I recently posted the question on our Facebook page: "If you could see any one sporting event in any one venue, anywhere in the world, what would it be?" Well, I couldn't stop at just one, so here are my top five:
5. FIVB Women's Beach Volleyball - Ipanema Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
What's not to love? The best volleyball players in the world playing on a beautiful stretch of sand in Brazil? Sign me up. I have enjoyed both watching and playing beach volleyball since high school, and I used to attend the tournaments in Chicago, whether at Oak St. Beach or North Ave. Beach. I'd bring a ball and get in some pick-up games on the side courts, then wander over and watch the best (men and women) battle it out on the main courts. Oh, did I mention that this event is on a beach? In Brazil? I'd imagine it would be as much (or more) fun to watch the crowd!
"Bikini, miss?"
"Oh no, that covers far too much."
4. Billabong Pipe Masters surfing tournament - Banzai Pipeline, Oahu, Hawall
This one is more about the locale than anything. I could never in a million years learn to surf, but I think it would be a lot of fun to watch the best in the world do so. I'd love to be a part of the laid-back surfer scene, on a pristine Hawaiian beach, for just a few days. It's 180 degrees from my reality, as a great vacation escape should be.
3. The Midnight Sun Game - Growden Memorial Stadium, Fairbanks, Alaska
Every June 21, the Alaska Goldpanners welcome an invited opponent to Fairbanks for the most unique baseball game in the world. The opponents come from different states, and occasionally from abroad. The 2010 game featured a U.S. Military All-Star team. The game begins at 10:30pm local time, just as the sun is beginning to set in the north. At the half-inning break nearest midnight, the action pauses for the singing of the Alaskan Flag Song. The game often ends around 1:00am, as the sun begins to rise again in the north. The entire game proceeds with no artificial light. I think it would be amazing to see Alaska in the summer, and especially to watch a "day" baseball game at midnight.
2. The Championships, Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, England
First, I would love to visit London, and really all of the U.K. But Wimbledon is so steeped in history and tradition. It would be wonderful to watch the best tennis players in the world compete on grass, to hear the ladies always called "Miss" or "Mrs.," to see the players dressed in reverent white. I'd want to eat the traditional Strawberries and Cream, and just to soak in the history of the 125-year-old tournament. I have been to the United States Tennis Center in New York (albeit not during play), at I think a true sports traveler should seek to attend all four Grand Slam tennis tournaments.
1. Game Seven, World Series - New Comiskey Park, Chicago Illinois
If my first two choices were all about the locale, this one is all about the event. No one will ever confuse the South Side of Chicago with a paradise. Baseball is my first, purest sporting love, and the White Sox are my team. When they made it to the World Series in 2005 (for the first time since 1959), I had four people hitting the Internet and phone lines for me, just hoping to be one of the lucky few to get through for tickets. The "cheap" seats were going for over $150 face value, and I would have paid it gladly. None of us were able to get through. I even considered buying scalped tickets, but the $1000-and-up price tag was something I could not justify. To see my team play in a deciding World Series Game Seven (especially if the Sox won) would be the ultimate sports experience.
It's your turn! Where would your dream sports vacation take you? What event would you see? Why is that at the top of your list? Please respond in the comments.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Hey Jealousy
I'm going to go off the beaten path a bit today. No roller derby recap, no jetting off to see another ballpark, just some personal stuff. I'm sure that just about everyone who might read this is either a current or former participant in at least one team sport. As some of you may know, I have a very extensive background as such.
My first experience as a member of a sports team came at the age of five, when I was finally old enough to join tee-ball. By the age of seven, I was a rare left-handed shortstop, who turned two unassisted triple plays in one season. A year later, I ascended to "minors" baseball, the first level at which kids can pitch. I played every position but catcher, right field, and left field. In my first ever pitching appearance, I struck out all three batters I faced, preserving an extra-innings win. As my body grew (and grew, and grew some more), my days of moving around the field waned, and I became strictly a first baseman and pitcher. In baseball orthodoxy, there's not much choice for a lefty who's 5'11" and 235 pounds at the age of 13.
By that time, I had spent six years playing in the "minors" and "majors" of little league, along with some travel all-star teams. I certainly wasn't a one-dimensional adolescent. I had taken (and aced) two community college classes and topped 1400 on the SAT (back when 1600 was perfect). I played chess as well as youth basketball and volleyball. I worked tirelessly to help Super Mario avoid fireballs. Still, I woke up and fell asleep every day thinking about baseball (and often Alyssa Milano, but that's beside the point). Baseball was my social network, my joy, extra time with my father (my parents divorced when I was ten), and truly my identity.
When I started high school, I joined the football team. I had never played organized football before, but I was big, and a lot of my friends were playing. I wasn't very good, but I was smart enough to learn the game quickly and make myself useful as a multi-position backup. Football was something to do while awaiting baseball season, a competitive outlet, and a chance for a socially-awkward kid to avoid the discard pile of unpopularity. I also played basketball that winter season, again occupying the role of the guy who's just good enough to play once in a while.
