This weekend, on Sunday, August 23, is the All-City Championship Bike Polo Tournament. We’re getting started at 1PM SHARP (meaning, please be ready to play at 1pm) at McRae Park in South Minneapolis. In addition to a round-robin to double-elimination bracket, there will be a grill going all day, some prizes and a whole lot of fun. The entry fee is $9/3-person team. Teams need not be co-ed.
Out-of-towners, if you need a place to stay or help getting around, let us know. If you’re looking for a team, there is discussion at mplsbikelove.com with a list of unattached players. Spectators may want to come later in the day to witness the small end of the bracket. Of course, you’re welcome at any time.
I am probably forgetting someone if I am I apologize.
Thanks to the sponsors who provided prizes and support to Minneapolis Bike Polo Banjo Brothers, All-City, Twin Six, Surly, Peace Coffee, Minneapolis Park and Rec and the Bicycle Film Festival.
Thanks to the Bike scene in Minneapolis and all my volunteers, Steef the grill master, Atomkinder(A+++ would use again) the mechanic, Bjorn, Chris, Connor and everyone else that timed and reffed games. A big thanks to Brian for doing stats on EVERY SINGLE GAME. Seriously man, your concentration was amazing. I can’t wait to see that spreadsheet.
Thanks to the spectators for cheering, screaming, ringing cowbells, playing the drums, and heckling us.
Thanks to the out of town players who came. It really meant a lot to have you travel to Minneapolis and give us a chance on our very first tournament. Jess and Arlyn from DC (the best husband/wife combo in the world), Jones from KC (hope you enjoy that Twin Six METAL mess bag. Let them know where ya got it), Cait and Ellen from MKE (you two rock! it was great partying with you on Sat and Sun), and Yetiman (nice to see you again. Sorry we couldn’t get you on a team but glad you had fun rocking the race on Sat)
Congrats to the podium
1st Place, Rawesome
Gus – Boston/MPLS
Cian – NOLA/MPLS
Elana – MPLS
2nd Place, Wake Me Up Before You Polo
Dustin aka Dabney Coleman – MPLS
Ebbin – MPLS
Cait – MKE
3rd place – TCDC
Jess – DC
Arlyn – DC
Bjorn – MPLS
MVP – Gus
19 goals and a shitload of blocks
Gus’ impressive goals scored combined with his mountain of blocks propelled him to first place over Arlyn in the MVP category. Gus walked away with the All-City 165mm crankset. That thing is beefy and beautiful.
Even if Minneapolis didn’t come back with a podium spot, Dustin came back with some great footage. Here is part one of the 2009 Milwaukee Messenger Invitational 2v2 hardcourt bike polo tournament. Check out parts two and three for the outcome.
Dustin, Bjorn and Sven traveled to Wisconsin for the Milwaukee Messenger Invitational VIII alleycat and 2v2 bike polo tournament. Bjorn raced and completed the alleycat. More onthat elsewhere.
After getting drunked out of the place we were staying Friday night we made up for it on Saturday. Had a great breakfast, hit the race, hung out and saw the awards after the race and then played some random pickup polo with Chris and Nick from Columbia, MO on a massively snowy night. It continued to snow until 2 or 3pm on Sunday. Which was a problem.
Jake explains the format of the tournament
With at least 4″ on the ground and more predicted, the tournament was held in the parking garage downtown.
18 teams entered the tournament. Teams from Chicago, Madison, Minneapolis, Columbia, MO and Milwaukee. The format was a two 9 team brackets round robin to determine seeding followed by a single elimination tournament. Round robin games were to 3 points or 7 minutes. Ties held.
Dustin and Sven teamed up under the banner of Minnehaha. Bjorn joined up with a MKE local, Andy H, under the banner of “Bjorn to Be Wild”.
Minnehaha-4 shared a bracket with Dad That Hurts-1, Huamanuer-2, Ball Quif-3, Fuck Yeah-5, okay-6, Bjorn to Be Wild-7, Trix and Hoes-8, and I Got Nothing-9. Bracket B was filled with a bunch of jerks that you can read about in Jonny from Madison’s record of the tournament.
Bracket A had some really skilled and really fun teams to play against. Here is my recall of the games we played in no particular order. Note the team numbers above.
We came out of the round robin at 5-3. Seeded in 8th place overall. We faced a local MKE team from bracket B and won. Next up was team Old Bear Poop made up of Joe and Brian from MKE. We scored two quick goals to go up 2-0 on OBP and then blew the lead as experience got the better of us.
knocked out
After our elimination we watched several amazing games. Dad That Hurts (Jonny/MAD and Ben/MAD) were knocked out by Old Bear Poop and then later came back to win in the consolation match to bring home 3rd place.
Old Bear Poop faced off against Huamanuer (Kremin/MKE and Ben/CHI) in the final. A great game. Dustin will have some great video highlights to share real soon.
In the end Old Bear Poop won and kept the 2v2 honor in Milwaukee for another year.
Minneapolis will be sending at least two, maybe three teams to Milwaukee this weekend for the 2v2 tournament on Sunday. Good luck to the teams from Minneapolis as they battle it out in Milwaukee.
If the court is free we are looking to get some pickup games in on Saturday.
