18 days and counting...
There are several important things I need from all of you. These are things YOU need to do in the coming days; doing them will make your life and everyone else's life much easier. Before YOU do these important things, I want YOU to assume nothing about anyone else and expect nothing from anyone other than yourself. This post applies to you as an individual but no one individually. These are steps that you need to take.
Below are several questions. You need to ask yourself these questions and answer them honestly (rhetorical answers). The answers should be black and white. If your answers are gray, you're not taking the test right.
The test begins...now:
1.) Are you going to the Spring Invitational in Lexington, Kentucky on the weekend of April 3-4, 2010? - What I mean is: Are you literally going? The appropriate answer to this question is NOT: "Well, I want to go." This question requires a simple "Yes" or "No" answer. If you are not sure about this answer, figure it out quick. Teams are organizing right now, and dithering helps no on and hurts your chances to play with the people you want to play with.
2.) Do you know with whom you are playing at the Spring Invitational in Lexington, Kentucky? - What I mean is: Have you talked to people within (or outside of) STL Bike Polo about organizing a team and playing together in this tournament? Read that last sentence again (Seriously. I'll wait.). If you have not talked to anyone about organizing a team, you should start doing that now (not in the comments section). Do not assume you are on a team or that someone is making a team for you. Take responsibility for yourself and talk to the people with which you want to be on a team.
3.) Are you ready to let your bulldog out during the Spring Invitational in Lexington, Kentucky? - What I mean is: Are you ready to let your bulldog out during the Spring Invitational in Lexington, Kentucky? Tournament play is a weird thing. Professional athletes are always talking about replicating "game speed" at practice. It is nearly impossible. We "practice" every Sunday and Wednesday. But come tournament time, you will be playing at levels you rarely reach at our normal weekly pickup games. The heat of tournament play leaves you a couple of options: A) Let your bulldog out and rise to the occasion -OR- B) Cage your bulldog and release your timid turtle. I encourage you to do option "A." And I encourage you to practice embracing option "A" as much as possible over the next 18 days.
4.) Are you ready to have fun playing polo on a team of your STL brothers (or sister) and have fun...win or lose? - What I mean is: Yes this is a tournament, but do NOT get caught up in the fact that wins and losses actually matter. Do NOT take everything too seriously. Do NOT allow yourself to not have fun. At the end of the day on Sunday, you will have won some great games and lost some real heart breakers. Just remember: Polo is a game. We are all having fun. The instant you are not having fun, I insist that you pull yourself aside and remind yourself why you are in Lexington, Kentucky. (Hint: It's to have fun.)
5.) Are you ready to have the time of your life at the Spring Invitational in Lexington, Kentucky on the weekend of April 3-4, 2010? - What I mean is: Are you ready to storm into Lexington, Kentucky, hang out with our hosts -one of the coolest polo clubs in the world-, show everyone how hard St. Louis parties, and have an amazing weekend that you will remember for years to come? The answer to this question should be the same as your answer to question #1.
Are you ready? GET READY! Endless fun awaits us.
90 comments:
King said...
Leavi it to a WK to turn 1 min into an hour. For the love of god. We need that kind of enthusiasm about playing HERE you slackers. Damn. Shoot. Fudge. Anyone wana play tonight? Extra sunlight. Let's use it.
i would like to play tonight. -Patrick
I could be convinced to play...maybe.
toph will play polo tonight! toph is also going to lexington. toph will be at maplewood around 6:30. STL bike polo is the best.
I can play. Willmore or lindenwood. 6:30? Then free pizza at Lemmons! Boo ya!
M-Wood. I'll bring lights and cords.
return to lindenhood! claim the court.
ben is way faster typer than toph. safari is crap! where the hell is refresh...maplewood it is.
thats 5...
Theres daylight untill 730-8
Maplewood will be Hockey-tastic till at least then
Fight the hockey doods.
Lindenwood and Willmore have soccer douches that never give up the rink. Hockey guys will eventually stop playing. Soccer guys play late, don't argue with reason, rarely speak English, and lack common sense.
Well lets agree on a time and we can go from there. I can go over and see what Willmore is like at 6. I will check now and report back. Can people meet to play at 6:30? Jake, should we try under the bridge?
Lately Willmore has a few hockey dudes and its usually just a few kids. Like 3 or 4. I have not seen tons of soccer dudes like at Lindenwood (except one night there was a bunch around after midnight playing and i called the cops on them).
Willmore is free as off now. If anybody wants to come over (6956 jamieson) and hold the court with me (im not doing it by myself for an hour+) till others show, feel free to do it. Let me know.
I'm eating a quick dinner right now. I'll head your way about 5:30, Anchovy.
