating his last day of polo in Austin this Sunday, AND we are going to have a visitor from the polo club in Bloomington, Indiana!! I hope everyone can come out and bring their A-games and make Ashley feel welcome, we met her first in COMO at the Midwest Champeenships, then Jazzy and I got to hang with her and her crew for a solid 24 hours at the St Louis Bike Polo Lock-in.

Ashley will be arriving around midnite on Sat night/Sun morning. Anything fun happening? She will be staying with me and I was thinking it'd be fun to maybe gather at Juan and a Million (or some comparable place) for a celebration brunch- all polo players welcome!!!We can toast to the birthday kids and the out of towner, anyone interested? Otherwise, lets make it kind of a picnic party at pick-up. Bring something to share and eat, or drink...

I am off on Monday too so anyone available for polo Monday, holler at me. If she is still in town on Tuesday, I'm sure Ashley would love to play southside polo if anyone could give her a ride to and from the courts? That can be discussed later. Holler at me with fun plans going on this weekend! mo.grady@gmail.com 797-5483

Friday, January 29, 2010

League Progress Report

Sunday will mark the end of the first official week of league play, and I wanted to do a quick progress report to let everyone know what is going on, and what needs to happen to keep our little experiment on track.

Last night was a wonderful night of polo, a cool humid mist and very little rain. If you stayed away because of the weather, for shame ;) As far as I know the first two league matches were played between Team Mayhem, Inc and the Polo Cholos, with the Cholos coming out on top two games to none. I believe the Cholos also emerged undefeated from their second match against the Polo Hobos. Annie and Mo kept score, and hopefully we'll have some official numbers posted by the time the crew gets back from the LA Polo Picnic this weekend.

I expect we'll see a lot of league matches on Sunday at Eastwoods, so that all the teams stay on top of their schedules. In the interest of making the process of scheduling and coordinating matches easier I put a chart on the shared Google doc. If you are on the email list for the doc, you should have got an email explaining it in further detail. Please take a moment to look it over and fill out the information on there.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Rain Break or No Break, Polo Goes On

rain jacket and pants--check. lights--check. polo mallet--check.

bring the ruckus--CHECK!

I'll be there tonight regardless of rain. People play polo in the rain all over the world. Looks like there even might be a break at 5pm. I'll have the cones and ball ready at 5pm, come play polo and league games!

~Cyrus

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Google and bike polo!

If you're wondering how to get in touch with your teammates for the League, you'll have to check your email, assuming you gave me one... if you haven't, then I didn't send you an email giving you access to the google doc with all the info in it. So check your email, open the google doc, find the tabs at the bottom, read the rules, see the schedule, contact your team, play polo!

Hit me up if you don't have this google doc... you shouldn't have to sign in to view it... if you have a problem, let me know!

I also put a new tab in the google doc for re-scheduling, comments, ideas, etc... I've already posted something there for teams 2 and 7. check it out.

We're working out all the communication bugs, please be patient and don't get worked up if you aren't able to get your games done because you can't get a hold of your team... it will all work itself out. The games will get done, fun will be had!

Bike Polo and Democracy

Daniel has raised an issue that I foresee requires our club to collectively solve—the “next game pile”. This is particularly relevant since we will now be mixing in League games during our normal pick up nights. Since we would never want to promote totalitarian or despot decisions, I think we should vote on this as a club. Hooray for democracy!

If you are not familiar with the issue read Daniel’s entertaining post here: http://www.thyneighborsbike.com/?p=2230 Also, read Doug’s (New York) comments to the post.

The Issue: With 30+ players that regularly come out, our club has reached the level where it may be hard to get as many opportunities to play a game as we would like, especially if someone has a time constraint and can’t stay the whole night. The natural evolution is that those who do not get their mallet in after a game has ended, in the traditional throw in format, try and ensure they will be in the following game by creating a “next game” pile. This has the potential of actually decreasing the opportunities for play as Daniel mentions by turning into a series of “next game” piles. If you are in the bathroom, in a conversation, or just spacing out, you may find that there are multiple “next game” piles and you are on the waiting list behind two or three predetermined games. There are two solutions to this problem and I will try and explain the benefits and disadvantages to each.

The first is to keep things as is. Stay attentive, and be the first to throw in your mallet to ensure your mallet is one of the six mallets that land in the throw in pile. As Daniel mentioned, if you can’t do this you shouldn’t be riding a bike, or playing polo for that matter. This is the purest solution, but it has problems. First, it does not ensure that players who just played will not throw their mallets in for the next game. Second, as we all have probably witnessed, more than six mallets can land on the court at once.