Finally, baseball season arrived. I went to tryouts...and was awful. My swing was off, my normally excellent defense at first base left me, and I was lucky to earn one of the last spots on the freshman team. A week later, I realized that I could not read much of anything on the blackboard. My first pair of glasses followed, and quickly thereafter my swing and my glove. I ascended to varsity partway through that year and eventually became a starter. The next couple of years were a constant stream of summer baseball, football workouts, football, basketball, and finally baseball again. Rarely did a week pass with no organized sports. I did well in school, and by the end of my junior year, everything was clicking. I was #1 in a class of over 400, nearly perfect on my ACT, and getting some attention from scouts after a very good junior season. I tried not to get too caught up in things, but I was already wondering if I'd play in college or be drafted by the pros.
In the second game of my senior football season, I was playing defensive line for a few plays. At the snap, I diagnosed a quick run play to the outside and tried to cut off the ballcarrier. Just as I stepped to the outside, the offensive tackle went for a cut block, and the crown of his helmet hit squarely on the inside of my knee. I severely dislocated my kneecap and suffered ligament and cartilage damage. After rehab, I made it back, only to suffer a slightly less severe injury to my other knee. By baseball season, I knew something was wrong. I was officially healthy, but I had no explosiveness in my legs. My power vanished, my batting average dropped, and I couldn't make plays in the field that used to be routine. The scouts weren't coming out to watch, and I knew that my baseball career was on the decline at the age of 17.
That summer was my first without organized sports in twelve years. Friends were slowly disappearing to different colleges, and I left the state with a full ride for academics. After getting a look at the horrible astroturf at my school's football stadium, I passed on an offer to play football as a walk-on. I held out the possibility of trying to walk on the baseball team, but found that I was out of my league. I "retired" from competitive sports at the age of 18. Even without the higher level of competition, I joined intramural teams in a few sports, later joining a fraternity for whose teams I was a mainstay. In law school, I played in law student softball and basketball leagues. Even after school ended, I found my way into softball leagues and pickup games. Team sports offer a connection few other experiences can match, and many of my friends today played on those teams with me.
So, why all the long and boring history of my athletic life? At the age of 29, I got a cut on my big toe. It didn't heal over the span of a week or two, and I went to a podiatrist. Two days later, I was officially a diabetic. Despite multiple rounds of powerful oral and IV antibiotics, nothing worked, and I eventually had surgery to remove the toe. All that summer, I sat by as my friends went off to play softball or volleyball. Eventually, my incision healed, and I joined my friends at the big season-ending softball tournament for our co-ed team. It was a sight to behold, as I pulled my car into the handicapped spot, hung my temporary placard on the mirror, and stepped out in my cleats and uniform, carrying my bat bag. I played in two games over the first day of the tournament, and I cannot describe the feeling of being on the field with my friends.
We played most of the second game in a steady rain. By the time I sat down and took off my cleats, my wet socks had created a blister on my previously-injured foot. My tournament was over, and I was heartbroken. When I got back to town, the long series of treatments began again. Eventually, my doctors came to the conclusion that I needed a more radical surgery to even the pressure on my foot, hopefully avoiding further problems and the possible loss of my foot. The surgery was a "success," in that it did exactly what it was meant to and healed without incident. Unfortunately, it left me with no hope of ever playing sports, as I cannot do any activity that requires pushing off with the ball of that foot. It's been roughly five years, and on good days, I can walk with no obvious limp. My foot, calf, and ankle hurt every day, although it's usually manageable.
Honestly, what hurts the most is not being able to step on the field with my friends and teammates. I have only attended a few of their games over the past few seasons, as I can't stand to sit there and watch them play without me. Even attending pro sports, my brain is always playing the game. As soon as the ball is hit, I want to sprint to position to field it. I get upset with the offensive lineman who misses a block, even if it's not for my team. Even watching roller derby, a sport I have never and could never have played (I'm terrible on skates of any kind), I tell myself: "I would have seen that hole," or "I would have blocked to the inside there."
I am envious. I am aggrieved by fate. I wonder how something so wonderful, so central to who I am, could be taken from me. But in the end, this post is not a sob story. I don't want you to feel sorry for me. What I want, more than anything, is for those of you who still get to play to treasure every moment. Cherish the conflict that defines winning and losing. Take advantage of the drive to be better every day. Most of all, be forever thankful for your friends and teammates. Nothing I have experienced compares with the feeling of working together with people you care about to accomplish victory. Having teammates is by far the best part of playing team sports.
A day will come when you no longer put on a uniform. Age, injury, or changing circumstances will find you. Your former teammates (what a painful phrase) may remain your friends, as mine have. I hope that they will be a blessing to you throughout your life, as mine are. Lifelong friendship is the truest benefit of playing sports. But no matter what, at some point, they will cease to be your teammates. Savor every moment: every petty squabble, every road trip, every crushing defeat, and every soaring victory. I have known that privilege, and my life is vastly richer for it. May you truly appreciate and make the most of your chance.
My first experience as a member of a sports team came at the age of five, when I was finally old enough to join tee-ball. By the age of seven, I was a rare left-handed shortstop, who turned two unassisted triple plays in one season. A year later, I ascended to "minors" baseball, the first level at which kids can pitch. I played every position but catcher, right field, and left field. In my first ever pitching appearance, I struck out all three batters I faced, preserving an extra-innings win. As my body grew (and grew, and grew some more), my days of moving around the field waned, and I became strictly a first baseman and pitcher. In baseball orthodoxy, there's not much choice for a lefty who's 5'11" and 235 pounds at the age of 13.