People! Expect to be at Willmore unless we call/text you otherwise. Arrive 6-6:30.
ill be there at 615
-jake-
i'm eating dinner, i'll be at willmore by 6:30, unless I get a text saying otherwise. -Patrick
Polo at TilLes tennis courts on Hampton (at fyler).
Right now till dark
That was awesome. I likes that court. That tennis court. I thought it would suck, but it was way grippy. For me my friends, that's number one. A couple lil rails built for the ends and it's all good.
There are huge multiple well lit tennis courts at the Delmar rex plex (on olive). I was over there around 10-11 the other night and could not believe all the lights. Drive by some night and check it out.
Granted, the hockey players at Maplewood leave when it gets dark, but as daylight last longer, our wait for the courts is going to last longer as well.
Anchovy, could you give me the exact name or address of this rec plex. I looked it up on google and couldn't find it. thanks. -Patrick
I think that for Wednesday nights, our regular mid week meeting, maplewood should be our choice. The hockey players start playing early (right after school gets out), and start wrapping up around 6. We've established a presence there, and I think we should continue to make it clear that we'll be there at 6 EVERY Wednesday when the weather permits. We spent the fall and winter gaining respect from the hockey players; I don't want to abandon that. Eventually, it'll just be understood that the rink is ours on Wednesday nights. (the hockey players are also a good recruiting pool...we shouldn't abandon the watering hole where they gather)
The small rink improves our passing and close-quarters ball handling. And the boards are higher than our handlebars, so you don't get them tangled in chainlink and stab yourself in the crotch or break your knee on your stem. The rink setting also assists the flow of the game.
As for the tennis courts on Olive, A) Olive is far. Well, not far, but I'll be driving past all of our perfectly good rinks to play on a substandard tennis court. B) I don't forsee us being allowed to play there much. I imaginge people will call security/cops sharpish. Parks with nice tennis setups are usually pretty protective of the tennis surface. Also, tennis rinks almost always have posted warnings that tennis rinks are for tennis only. It's hard to argue with a tennis player or security when signs clearly prohibit what we're doing.
I'm just throwing all of this out there. I'll play wherever. Whenever. I'll play wherever the club wants to play. But for me, Sundays I'll vote Mt. Pleasant, and Wednesdays I'll vote Maplewood.
(longest comment ever)
Lucky,
We need to find a soccer-friendly pub/bar in Lexington early on 4/3! Manchester United vs. Chelsea. This match will be huge, and it starts early...It should be over before the tournament starts.
Just put the question to the lexington bike polo forum. Thanks for the heads up.
The best part of Ben's post was, "We spent the fall and winter gaining respect from the hockey players; I don't want to abandon that."
Good one Ben.
I think they respect us and polo more now than they did the night they were ready to fight us. We're going to give that up to convince tennis players or soccer douches to respect what we do? Seems like we're pulling our foot our of one door to go and attempt to stick it in another.
Regardless, Wednesday's weather report looks good (according to weather dot com).
playing on the tennis courts was fun. but ben has a point, st louis county will be super protective of expensive tennis courts we could and most likely will get kicked off. i would say we are cool with the hockey players now and they seem to be cool with us. and cool with being done at 6:30. Maplewood has my vote, yeah its slick. but it would suck to drive out to tennis courts only to get kicked off in a hour.
the lack of respect with the soccer players is due to the fact that we dont know Bosnian or Portugese. the language barrier is kind of a factor. Those guys are douches anyway, getting their respect is a lost cause. see you guys wed.
if people can get to courts around 5:45(i know thats pushing it). Me and anchovy will go hang out at Willmore and reserve that shit. Lindenwood is out of the question.
Willmore is A team soccer (Lindenwood is B team ((rejects))). Holding that shit will be impossible. The whole neighborhood comes out to watch/play.
sorry to interrupt the discussion, but could someone tell me when that "friendlies" event in KC is?
thanks. -Patrick
KC friendlies - 4/24 and 4/25
(I just came up with a great idea for friendlies!)
I pretty much agree with the tennis courts most likely being a bust, but as a late night well lit option, im throwing it out there. I cant think of any others that fit that bill. Former potential bust: Wash U and that worked longer then any of could have imagined.
I dont know where you guys get this respect nonsense. They leave when they do cuz its getting dark and hard to see the puck, not because we are there. There is no way, come summer when it gets dark at 9, that they are gonna be like "oh, its 6:30, here are the polo guys, time to leave"
Is everyone going to Lexington on Friday, or is there any way to go on Saturday morning and still make it in time?