The second option is that after a game everyone who wants to play throws in their mallets. If there are six or less, great, we solved the problem. If there are more than six, whoever shuffles the pile first weeds it down to six, throwing out the extras. If you are not selected you throw in on the next game. The problem with this option is something I experienced in Seattle while playing with their club. My mallet, by chance, was not selected three times in a row. At 15+ minutes a game, I sat and watched for along time anxiously waiting to play. Yes, you can solve the problem by making a fuss, but not everyone wants to do that. I surely did not as an “out of towner” playing with a new club. It wasn’t until someone asked me why I wasn’t playing that I felt comfortably explaining that my mallet hadn’t been selected the previous three games. He ensured that mine would be selected in the next throw in. This gets messy however and has to potential for the shuffler selecting who they want to play in the next game.

The solution is what Doug mentioned. Those who are shuffled out of the six are automatically set aside for the next game. So if two are not chosen, they are ensured to play in the next game and the four mallets that are selected from the next throw in pile are added to the two to create the next game. In a sense this is a hybrid of the regular throw in and the “next game” pile. As Doug mentioned, this works best if everyone agrees that you cannot play two games in a row if there are more than six people out at the courts.

That creates three options. I propose that we vote as a club on the three, decide on one, and implement that option. In the comments section on the blog cast your vote and let’s sort out this problem so we can “have our cake and eat it too”, or maybe that’s “eat our cookies (or scones) and play polo as well”.

Option 1: Regular Throw In

Option 2: Next Game Pile

Option 3: Hybrid

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

This week in Polo...

It's a good week for Polo. Not only did our League start up this week, but Casey, Miguel, and I will be traveling to L.A. this weekend to represent the atxbpsc at the So-Cal winter polo picnic!

I want to make sure everyone got access to the google document with the team info, schedule for the league, and all the rules and goals we thought of. So, did you all get that, do you know the schedule for this week?

If not, here it is.

Round 1
2 v 1
3 v 12
4 v 11
5 v 10
6 v 9
7 v 8

Round 2
12 v 2
1 v 7
8 v 6
9 v 5
10 v 4
11 v 3

These games, should happen before the week is over, now my team won't be able to play this week, 'cause I'll be working and getting ready to leave, so sorry team... we'll make it up next week. If your team can't do these games, you'll just have to make them up at a later time, no worries.

For those who will be starting their league games, have someone keep track of the score and who scores, and then report it to Cyrus or myself sometime this week and we'll post it up so everyone can see.

For those who will make it out to the South Side pick up, have fun and play some polo!



oh hey did you all see this,

polo manual from blunt films on Vimeo.



and then finally a pic from Sunday!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

COME OUT NOW!!!

MEET US AT EASTWOODS PARK AT 1:30 TO RIDE UP TO BARTHOLOMEW PARK

--T-15 MINUTES--





Wednesday, January 20, 2010

In case you were wondering...

As of now, we have 11-12 teams for the League! That's 33-36 people who have joined in on the first ever

Austin, Tx Hardcourt Bike Polo League

Teams are being finalized to ensure fun and competitive play! Get excited, official start time is this Sunday!

3,2,1 Fubu!

Birthday bash!



Sat:

Plan is to meet up at Eastwoods at, around, 1:30, ride up to Bartholomew Park, hopefully play some polo on the old polo court, hang out a bit... you know....

Sun:

Meet up at Eastwoods again at 10 am or so for some fun informal stuff, just cause we can and should cause we all know it's fun... then anyone there can ride down to Joslin with me if you want or just meet us down there around 3, hopefully to play some polo down south.

lots of riding, if the weather permits of course, nothing intense, bring only what you need, you know, yep yep

3,2,1 Polo

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Friday, January 15, 2010

ATXBPSC turns 1


Party time y'all! Next weekend we are going to celebrate our clubs b-day. Try and get off work, it's going to be a lot of polo. Bartholomew, Eastwoods, and Joslin Parks. I'm not driving to any of those places, so if you're down to ride, tag along, we'll make it guerrilla polo style if we have to. Saturday and Sunday! I've got some ideas for games and some prizes, but you gotta come out to win!

We're going to kick off the Spring League by announcing/disputing teams, and hopefully get the first round of games in too! But that doesn't mean you have to be there, so if for what ever reason, you can't make make it out next Sunday, it's all good, you'll still be able to play. BUT YOU BETTER BE THERE IF YOU CAN!!! Any Questions?

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Come Play Polo Before the Floods!

When: Now
Where: Eastwoods Park

Supposedly there will be rain and even the potential of flash floods starting this evening. However, I have no great faith in weather predictions. We'll be out on the courts until we are rained out.