By that time, I had spent six years playing in the "minors" and "majors" of little league, along with some travel all-star teams. I certainly wasn't a one-dimensional adolescent. I had taken (and aced) two community college classes and topped 1400 on the SAT (back when 1600 was perfect). I played chess as well as youth basketball and volleyball. I worked tirelessly to help Super Mario avoid fireballs. Still, I woke up and fell asleep every day thinking about baseball (and often Alyssa Milano, but that's beside the point). Baseball was my social network, my joy, extra time with my father (my parents divorced when I was ten), and truly my identity.
When I started high school, I joined the football team. I had never played organized football before, but I was big, and a lot of my friends were playing. I wasn't very good, but I was smart enough to learn the game quickly and make myself useful as a multi-position backup. Football was something to do while awaiting baseball season, a competitive outlet, and a chance for a socially-awkward kid to avoid the discard pile of unpopularity. I also played basketball that winter season, again occupying the role of the guy who's just good enough to play once in a while.
Finally, baseball season arrived. I went to tryouts...and was awful. My swing was off, my normally excellent defense at first base left me, and I was lucky to earn one of the last spots on the freshman team. A week later, I realized that I could not read much of anything on the blackboard. My first pair of glasses followed, and quickly thereafter my swing and my glove. I ascended to varsity partway through that year and eventually became a starter. The next couple of years were a constant stream of summer baseball, football workouts, football, basketball, and finally baseball again. Rarely did a week pass with no organized sports. I did well in school, and by the end of my junior year, everything was clicking. I was #1 in a class of over 400, nearly perfect on my ACT, and getting some attention from scouts after a very good junior season. I tried not to get too caught up in things, but I was already wondering if I'd play in college or be drafted by the pros.
In the second game of my senior football season, I was playing defensive line for a few plays. At the snap, I diagnosed a quick run play to the outside and tried to cut off the ballcarrier. Just as I stepped to the outside, the offensive tackle went for a cut block, and the crown of his helmet hit squarely on the inside of my knee. I severely dislocated my kneecap and suffered ligament and cartilage damage. After rehab, I made it back, only to suffer a slightly less severe injury to my other knee. By baseball season, I knew something was wrong. I was officially healthy, but I had no explosiveness in my legs. My power vanished, my batting average dropped, and I couldn't make plays in the field that used to be routine. The scouts weren't coming out to watch, and I knew that my baseball career was on the decline at the age of 17.
That summer was my first without organized sports in twelve years. Friends were slowly disappearing to different colleges, and I left the state with a full ride for academics. After getting a look at the horrible astroturf at my school's football stadium, I passed on an offer to play football as a walk-on. I held out the possibility of trying to walk on the baseball team, but found that I was out of my league. I "retired" from competitive sports at the age of 18. Even without the higher level of competition, I joined intramural teams in a few sports, later joining a fraternity for whose teams I was a mainstay. In law school, I played in law student softball and basketball leagues. Even after school ended, I found my way into softball leagues and pickup games. Team sports offer a connection few other experiences can match, and many of my friends today played on those teams with me.
So, why all the long and boring history of my athletic life? At the age of 29, I got a cut on my big toe. It didn't heal over the span of a week or two, and I went to a podiatrist. Two days later, I was officially a diabetic. Despite multiple rounds of powerful oral and IV antibiotics, nothing worked, and I eventually had surgery to remove the toe. All that summer, I sat by as my friends went off to play softball or volleyball. Eventually, my incision healed, and I joined my friends at the big season-ending softball tournament for our co-ed team. It was a sight to behold, as I pulled my car into the handicapped spot, hung my temporary placard on the mirror, and stepped out in my cleats and uniform, carrying my bat bag. I played in two games over the first day of the tournament, and I cannot describe the feeling of being on the field with my friends.
We played most of the second game in a steady rain. By the time I sat down and took off my cleats, my wet socks had created a blister on my previously-injured foot. My tournament was over, and I was heartbroken. When I got back to town, the long series of treatments began again. Eventually, my doctors came to the conclusion that I needed a more radical surgery to even the pressure on my foot, hopefully avoiding further problems and the possible loss of my foot. The surgery was a "success," in that it did exactly what it was meant to and healed without incident. Unfortunately, it left me with no hope of ever playing sports, as I cannot do any activity that requires pushing off with the ball of that foot. It's been roughly five years, and on good days, I can walk with no obvious limp. My foot, calf, and ankle hurt every day, although it's usually manageable.
Honestly, what hurts the most is not being able to step on the field with my friends and teammates. I have only attended a few of their games over the past few seasons, as I can't stand to sit there and watch them play without me. Even attending pro sports, my brain is always playing the game. As soon as the ball is hit, I want to sprint to position to field it. I get upset with the offensive lineman who misses a block, even if it's not for my team. Even watching roller derby, a sport I have never and could never have played (I'm terrible on skates of any kind), I tell myself: "I would have seen that hole," or "I would have blocked to the inside there."
I am envious. I am aggrieved by fate. I wonder how something so wonderful, so central to who I am, could be taken from me. But in the end, this post is not a sob story. I don't want you to feel sorry for me. What I want, more than anything, is for those of you who still get to play to treasure every moment. Cherish the conflict that defines winning and losing. Take advantage of the drive to be better every day. Most of all, be forever thankful for your friends and teammates. Nothing I have experienced compares with the feeling of working together with people you care about to accomplish victory. Having teammates is by far the best part of playing team sports.
