Polo Anyone? A Quick Guide To The World-Class Sport

by Chris Owen on

The Miami Beach Polo World Cup is an annual event that draws players and spectators from around the world. Each year, more than 10,000 fans and competitors come from South America, Russia, Switzerland, Malaysia and other countries to be in and be seen at the world-class event. Done Miami-style, complete with fund-raising events, exclusive parties and fashion shows, tickets run up to $450 for a VIP pass. But unlike many other south Florida events, this one also has free general admission, enabling just about anybody to experience the Miami social scene.

Still, like experiencing other events while traveling, knowing a little of what polo is all about is not a bad idea.

Beach Polo is a team sport, played on horseback where winning means scoring more points (goals) than the other team. Goals are scored by driving the brightly colored, inflatable ball between goalposts. Each game has four, seven-minute periods called chukkers. Each team has three players and they change horses (polo ponies actually) after each chukker. Two umpires watch for fouls granting free hits. Fouls occur mainly when one player crosses another player who is following the ball on its exact line of trajectory.
While polo dates back 2,500 years, Beach Polo is a Dubai-created event that started in 2004, with the Miami Beach event beginning in 2005.

Actually two events, the Women’s Polo Cup takes place on Thursday, April 25, featuring eight women’s teams in a one-day series of round-robin championship matches.

The three-day men’s tournament runs Friday April 27 through Sunday April 29 with six teams that include some of the world’s top-ranked players. Sponsored by Argentinean sports and leisure clothing manufacturer La Martina, this year’s tournament will feature Miami’s DJ Irie, whose Irie Foundation will be an official beneficiary non-profit organization alongside Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Miami.

Beach polo is a lot like arena polo, but other forms include cowboy polo, elephant polo, camel polo, cycle polo, canoe polo and kayak polo as we see in this video:




[Photo credit – The Polo Life]

Daily deal – up to 40% off the SeV summer collection

by Scott Carmichael on

My daily deal today is for the “Scottevest summer sale”. If you have never heard of Scottevest (SeV), let me give you a brief introduction to what they make.

SeV has created a lineup of clothes specifically targeted towards people who tend to carry (too many) gadgets and other items. Most of their products have extra pockets (as many as 25 of them), and some products even include what SeV refer to as a PAN – Personal Area Network.

The PAN is essentially a way to route your headphone cables inside your garment, without having those stupid wires get in the way when you run down the concourse trying to make your connecting flight. In every possible way they are the perfect garments for traveling in.

Every single one of their products goes way beyond just making you look cool. Take for example their “Ultimate Cargo Pants”, which are on sale for just $60. These pants look pretty regular on the outside, but hidden away are 14 pockets, including a key holder, battery holders and even an “airplane pocket”, which is located mid-shin and lets you access your gear when you are crammed between 2 people back in row 87.

The pants are Teflon coated, so when your seatmate spills his or her drink all over you, it should be a pretty easy cleanup job. Also if things get too hot, you can unzip the pants legs and turn them into ultimate cargo shorts.

Since summer is slowly coming to an end, SeV is offering a great 40% discount on some of their top selling products:

To get the discount, you’ll have to enter a “secret” coupon code at checkout. The coupon code is SUMMERSALE. All products ship for just $5 each. The coupon code is valid until Monday August 4th, or until they run out of stock of the sale items. To learn more about the other products SeV makes, be sure to check out their site.

The World’s Craziest Sports

by Justin Glow on

Forbes Traveler is running an interesting story on what they’re calling the world’s craziest sports, including chess boxing, typewriter tossing, cheese chasing, camel wrestling, and something called kabaddi, an Asian sport that’s a mix between the popular children’s game of tag, and swimming — without the water. The game “involves trying to ‘tag’ members of an opposing team and making it back to your side of the court,” explains Forbes Traveler. “all while holding your breath.”

Or how about the World Series of Elephant Polo? “… this sport can look freakish. Elephants move surprisingly fast (remember that on your next walking safari), but they’re not exactly maneuverable.”

For even more bizarre sports from around the world, visit Forbes Traveler.