Dallas Pics









Tuesday, January 12, 2010

South Side Happy Hour Bike Polo: TONIGHT!


It's Tuesday, and that means Happy Hour Bike Polo will be in effect for the after-work crowd down at Joslin park just south of Ben White between 5 and 10.

We started playing these South side pick-up games about a month and a half ago. I think part of what has made them a success is that we get players of all skill levels.

Its easy to rely on experienced folks to come out whenever they can, and once they catch the bug, even players with moderate experience are likely to keep showing up. The trick is getting beginners to give it a shot, and to show them a good time.

With that in mind, Robert and I have been talking about encouraging would-be first timers to join us on Tuesdays. The level of play will still be competitive for any skill level, but you're more likely to see teams with one beginner, one moderate, and one experienced player rather than feeling like you're the only beginner on the court.

Miguel and Annie have been pretty great about bringing cones, balls, and extra mallets, so grab a bike and BYOB -- See ya'll tonight!


Some programing notes for this evening:

A few of our South Side regulars will be back on their home turf hot off the heels of tournament wins in Dallas; where the ATX teams took 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th last weekend. Make sure you give them all a pat on the back (or better yet a beer!)

League play is coming to Austin! This is the last week to sign up for the free spring league, here


Also, I hear Jason (Mr. ATXBS.com himself) will be joining us this evening to show off his brand spanking new polo bike, which I can't wait to see. If you've ever wondered about building a polo specific bike I'm sure he'd be willing pass along some knowledge. You might also want to bring your kid sister's huffy just to remind him a special bike does not a polo player make ;)

Lastly, Kevin floated the idea of leaving polo a little early this evening for a bit of caving on the greenbelt. The cave he has in mind is pretty tricky I hear, but he's been down there a few times and has some spare knee pads, so I'm in. If you bring a headlamp and feel up to it I bet he wouldn't mind if a couple others tagged along.

Monday, January 11, 2010

League Info

I just checked the league sign up sheet, and we have 17 people signed up online. I'm going to bring out a sheet to sign in person on Sunday, and that will probably be the last attempt at getting people to join in on the fun. So Consider this the last week to sign up for AUSTIN TEXAS'S FIRST HARDCOURT BIKE POLO LEAGUE!!! I know there are a few of you who haven't signed up and intend to, so get to it... just add your name and email to the list. There is NO fee. I'm predicting 7-8 teams, but the more the merrier, right?

After everyone has signed up and we know how many people to expect, there will be a group of us who will get together and try to fairly divide the teams up so that they are all as equally matched as possible. We will have some time to dispute teams if you really just don't agree with us. Then we will begin the league season! The weekend of the 23rd and 24th is a special weekend for us, birthday bash(more to come later), and I would like to start the league play that weekend.

Instead of actually scheduling out games, I think we will post up who you need to play in the order that might work best and it will be up to the teams to organize when they want to play during the week. You will have a week to play your match and send me the results so I can keep our overall results updated. I anticipate that most of the games will be done on either Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday, but if you want to schedule another day, that will be perfectly ok, as long as everyone on your team and the challenging team agrees.

Each team will play every other team in a 2 out of 3 match to determine the winner. So you'll have to beat everyone at least twice if you want to win. At the end of the league we will probably have a party and celebrate how great everyone did and hand out some prizes and whatnot!

And just in case you were wondering, pick-up games will still happen on their normal days, before and after the league games, so don't think that if you don't play in the league you can't play polo. Oh and of course we will need to have at least 2 spectators at the league games to dispute any calls, watch goals, and help to report the score. So keep that in mind when rescheduling games!

I hope this all makes sense! See you on the courts.

3,2,1 Polo

Dallas Re-cap

As you all know, the ATXBPSC took up a group of players to Dallas this past weekend for a friendly tourney. The court we were originally going to play on, which is the usual spot for the Dallas crew, was having some work done to repair it, so we were forced to play on another, smaller court. Which, if you ask me, turned out just fine. Some guys from Albuquerque, Tulsa, and New Orleans all showed up excited to play. The Dallas crew had a few guys show up on Saturday, but only two came back out for Sunday.

We ended up just playing pick up all day Saturday and did a unique and formal double-elimination style bracket on Sunday, which the Tulsa boys mathmatically calculated out. We ended up with 6 teams for Sunday. Our club had 2 full teams and one player each on the Dallas and Nola teams. The games were fun and exciting and I feel like everyone got to play an equal amount of times.

Now it's time to brag a bit...