The flyer doesn't list a start time, but these things usually get going between 10 and noon. It's a 6 hour drive to Lex, yer talking about leaving the Lou between 4-6am. My car (if I'm driving) will not be doing that.
I am playing on a team with Nick and Trent. Are either of you guys driving?
PS. Toph, and everybody else. Pricepoint has tubes on sale, 5 for $10. lots of tube options also, presta, schrader, 26, 27 & 700c.
For Lexington: I'm playing with King and Shin. If King decides to be in Germany during this tournament, Shin and I have created a list of out-of-towners that we'll approach about being our third.
As for tonight, 60 degree polo!! Remember 20 degree polo in the garage? That's a thing of the past now (the cold and the garage...RIP). I'll bring lights, but I'm not exactly sure when I'll get there due to physical therapy tonight.
Ps. Isn't today Shin's birthday? Happy birthday, Shin! Shred the Bench Minor!
I will happily and proudly play with any of our StL bike poloists who want to make this their first formal tournament, just as Nick and I did with Ben last year at the same event.
Toph, Francis, Joe, Colin, Patrick, Andy, Bri-zone, John P?
I would be just as proud to play with those of us who have been to a tourney or two, but have not yet formed a team.
Julia, Evan, Whoever I've forgotten.
-Granpa Polo (loves all his grandkids)
Yes! Andy! Bri-Guy! JP!
Come to Lexington!
I just charted all of our consistent players and potential teams. There are thirteen of us (I believe) and two teams locked down:
Anchovy*
Trent*
Nick*
Lee*
Jake*
Ben*
Lucky
Evan
The Girl
Toph
Francis
Patrick
Colin
Then there are the people that sometimes play:
Brian
John
Andy
Joe (once)
Peat
If all of the regular people go, one person is going to be a free agent...Unless we convince a couple of the "sometimes" players to travel with us.
Thoughts?
OFF TOPIC/Double Brakes: Lucky i think i hate that problem solver 2into1 brake mod ( dont worry, I will give you the $10 i owe you and try and figure it out). The pervert, if you can find one, is by far the best thing to use in my book. I like your current setup, but as a slammin hard crasher, i think i would break the barrel adjuster off, the one that holds the other 2 barrel adjusters on there. I break the barrel adjuster on levers all the time and i keep my lever mounted loose so in a crash it gets "moved" down instead of bending. I used to skid through tires like crazy, but now i tend to just stop.
i talked to Joe the one night he played and he sounded super stoked on lexington. if he shows up again i think i could convince him.
King said....
I'm going to Germany the 1st thru the 18th of April. I'm planning on winning KC. Mainly because I despise that town. But I'm definatly down for kc.
I will be playing at least 3 days with Karlsruhe BP. I'm excited to shred on the euro scene. I'll be scouting the style and report back.
I don't feel my ankle is good enough for tourney play in time for lex anyway.
I'd love to see Queen-shin-beef win lex...
To those that have asked me for parts:
Julia- I will have your new bottom bracket. However it's not the easiest thing to fix rinkside.
Eugene- I'll have your bars.
Ouchovi- have u down for a knee crushing size stem.
Anyone else need anything let me know before polo tonight
I'll see you ALL there!
-Jakob-
I am a no for Lexington. And I'll be out of town until next Tuesday so my lights will not be making an apperance. Just a heads up.
Yay jake. thanks.
Whos the queen in queen shin beef?
Anybody wanna play now? im bored and its nice out.
314 623 6907
Francis: The organizers say that Saturday will be mostly pick-up games with a little bit of seeding for Sunday. So you are clear to drive in on Saturday morning without missing anything.
Were at tilles now. Tennis courts. I guess we will transfer over to Maplewood at dark.
what is your inner bulldog?
Julia,
you can take my extra bike home with you after Sunday polo, and hold onto it until you get yours fixed, because I don't think i'll be able to show up on Wednesdays for a while. i need to figure out a work schedule that doesn't leave me so exhausted for polo in the evening. if Jake brings his saw on sunday I could bring some new grips and caps i bought at ramp riders.
-Patrick
Is anyone else planning on driving in on Saturday? I don't have a car so I wouldn't be able to come alone on Saturday. It's not a big deal if I miss it, cause I really shouldn't take off Saturday anyway.
Fun polo last night. I got home and slept like a rock...After watching the new South Park.
Nuts to work. Francis, if it's the only way you are going to get the chance to play outta town, I will drive you and anyone else who wants to on Saturday morning.
The deal: I'd want to leave before 7am. Also, you would have to drive first shift home on Sunday night as i will be sleeping off exertion and drink.