A day will come when you no longer put on a uniform. Age, injury, or changing circumstances will find you. Your former teammates (what a painful phrase) may remain your friends, as mine have. I hope that they will be a blessing to you throughout your life, as mine are. Lifelong friendship is the truest benefit of playing sports. But no matter what, at some point, they will cease to be your teammates. Savor every moment: every petty squabble, every road trip, every crushing defeat, and every soaring victory. I have known that privilege, and my life is vastly richer for it. May you truly appreciate and make the most of your chance.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Running on Empty
(Note: I do have a post about attending a Chicago Blackhawks game last month rattling around in my head, but I'm going to go out of order here, in hopes of remembering Saturday's action more accurately.)
The title of this post pretty well covers my state of body and mind Saturday, as I hit the road to Cincinnati for my first Cincinnati Rollergirls bout of the season. (The team had played its first bout two weeks earlier, but I was in Chicago for the previously mentioned hockey game. Since I completely missed that bout, this post may lack the proper context at times. Please forgive any misstatements or poor assumptions on my part.) So, a very busy week at work left me more than ready for some leisure time, but not especially excited for a seven-hour round trip in the car. I rose from my slumber a bit early for a non-teaching Saturday, in order to watch some of Derby News Network's (DNN) live video of the big tournament in London. After catching the first bout and a bit of the second, it was time to start my long day in earnest. I had some responsibilities for Planned Pethood, a pet rescue and adoption agency I support here in Toledo, so I got my dog into the car and off to help out at the adoption event. After taking care of that, we made a stop by the County Dog Warden's office to drop off some treats for the dogs residing there. From that stop, we made our way back up to southern Michigan to drop her off for her weekend play date, and I went back home, where I had about 30 minutes to get my act together and leave for the main portion of the day's driving.
I left early, expecting to hit thunderstorms on the way. Thankfully, I didn't encounter any, and I stopped near Dayton to take care of a couple of things for work. Neither that stop nor the beyond-annoying construction traffic on I-75 in and around Dayton (now in its 14th consecutive year!) kept me from arriving at the Cincinnati Gardens quite early. I pulled into the lot around 5:15, but I saw no signs of tailgating, so I decided to stand around inside the building until the doors opened at 6pm. I found a spot along the wall in the concourse, which was not difficult, seeing as I was one of approximately one fan waiting to get in at that time. Trauma skated out to take care of something at the ticket window and stopped to chat for a moment, but I otherwise stood around and waited. This was not exactly a bad thing, considering the length of time I had been (and would soon be) sitting.
Once the gates opened, I took a seat in my usual spot: turn three, facing directly down the back straightaway. I flipped through the program, briefly taking note of the composition of the two CRG teams for the evening. I decided to get a bratwurst and hit the merch booth (got one of the new gray T-shirts) before the place got more crowded, then returned to my seat to watch warm-ups. Hop Devil stopped by for a quick and friendly chat, and I wandered over to the announcers' area to talk with Miss Print, who was working on the textcast for the bouts. While I was over that way, I saw Rabid Derby Fan Earl (whom I had met in Chicago at WFTDA Championships), and we chatted for a bit as well. It was nice to see Earl moving up in the world, with an official CRG job and his name in the program. After the end of warm-ups, we were treated to an excellent performance of the Star-Spangled Banner, by a four-man a capella group called "The Mistics."
As usual, I'll take care of the bout recaps first and finish with some overall observations.
*** The evening's first bout featured the visiting Gem City Rollergirls (GCR), of Dayton, taking on CRG's Silent Lambs (B-Team). This bout had a strange ebb and flow to it. Early on, both teams' packs were struggling badly, yet the score stood at only 8-8 after six minutes. On two of the first four jams, Gem City's Dizzy Queen earned lead jammer with very little resistance, only to be caught from behind on the open track by the Lambs' outstanding newcomer, Nastee. Both of those occasions produced zero-zero jams. The home team settled in a bit, as Cherry Choke and Poppy Chulo put up a nice 2-wall at the back and Nastee busted through for a grand slam. Then, Hop Devil got going, in part thanks to an excellent assist at the front of the pack by Candy Kickass. Suddenly, CRG was taking control, running the score to 26-8 after 11 minutes of play.
*** A textbook 4-0 jam by GCR's Racey Rocker began to swing the momentum to Dayton's side. On the next jam, Nastee got out as the lead jammer and hit the pack just ahead of her Gem City counterpart on her first scoring pass. Nastee was blocked at the front of the pack, and she passed on a chance to call the jam with a 3-1 point advantage. Each jammer completed two scoring passes, and Nastee got held up as her opponent tacked on a third. Finally, in frustration, Nastee called off the jam on the downside of a 12-8 margin. It just got worse from there, as the Silent Lambs' Polly Rocket took the star to the box, and Gem City used that power jam to cut the CRG lead to 39-34 with one minute remaining in the half. In the final jam, CRG faced the scary prospect of starting in the worst possible position, trying to kill a power jam with only two skaters in the pack against Gem's four. Somehow, Cincinnati not only managed to limit the damage, but even to eke out a 4-3 differential to close the half up 43-37.
