Sports

sports Polo for a

Cause

Sixth memorial held to remember former Skidmore coach By Steve Lawrence U nfortunately, many myths and misconceptions surround the issue of suicide, and an upcoming event entitled “Even Polo Players Get the Blues” addresses that reality.

The event (a polo match between Cornell University and Skidmore College) will take place on Feb. 29, and is held in memory of Sue Knight, a former captain for the Cornell Polo team and head coach at Skidmore. This will be the sixth year the event will be held (at 1 p.m. at the Cornell Oxley Equestrian Center on Pine Tree Road), and in the words of my longtime friend Ann Michel, “As a player on the Cornell Polo team in the early 1980s [Cornell won the national championship in 1980 and 1981], I really looked up to Sue. When we learned in 2013 that she had taken her own life, we were shocked.” That is understandable. Sue was an Ivy League graduate, an elite player and respected coach, and as Michel stated, few people knew of her challenges. According to Michel, “Sue was outgoing. She was accomplished, and while polo players tend to be driven, ‘Type A’ personalities, it took everyone by surprise.” She added, “She kept it all hidden, and that’s how we came up with the name ‘Even Polo Players Get the Blues.’”

After their friend’s passing, several members of the tightly-knit polo community made the decision to honor her by creating an ongoing event to raise awareness. “Some of us put our heads together,” Ann offered, “and we said ‘Let’s have a Skidmore College’s former head coach Sue Knight glances backwards while riding. The annual “Even Polo Players Get the Blues” event, founded in her honor, will be held Feb. 29. (Photo by Janet Scheraga)

game in Sue’s honor,’ and we decided to partner with Suicide Prevention and Crisis Services.”

The first year, the game was held outdoors, and Michel recalled that luckily, it didn’t rain. Polo is a game that is much too unsafe for all athletes—two and four-legged—if played on a wet field, so the organizers chose to move future events to the indoor facility and hold it in the winter, so as not to compete with the plethora of events that take place in our small window of nice weather.

Organizing and keeping the event going helps Sue’s friends and colleagues address the feelings so often experienced by those who lose a friend or loved one to suicide. “There are so many ‘what-ifs,’” Michel stated, “and you feel so helpless. That’s why we chose to partner with an organization dedicated to education and prevention, so we can help work toward a more open society, where mental illness is not perceived so differently than other illnesses.” She added, “The impact we can make will be hard to quantify, but we want to know that we’re just trying to make a difference.”

The event will offer an opportunity to watch a fast-paced polo match—a worthwhile reason in and of itself to attend— and it will also give those who attend an opportunity to meet the players from both teams (including the horses). There will be a polo skills demonstration during which visitors will be given a chance to hit a polo ball. Also, food will be provided by Mama Said Hand Pies. There will be no admission price, but donations to SPCS will be gratefully accepted.

If you have never seen a polo match, I highly recommend attending this event. Like ice hockey, the sport features a convergence of numerous skill sets, and it is a great sport to watch. Plus, there is a level of dedication not required by most sports, given when you play a game of baseball, for example, you put the glove, ball and bat in the trunk of your car and call it a day. For polo players, Michel says, “Logistically, playing polo involves a lot. The horses have to eat every day, they need to be cared for, and you never get more than 12 hours off.”

I was asked to meet up at Argos with some visiting friends on Saturday evening, and while we tried to have a conversation, it was nearly impossible given the raucous behavior in the adjoining room. It was a bit annoying until one of my friends peeked in, and reported, “It’s the Cornell women’s hockey team. They are celebrating going undefeated for the entire ECAC Hockey Regular season.” Understood. Next up, Cornell (19-0-3 in conference play) will host St. Lawrence for a threegame series next weekend for the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals.

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The Other Side

Tig Notaro’s ready to talk about how to move forward

By Brya n Va n C a m pe n T ig Notaro is a comedian, writer, podcaster and actor, perhaps best known for her “Live” album, performed four days after learning she had stage two breast cancer. Notaro will be in Ithaca on Saturday, March 14 to perform at the Hangar Theatre.

The Ithaca Times spoke to Tig Notaro about her cat, her act and her role as Chief Engineer Jett Reno on “Star Trek Discovery.” Ithaca Times: Have you ever been to Ithaca?

Tig Notaro: I have not. I’m very excited to. My wife and I have looked at upstate New York for potentially getting a place there, and that’s one of the towns on the list to check into. IT: I just watched “Tig Notaro Happy to Be Here,” your 2018 Netflix special. How is your cat Fluff, now that she’s no longer a kitten?

TN: Fluff is great. I would say she is living the life, and has no memory of being a homeless, feral kitten. It’s taken her a while to settle down, she’s still a little skittish, but she’s good. IT: It’s two years later from your special, can we talk about where you’re at these days? TN: I would say I’ve had some… nothing crazy, personal or intense like my “Live” album, but I have had some bumps along the way, as people do, and I’m talkin’ a lot about coming through that. And family things, just observational stuff. Some nonsense thrown in. IT: I thought the Indigo Girls bit on the special was kinda genius.

TN: [laughs] Well, thank you. I enjoyed doing that on tour and not having the Indigo Girls. In fact, I always tell people about when I headlined Carnegie Hall, my friend Cheryl Hines from “Curb Your Enthusiasm” drove by and texted me saying, “Oh, you’re at Carnegie Hall tonight. Can I come with my nephews?” And I said, “Sure,” and I got them tickets, and then she came backstage after the show. And Carnegie Hall is where I tried it out with the Indigo Girls coming out. And Cheryl said to me, “While you were toying with the audience about the Indigo Girls, I turned to my nephew and said, ‘I’ve seen her show a thousand times, and trust me, they’re not here.’”

IT: [laughs] Tell me about your opening act.

TN: Some of the tour I bring an opener, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I show episodes of my talk show “Under a Rock.” Or I’ll show my short film “Clown Service,” that I made back in 2015. So it just kinda depends. My opener that I’ll bring with me on the road, his name’s Greg Barris, and we’re old friends that amuse each other, but also really connect on health and nutrition, and so we kind of obsess and discuss nuts and seeds and fruits and vegetables all the time.

IT: How do you feel your character in particular and “Star Trek Discovery” in general are advancing gender roles and LGBTQ issues?

TN: Gender roles, gosh. I don’t even know how I’m advancing gender roles, but I do know that any sort of visibility is an advancement in every direction. And that’s what I think is so incredible about “Star Trek”: the visibility they’ve had and continue to have on the show. I think it’s quite impressive, the trek [laughs] that they’ve been on. This character is really in my voice, and it’s so fun to deliver the comedic lines. There’s a lot of the science mumbo jumbo. But I just do my best to get through that, and when I fumble—the cast and crew, they’re patient with me. It’s one of the nicest environments between the cast and crew that I’ve worked on. They’re long days, they’re about 15-hour days on average, but I only pop in and pop out when I have availability in my schedule. My favorite thing is to pop in and pop out of movies and TV shows.

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