Austin - 1st
Nola/Austin - 2nd
Tulsa - 3rd
Austin - 4th
Dallas/Austin - 5th
Albuquerque - 6th

Everyone did really well, I'm happy all you Austin peeps made the trip and especially the ones who stayed for Sunday. Great job you guys!!

Miguel took a bunch of pictures, so expect to see those soon!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Polo Goes On...Come Out and Play Today!!!

POLO TODAY
3p.m. Eastwoods Park

As many of you know, many fine polo players from our club are in Dallas this weekend representing Austin in a area wide effort to support the club in Dallas and spark new interest for this amazing game in the metroplex. For everyone else in town, and for people who have been wanting to try out hardcourt bicycle polo, come out to Eastwoods park at 3pm. Look for the motley crew of polo players on bicycles at the tennis courts with big smiles on their faces as we get our polo fix on.

~Cyrus

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Thursday POLO!!!

THURSDAY!
5:30 P.M.
EASTWOODS PARK
BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!

This is a good time to get travel plans all figured out for this weekend, if you are going to Dallas that is. Also, if you didn't know, the Dallas courts just happening to get two big holes dug into them this week, so the court location has changed, and the time restraints as well, not sure exactly when they want us there, but I'm going to try and be there around noon. That will give us plenty of daylight to play.


Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Tuesday!!



It's Tuesday and there will be some pick up going on down south at the Joslin Park courts. 5:30 is the time!

We usually have Guerrilla polo tonight as well, but I'm not going to organize any guerrilla polo today, no-one has shown up the last month, so let's just get it going again when everyone gets back in town and gets back in the groove of MORE POLO!

This weekend is the Dallas tournament, like Mo posted, we have a place to stay with her dad, get on a team, get in a car, and we'll see you up there, Saturday at 2 p.m. is when it all starts.

Something else to start thinking about, it's happening, league play is going to start soon. You don't need to worry about teams, Cyrus and I talked about it, and we think the best idea is to get a list of people willing to participate, we'll divide the teams up evenly, league matches will be 2 out of 3 games, scheduled for whatever night the players can manage, or it will just be on the regular polo nights in between pick up. So, if you want to play in the league, we have a sign up sheet, put your name and email down. Don't pick out your team, because we are going to put you on a team. We'll have a trophy and some prizes at the end of it all!! Austin's first bike polo league, get in on it!

Second post (many more to come, I'm sure!) about Bike Polo Spring Break!


Alright polo junkies, it's January so that means Bike Polo Spring Break and SESPI tournament in beautiful and sunny Pennsacola, FL is about one month away. Spring break starts feb 22 and goes thru the week. This includes crazy fun times with polo people from all over the country, activities and competitions throughout the week, tons and tons of pick-up on their roller hockey court that is on the beach, alley cats, BBQs, and probably the time of your life! The actual tournament is that weekend feb 27-28. Accommodations include BEACH HOUSE RENTALS!!!!! The houses tend to sleep loads of bodies so the idea is to get a huge crew to go in on one together. I have sent a message to clubs we met and got along with on our tour to gauge interest on their part in sharing a house. I know some P-cola, Savannah, and NOLA peeps are interested...Austin, who is seriously interested in attending this?! I think the best method is to drive there, we need to think teams, house rental cost breakdown, time duration, and reservation, and transport to and from Pennsacola. Start looking at your calendars, budget, etc!
See everyone Thursday!!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Dallas, TX Winter Invitaional Tournament


Who is planning on attending this?! Who are the teams? Who is driving? Let's talk turkey today at polo, we need to devise travel plans, carpooling, teams, etc. I have spoken to my dad who lives in beautiful and exotic Grand Prairie, TX about us crashing at his place and he has given the "ok", I need to know how many people to tell him to expect. If you want to stay at his house with me, please bring a sleeping bag and a pillow and whatever else you might need.

I work Friday until around 3pm, so I will be driving to the DFW that Friday around 4pm. I will have room for three others and I have a bike rack.

See you at polo!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Production Mallets


If you haven't seen it already, let me be the first to introduce to you the Milwaukee bike polo shaft and head, which you can buy for the low price of 19.99$ from the Milwaukee bicycle company. You can also purchase the poles and heads separately if you so desire. These poles are made from the 7075 T6 Series 4 Aluminum, which is what all the really nice ski poles are made from, guaranteed to last a lot longer than the lower quality poles, and look a lot better too!!! As you can tell the color scheme is orange, which I'm sure some of you UT fans will appreciate.

Friday, January 1, 2010

1st day of the New Year!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

If anyone is down to meet up for some polo this evening, hit me up... or better yet, just stop by!