*** Early in the second half, Nastee and a smart, strategic CRG pack combined to roll up 25 points on a big power jam. The teams traded shots for a while, and the Lambs led 87-52 with just over seven minutes remaining. The ladies from Dayton mounted a comeback, led by the big hits of Juwana Hurt and Cozza Frenzy and the jamming of Racey Rocker and Supersonic. Racey posted a double grand slam late in the game to tighten the gap to 91-70 with one minute remaining. Any hopes of an amazing comeback, however, were dashed when GCR's jammer went to the box on the last jam, leaving Nastee to get lead and watch the time tick away, ending the game on a scoreless jam.
*** The MVP on the Lambs' side was definitely Nastee. She was the fastest skater on the track, and she powered right through the center of many a Gem City 2-wall. One could make the argument that she was one of CRG's top defensive players, as her ability to catch an opposing lead jammer and force zero-zero jams (on at least four occasions by my count) saved countless Gem City tallies. While she did show off a few moves, Nastee's game is primarily about speed and straight-line power. Her crossover strides in the turns led to excellent bursts of speed coming into the straightaways. Nastee took some major shots throughout the bout, including a single jam the featured vicious shots from both Juwana Hurt and Punky Rooster. She showed the toughness to finish the bout well, even after taking the star for nearly half of the total jams.
*** Hop Devil was next in terms of turns wearing the star. She had an up-and-down performance, although it's tough to judge how much of that was due to the inconsistency in the CRG pack. Hop Devil had a tough time gaining lead jammer status and often had to be content with pushing her opponent to call off a jam prior to completing a scoring pass. At times, she looked outstanding, dodging blocks and patiently allowing her blockers to provide assists. Her best jam of the evening was a 9-1 power jam, during which she was absolutely leveled by Cozza Frenzy, yet managed to pop back up quickly to add points. Polly Rocket was the third jammer for CRG, and her results were a mixed bag as well, although she did some effective work as a blocker.
*** Turning to CRG's blockers, Candy Kickass was the best of the bunch. She was often a one-woman wall at the front of the pack, combining excellent positional work with a few unexpectedly punishing hits. Unfortunately, the middle of CRG's pack was often out of position or caught unaware by a Gem City jammer, so Candy's performance took on a game-saving quality. Poppy Chulo also had a very effective game. She did a nice job as pivot, controlling the speed of the pack and trapping Gem City blockers to slow things down on CRG power jams. Silent Lambs captain Cherry Choke dished out some hits, including a beautiful jammer take-out on Supersonic late in the game. Maime was one of the few CRG blockers to have some success in the middle of the pack, and she had an awesome "right place, right time" moment late in the first half. Maime came out of the penalty box just in time to completely obliterate a Gem City jammer who never saw her coming. I noticed Bex Pistol with an excellent bridge early in the game that kept CRG's front wall from going out of play.
*** The Lambs used a few skaters I had never seen before, and the roster was missing many familiar names. I honestly have no insight as to the reason for this. Maybe some skaters were unavailable, or perhaps the coaches saw this as an easier matchup and took the opportunity to experiment. It might have been something altogether different. No matter the motivations, the results weren't very good. The CRG packs often seemed disorganized, and many of the blockers aside from those mentioned earlier did not have great games. I thought that the pack play from both teams was sloppy, and that CRG might have slipped into bad habits as a result. Some very blatant back blocks by Gem City jammers (three of which happened directly in front of me) were completely ignored by the zebras, and I'm sure that made it tough to maintain pack discipline as well.
*** On the Gem City side, Racey Rocker had the most success from the jammer line. She is a very effective all-around player. She didn't have one overwhelming trait (speed, power, moves), but she did everything well. She also is a very heady skater, always having a plan and ready to exploit a crack in the CRG blocking when one developed. Rage-L showed some nice speed and wasn't shy about sticking her shoulder into the middle of a pair of blockers. Supersonic and Dizzy Queen rounded out the jammer rotation, but neither of them got into much of a rhythm.
*** The GCR pack, while often comprised of some talented skaters, never really seemed cohesive enough to control the action. It was frequently outmaneuvered by Cincy in terms of speed control, and it did not utilize multiple player walls as effectively as its opponent. The more wide-open pack led to some serious one-on-one hitting, not surprisingly led by powerhouse Juwana Hurt. She was the only Gem City blocker to square up Nastee with any consistency, and she dropped Hop Devil to the infield with a shot that brought many a sympathetic wince from the crowd. Cozza Frenzy and Punky Rooster also left their marks on CRG's squad.
*** After a short break, it was time for the main event, in which CRG's Black Sheep (A-Team) welcomed the Fort Wayne Derby Girls (FWDG). I honestly wasn't expecting much of a contest, as Cincinnati came in ranked 5th in the North Central Region (WFTDA) and 16th in all of derby (DNN). Fort Wayne was ranked 15th in the North Central, unranked in the DNN poll. Form held, and the Black Sheep took control of the game early. CRG won the point differential on five of the first six jams, the only exception being a 2-1 edge for Pushy Cat over K Lethal. By the time Wheezy posted a 14-0 jam, it was 39-7 in favor of CRG after ten minutes. Over the next ten minutes, Fort Wayne showed some signs of life, as Majestic earned (by my recollection) her team's first lead jammer call, almost 17 minutes in, earning an 8-4 advantage. Nonetheless, after 20 minutes, the CRG lead stood at 51.
*** The next jam was FWDG's best of the night. Majestic rolled up 12 points, as her pack battered and frustrated K Lethal. Pink Painther did the majority of the damage, supplying some devastating hits at the back of the pack. Any thoughts of a momentum shift, however, quickly vanished when Hannah Ouchocinco immediately took advantage of a power jam, to the tune of 14-2 CRG. The half ended with the score CRG 108, FWDG 55.