Lucky, thanks so much for the offer, but I just went down to work today to talk about getting off on Saturday and it turns out that the owner and the event coordinator are out that night so they need their long time employees (Me) more than ever to make sure everything runs smoothly. I will just have to wait till the next one. Anchovy, while I was at work I picked up your painting and I will bring it on Sunday.
-Francis
If you're FOR SURE going to Lexington, raise your hand. Lucky or I need to get a number so we have floors to sleep on.
toph is not going to lexington. dont think thats hurting any teams or anything. cuddle hard.
i am going. need a place to sleep friday and saturday
Lucky, are you on a team yet? do you have a third spot? -Patrick
I let Chris from Lexington know that we're bringing about ten people.
Ben, what was your great idea for friendlies?
-Patrick
I'm keeping it under wraps.
I don't even have a second.
didn't someone find a place for polo in wet weather? Jake? was it under a bridge? -Patrick
Polo under the kingshinway bridge anyone?
Jake
where is Kingshighway bridge? -Patrick
http://tinyurl.com/yhy2q2q
I can't come today, my super double brake is at the machinist gettin' fancy.
My bike is getting tuned for Lexington, but I'd show up and goof off.
Or I could stay on the couch.
Thanks Lucky, remember I have that extra bike though!! -Patrick
I'm in for polo, that bridge looks cool!
is it official? polo at 3PM, under the Kingshighway bridge. i'm leaving now, hope to see people there.
-Patrick
Nothing's official.
Not that many people are interested.
I'm on the fence...Leaning towards "stay inside where it's warm"
im out. its nasty and the bridge need a sweep, temporary boards and more fuckiong people. have fun down there patrick. watch for bums.
i checked out the bridge. with some boards it could be a decent rainy day polo spot. i didn't see any bums, on the other side of the bridge there is a skate-park of sorts, there were many people skating and some older folks building something. looks like i'll have to play polo wednesday after all. -Patrick
Friendlies for the Blues game? I feel like I haven't seen any of you guys in forever. 5-8pm drink specials and decent bar food, for bar food.
My temple is still a little sore from when a Jake ball bounced up into my skull, but the bruise on my hip from defending a slapshot in CoMO is all gone.
Not being there, just knowing what goes on here in Philly:
Remember people doing what you dont like are douches in your mind. There is a decent possibility that the "hockey douches" or the "soccer douches" think that you are a bunch of polo douches when you get there before them and have the court.
I dont know of any good solutions,here in Philly our B court is almost never used by any one. But insulting people out having fun makes you seem as a bit of a douche.
the only reason some of the soccer players are referred to as Douches is because they do not cooperate. They dont follow the rules of the park and they take up the entire court. They do not listen to compromise and play like THEY own the court.
We have tried to be reasonable with them with no avail. Thus they are know to us STL POLOist's as "Douches" because they retain all of the properties of human douchery.
King said...
Of course they think were douches. It's all relative. I think people who post stupid shit on our board from miles away are douches. You may think I'm a douche because I just said that. Relative. Douche means shower in German. So clense yourself with my additude and let's play some fucking polo.
-Jake-
(douchbag)
King said...
Of course they think were douches. It's all relative. I think people who post stupid shit on our board from miles away are douches. You may think I'm a douche because I just said that. Relative. Douche means shower in German. So clense yourself with my additude and let's play some fucking polo.
-Jake-
(douchbag)
Everyone that isn't me is a douche. Yeah, I said it.
Anybody up for some games at willmore or tilles tennis courts (if we get beat out by soccer dudes?) 5:30-6?
Let's play tonight since we missed sunday. Yes?
ill play. Hey Douchebags, come play polo. You too coach.
ill play.
who else wants to play polo. Jake? PAtrick? Lucky? Ben? Julia?
Post what time you can show up also. Helps me get an idea if I can secure willmore or not
Im telling everybody TIlles tennis courts at 5:30 (unless i can secure willmore.)
i doubt i'll be there
Jake here!
I can play till 7pm. Either court. Wow its nice out. Can someone tell me how to get to tilles or willimore... douches...
Use me!
i can't make it, already have plans, otherwise i would play, see y'all wednesday. -Patrick
Were at tilles courts now
This blog is boring to the max!
Douches.
does anyone need wheel cover material? the maintenance manager at work gave me a bunch of old cigarette signs that had been piling up as cig prices rose higher and higher.-Patrick
Patrick has wheel cover material. If you don't have wheel covers, get these signs from Patrick. If you don't have wheel covers before this weekend, you are a moron. There's no excuse to not have wheel covers, and I will not help you pick up your teeth when you get a pedal in your wheel and go OTB onto your face.
hey patrick i would like to pieces of those signs.
Post a Comment