SCENE Los Angeles

The time has arrived! Tickets to Oak Brook Polo Club's 2023 Season are officially on sale and available for each scheduled event as well as season passes...AND THEY ARE GOING FAST!

Looking for the Arlington / Churchill Downs experience? We encourage equine sports and horse racing fans to visit the Oak Brook Polo Club and witness the world's oldest team sport and most competitive game on four legs.

Oak Brook Polo’s 2023 updated summer schedule includes the following dates:​

Sunday, June 25th - Butler Challenge Cup
Sunday, July 16th – General George S. Patton Jr. Cup
Sunday, July 23rd - General George S. Patton Jr. Cup Championship
Sunday, July 30th - Ferrari Horses & Horsepower Championship
Sunday, August 13th – Chicago Women's Polo Challenge
Sunday, August 20th – Oak Brook Polo Open
Sunday, August 27th – Oak Brook Polo Open
Sunday, September 10th – Oak Brook Polo Open Championship
Sunday, September 17th – Butler International Cup
Sunday, September 24th – Butler International Cup Championship
*matches and tournament names are subject to change

Coach Andy Reid Sees The
End of the Fullback Position

Super Bowl-winning coach Andy Reid recently addressed an on-field development that has been occurring slowly before our eyes in recent seasons.

The development? The near extinction of the fullback position in the NFL.

Yes, there still are roster spots saved for a few fullbacks around the league. However, the heyday of strong blockers such as Moose Johnston, Mike Alstott, Robert Newhouse, Tony Richardson, John Kuhn, Larry Csonka and many other outstanding players probably is behind us. The last fullback drafted in the first round was 30 years ago when William Floyd was taken out of Florida State by the 49ers in 1994.

Coach Reid, a two-time Super Bowl winner, believes the fullback position basically has become obsolete in this era where the passing game rules. Reid has had a dedicated fullback roster spot each of his 24 years as a head coach in either Kansas City and Philadelphia. Yet, when his primary 2022 fullback left the Chiefs via free agency earlier this offseason, Reid did not look to fill the slot with an available veteran or a collegian in the most recent Draft.

“The tight ends can work into that fullback spot now,” Reid said after a recent mini-camp practice. “We’ve got a number of tight ends that we feel comfortable with so maybe you keep an extra tight end as opposed to that fullback.”

Reid earlier had said on a national podcast that “…the fullback has kind of been eased out of the game a little bit.”

In addition to the expanded emphasis on the passing game, the recent kickoff rule change on fair catches inside the 25-yard line probably will mean that fullbacks, who have been used as blockers in the kicking game, have lost their importance in that area as well.

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule and trend. The 49ers Kyle Juszcyk has been such a valuable asset as that team’s fullback that the Harvard-educated, 32-year-old has been named to the Pro Bowl each of the last seven seasons.

The one guaranteed constant in the NFL is change. We will be interested to see if Coach Reid is correct regarding the demise of fullbacks or whether outstanding players such as Kyle