*** The second half began with a few uneventful and low-scoring jams. Then, K Lethal took to the jammer line by herself. Hopes of multiple grand slams quickly disappeared, as she completely lost a wheel near turn two. K carefully made her way to the box, and the jammer switch put FWDG into the power jam. The Cincy blockers were up to the task, speeding away with the pack, and Fort Wayne managed only two points on the jam. CRG took a timeout while two of her teammates brought a skate to K, leaving her with a mismatched pair. Unfortunately, she came out of the box and approached the back of the pack before the jammer whistle was blown, sending her directly back to the sin bin. The teams punched and counter-punched until Fort Wayne's Pushy Cat took the star to the penalty box, leaving K Lethal and a very slow CRG pack to do some serious scoring, ending the jam 21-4. From there, not much changed, and CRG finished with a 187-105 victory. Fort Wayne kept it closer than I expected, losing to CRG by fewer points than did 2010 WFTDA Championships participant Nashville just two weeks before.
*** The Black Sheep employed a three-jammer rotation, and all were effective. K Lethal had the best night, due to her impressive speed and balance, as well as her knack for being on the track when a FWDG jammer went to the box. Even on a borrowed skate, she was two steps faster than the opposing jammers virtually all night. Hannah Ouchocinco had a very steady performance, rarely breaking out with a big jam, but doing the right things to tactically and incrementally give her tea the advantage. She also had a wonderful start-and-stop move right in front of me (turn three) on an early jam. Wheezy proved she belongs on the A-Team with a very good performance. It certainly seems like she's added some power to her game since last year, while maintaining her speed and agility.
*** In the pack, CRG employed a strategy I had not seen from them in a while, often sending all four blockers to form a wall at the front of the pack. At other times, Cincy stuck to its more common two in the front, one middle, and one back set-up. No matter the alignment, CRG's blockers were generally effective in controlling the speed of the pack and the movements of the opposing jammer. At times, the middle of CRG's pack got a little loose, and I'm sure this will be a point of emphasis as the Sheep quickly approach the meat grinder section of their schedule (beginning with this weekend's bout at Texas).
*** Luckily, when the back or middle of CRG's pack faltered, standout blockers were ready at the front. Bout MVP Trauma seemed to be everywhere, her smooth skating and quick reflexes suddenly closing a hole before a FWDG jammer could reach it. While most of her work was positional in nature, Trauma also brought the thunder with some powerful one-on-one hits. Joining Trauma with some great blocking work were birthday girl Sk8r-Kinney, captain Karma Krash, and Buckhead Betty. I've seen quite a bit of roller derby so far this year (including teams such as Denver, Rose, and Rat), but I have rarely seen as technically-sound and frustrating a 2-wall as Trauma and Kinney at the front of the pack.
*** Other notable blocking work came courtesy of Jungle Lacy, whose quickness made her very tough to pass. Nuk'em did what she does best, dishing out hits when the Fort Wayne jammers caught a bit of daylight. Killian Destroy is one of the most under-appreciated skaters on CRG's roster, and she brought her usual solid, consistent game. Finally, I must recognize Mirderher for her hockey-style devotion to her team's star jammer. In the last minute of the game, FWDG's Enya Grave was taking some unnecessary liberties (some might say cheap shots) with K Lethal as the clock wound down. Mirderher caught sight of this, and like a great enforcer should, locked in on the offender and flattened her.
*** On the Fort Wayne side, I was impressed by jammers Majestic and Pushy Cat. Both of them featured very good speed and toughness, plus excellent track awareness. Plus, I absolutely loved Pushy Cat's attitude and persona on the track. She is the one opposing skater I would have most liked to meet. FWDG's other two main jammers had a tougher time of it. Riptide got free on a couple of occasions, while Enya Grave never really solved the CRG pack. In terms of blockers, Pink Painther was tough to miss. She has very good lateral quickness, and her hits are memorable. Overall, I thought well of Fort Wayne, who went on the road to face a higher-level opponent and played a solid game. Their squad has a nice foundation, but it will take some additional depth for the ladies from Harry Baals' city to significantly climb in the rankings.
*** Moving on to general impressions of the evening, I will note that the title of this post does not refer solely to my weary body. On a good note, CRG came to the realization that no one could understand the announcers over the Gardens' sound system. Lacking a perfect fix, they opted to give just basic information over the PA, such as who was jamming when a time out was called. This freed Cincy's strong announcing duo of Tank and Caesar to work on the DNN video feed, where (presumably) they didn't come across sounding like Eddie Vedder gargling. Two major things were lacking in the Gardens, however. First, the large overhead scoreboard remained dark, taking away two important aspects of the bout experience. It made the skater introductions far less exciting, while also robbing fans of our only place to see the score of individual jams. Many times, I missed the beginning of the next jam, waiting for the main scoreboard to slowly ascend to the new score and trying to remember the previous totals to calculate the jam score. Second, the crowd was pretty lackluster. While the attendance was somewhere between 2500 and 3000 (a number most leagues would kill for). the fans really didn't get into the act. The boos the generally thunder down as opponents are announced were barely audible. A few brief and sporadic chants arose, only to fizzle quickly. Perhaps it was the rain, or the uneven matchup, or the uninspiring beeramid building skills on display in the floor seating area, but something just didn't click. I'm hoping for a much better atmosphere on April 30, vs. Naptown.
