Lexington Bike Polo gears up for a king hell of a tourney
NoC News
Volunteer construction crews on bikes have been frantically working around the clock at Coolavin Park to put the finishing touches on Court 2. The preparations are for Lexington Bike Polo’s 2nd annual Spring Invitational, to be held on Saturday and Sunday, April 3 and 4. Treated lumber boards have been pedaled into place and nailed down by the construction crew to form the court’s outer-walls; the clean-up crew has been busy waxing the court to a dull green shine, while the home-court-advantage crew has followed right behind them, scuffing up and oiling down select spots on both courts 1 and 2; and the balls crew has been keeping a close watch on their balls–checking them at regular intervals throughout the day for irregularities, deformities, and the like.
What’s more, the cookout crew has decided, after much discussion and paring down of ideas, on a cookout menu of hotdogs, hamburgers, Ale-8-Ones, and PBRs. All-city player Brad Flowers, apparently fully healed from his debilitating athlete’s foot injury, is now back to full speed and has been seen doing stop-start exercises on his bicycle up and down Johnson Avenue at odd hours of the early morning in an attempt to get back into game shape. All the while the bruiser, Alex Brooks, has been methodically sharpening the tips of his handlebars each night before drifting off to a deep sleep in the warm embrace of his bike–a relaxation technique he reportedly learned while playing around the Juarez circuit years back.
This year’s open-format tournament seems destined to provide fans with a king hell of a weekend of free outside gamesmanship and entertainment. Lexington Bike Polo Rep Chris “Reach-around” Simpson reports that Saturday’s schedule of events will mainly include pick-up games and any early-tournament games needed in case the tournament grows too large for a single-day event.
Sunday will be when fans can expect the tournament fireworks to begin in earnest. Already, gim-crack teams from Saint Louis, MO; Dayton, OH; Columbus, OH; Bloomington, IN; Chicago; Pittsburgh; and the District of Columbia, have made plans to travel to Lexington to take part in the 2-day tournament.
In addition, the dreaded Comosexuals from Columbia, MO, will be making their first return to Coolavin Courts since Charlie Hill slipped a ten-foot scoot-shot past Tiff Morrow in the seventh minute of overtime for a hard fought 2-1 victory over Tripple Lexxx in the Bluegrass State Games Tournament championship game last July. The Comosexuals were an early odds-on favorite to win this year’s tourney when the book finally came down from Price Ave early last week (nearly hitting even odds in the first frenzied betting rush), but since news leaked out three days ago that the threesome would be heading to Lexington straight from a couple nights camping, the team has pretty much settled in at 7-2, about even with a number of much-speculated Lexington team combinations, one of the Dayton teams, and a couple others.
So come on out and root, root root for our home teams (and everyone else, too). And have burgers. Bring your crackerjacks and other things, and enjoy a couple days watching some great live action. The public park is free to anyone stopping by.
The Lines
Part of the problem Price Ave has had in setting precise odds has been attributed to the relative lack of formerly announced Lexington teams. This paucity of information has contributed to what were initially fairly volatile and irregular betting patterns as fans feverishly speculated whether, for example, Tripple Lexxx might reunite, or whether Winter Regular Season champion Hallelujah Holy Shit would stay together for the tournament–or even if surprise regular season runners-up the Shit Squad decided to push on through for another go at it together.
After the public realized that the question as to which Lexington bike polo teams would form come next Saturday would not be resolved anytime soon, the lines softened and things have held pretty firm since. Ultimately, until the Lexington teams are formally announced, the lines will stay as they are.
Though the guess is that showing up to Coolavin Park around noonish on Sunday April 4 (and 2:00ish on Saturday April 3)–and staying through dusk–will get you to some great bike polo action, your best bet, though, is to check out the “forum” section of lexrides.com
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