*** Even the skaters seemed to be running on empty after the bout. Almost everyone I talked to seemed upset with her performance or something else. To their credit, everyone was polite to me and signed autographs for waves and waves of children (and a few adults), but most just didn't seem in much of a mood to talk. I got in some quick hellos with a number of CRG skaters, including Hop Devil, Karma, Trauma, Pistol Whippin Wendy, Poppy Chulo, and Nastee. Even though I didn't get to see her skate, perhaps the highlight of my night was getting to spend a few minutes with The Librarian and her husband.
Since I wasn't staying overnight, I didn't even consider stopping by the after-party. It was almost 10:30 by the time I got on the road, and I was struggling. On more than a few occasions, I thought about just pulling off and finding a hotel along the way. Complicating matters was a dense fog that started near Dayton and stretched until roughly Findlay. I probably would have found a hotel, except that I couldn't read any road signs or billboards through the fog. Ultimately, the safest thing to do was to stay on the road and follow the reflectors. After two stops (before Dayton and in Findlay) and 72 oz. of various diet colas, I finally arrived home a bit after 2am.
While I always enjoy attending CRG bouts, I will admit that this experience left me a bit underwhelmed. I know that I wasn't at my best, and I'm sure that colored my view of the night. In sports, everyone has an off night sometimes, and when you don't have your best "stuff," you fight through and make it better next time out. I'm optimistic that the next bout will be much better. I'm looking forward to having a friend at the bout with me, enjoying the after-party, and staying for a Reds game the next day. I'll be ready.
The title of this post pretty well covers my state of body and mind Saturday, as I hit the road to Cincinnati for my first Cincinnati Rollergirls bout of the season. (The team had played its first bout two weeks earlier, but I was in Chicago for the previously mentioned hockey game. Since I completely missed that bout, this post may lack the proper context at times. Please forgive any misstatements or poor assumptions on my part.) So, a very busy week at work left me more than ready for some leisure time, but not especially excited for a seven-hour round trip in the car. I rose from my slumber a bit early for a non-teaching Saturday, in order to watch some of Derby News Network's (DNN) live video of the big tournament in London. After catching the first bout and a bit of the second, it was time to start my long day in earnest. I had some responsibilities for Planned Pethood, a pet rescue and adoption agency I support here in Toledo, so I got my dog into the car and off to help out at the adoption event. After taking care of that, we made a stop by the County Dog Warden's office to drop off some treats for the dogs residing there. From that stop, we made our way back up to southern Michigan to drop her off for her weekend play date, and I went back home, where I had about 30 minutes to get my act together and leave for the main portion of the day's driving.
I left early, expecting to hit thunderstorms on the way. Thankfully, I didn't encounter any, and I stopped near Dayton to take care of a couple of things for work. Neither that stop nor the beyond-annoying construction traffic on I-75 in and around Dayton (now in its 14th consecutive year!) kept me from arriving at the Cincinnati Gardens quite early. I pulled into the lot around 5:15, but I saw no signs of tailgating, so I decided to stand around inside the building until the doors opened at 6pm. I found a spot along the wall in the concourse, which was not difficult, seeing as I was one of approximately one fan waiting to get in at that time. Trauma skated out to take care of something at the ticket window and stopped to chat for a moment, but I otherwise stood around and waited. This was not exactly a bad thing, considering the length of time I had been (and would soon be) sitting.
Once the gates opened, I took a seat in my usual spot: turn three, facing directly down the back straightaway. I flipped through the program, briefly taking note of the composition of the two CRG teams for the evening. I decided to get a bratwurst and hit the merch booth (got one of the new gray T-shirts) before the place got more crowded, then returned to my seat to watch warm-ups. Hop Devil stopped by for a quick and friendly chat, and I wandered over to the announcers' area to talk with Miss Print, who was working on the textcast for the bouts. While I was over that way, I saw Rabid Derby Fan Earl (whom I had met in Chicago at WFTDA Championships), and we chatted for a bit as well. It was nice to see Earl moving up in the world, with an official CRG job and his name in the program. After the end of warm-ups, we were treated to an excellent performance of the Star-Spangled Banner, by a four-man a capella group called "The Mistics."
As usual, I'll take care of the bout recaps first and finish with some overall observations.
*** The evening's first bout featured the visiting Gem City Rollergirls (GCR), of Dayton, taking on CRG's Silent Lambs (B-Team). This bout had a strange ebb and flow to it. Early on, both teams' packs were struggling badly, yet the score stood at only 8-8 after six minutes. On two of the first four jams, Gem City's Dizzy Queen earned lead jammer with very little resistance, only to be caught from behind on the open track by the Lambs' outstanding newcomer, Nastee. Both of those occasions produced zero-zero jams. The home team settled in a bit, as Cherry Choke and Poppy Chulo put up a nice 2-wall at the back and Nastee busted through for a grand slam. Then, Hop Devil got going, in part thanks to an excellent assist at the front of the pack by Candy Kickass. Suddenly, CRG was taking control, running the score to 26-8 after 11 minutes of play.
*** A textbook 4-0 jam by GCR's Racey Rocker began to swing the momentum to Dayton's side. On the next jam, Nastee got out as the lead jammer and hit the pack just ahead of her Gem City counterpart on her first scoring pass. Nastee was blocked at the front of the pack, and she passed on a chance to call the jam with a 3-1 point advantage. Each jammer completed two scoring passes, and Nastee got held up as her opponent tacked on a third. Finally, in frustration, Nastee called off the jam on the downside of a 12-8 margin. It just got worse from there, as the Silent Lambs' Polly Rocket took the star to the box, and Gem City used that power jam to cut the CRG lead to 39-34 with one minute remaining in the half. In the final jam, CRG faced the scary prospect of starting in the worst possible position, trying to kill a power jam with only two skaters in the pack against Gem's four. Somehow, Cincinnati not only managed to limit the damage, but even to eke out a 4-3 differential to close the half up 43-37.
*** Early in the second half, Nastee and a smart, strategic CRG pack combined to roll up 25 points on a big power jam. The teams traded shots for a while, and the Lambs led 87-52 with just over seven minutes remaining. The ladies from Dayton mounted a comeback, led by the big hits of Juwana Hurt and Cozza Frenzy and the jamming of Racey Rocker and Supersonic. Racey posted a double grand slam late in the game to tighten the gap to 91-70 with one minute remaining. Any hopes of an amazing comeback, however, were dashed when GCR's jammer went to the box on the last jam, leaving Nastee to get lead and watch the time tick away, ending the game on a scoreless jam.
*** The MVP on the Lambs' side was definitely Nastee. She was the fastest skater on the track, and she powered right through the center of many a Gem City 2-wall. One could make the argument that she was one of CRG's top defensive players, as her ability to catch an opposing lead jammer and force zero-zero jams (on at least four occasions by my count) saved countless Gem City tallies. While she did show off a few moves, Nastee's game is primarily about speed and straight-line power. Her crossover strides in the turns led to excellent bursts of speed coming into the straightaways. Nastee took some major shots throughout the bout, including a single jam the featured vicious shots from both Juwana Hurt and Punky Rooster. She showed the toughness to finish the bout well, even after taking the star for nearly half of the total jams.
*** Hop Devil was next in terms of turns wearing the star. She had an up-and-down performance, although it's tough to judge how much of that was due to the inconsistency in the CRG pack. Hop Devil had a tough time gaining lead jammer status and often had to be content with pushing her opponent to call off a jam prior to completing a scoring pass. At times, she looked outstanding, dodging blocks and patiently allowing her blockers to provide assists. Her best jam of the evening was a 9-1 power jam, during which she was absolutely leveled by Cozza Frenzy, yet managed to pop back up quickly to add points. Polly Rocket was the third jammer for CRG, and her results were a mixed bag as well, although she did some effective work as a blocker.
*** Turning to CRG's blockers, Candy Kickass was the best of the bunch. She was often a one-woman wall at the front of the pack, combining excellent positional work with a few unexpectedly punishing hits. Unfortunately, the middle of CRG's pack was often out of position or caught unaware by a Gem City jammer, so Candy's performance took on a game-saving quality. Poppy Chulo also had a very effective game. She did a nice job as pivot, controlling the speed of the pack and trapping Gem City blockers to slow things down on CRG power jams. Silent Lambs captain Cherry Choke dished out some hits, including a beautiful jammer take-out on Supersonic late in the game. Maime was one of the few CRG blockers to have some success in the middle of the pack, and she had an awesome "right place, right time" moment late in the first half. Maime came out of the penalty box just in time to completely obliterate a Gem City jammer who never saw her coming. I noticed Bex Pistol with an excellent bridge early in the game that kept CRG's front wall from going out of play.
*** The Lambs used a few skaters I had never seen before, and the roster was missing many familiar names. I honestly have no insight as to the reason for this. Maybe some skaters were unavailable, or perhaps the coaches saw this as an easier matchup and took the opportunity to experiment. It might have been something altogether different. No matter the motivations, the results weren't very good. The CRG packs often seemed disorganized, and many of the blockers aside from those mentioned earlier did not have great games. I thought that the pack play from both teams was sloppy, and that CRG might have slipped into bad habits as a result. Some very blatant back blocks by Gem City jammers (three of which happened directly in front of me) were completely ignored by the zebras, and I'm sure that made it tough to maintain pack discipline as well.
*** On the Gem City side, Racey Rocker had the most success from the jammer line. She is a very effective all-around player. She didn't have one overwhelming trait (speed, power, moves), but she did everything well. She also is a very heady skater, always having a plan and ready to exploit a crack in the CRG blocking when one developed. Rage-L showed some nice speed and wasn't shy about sticking her shoulder into the middle of a pair of blockers. Supersonic and Dizzy Queen rounded out the jammer rotation, but neither of them got into much of a rhythm.
*** The GCR pack, while often comprised of some talented skaters, never really seemed cohesive enough to control the action. It was frequently outmaneuvered by Cincy in terms of speed control, and it did not utilize multiple player walls as effectively as its opponent. The more wide-open pack led to some serious one-on-one hitting, not surprisingly led by powerhouse Juwana Hurt. She was the only Gem City blocker to square up Nastee with any consistency, and she dropped Hop Devil to the infield with a shot that brought many a sympathetic wince from the crowd. Cozza Frenzy and Punky Rooster also left their marks on CRG's squad.
*** After a short break, it was time for the main event, in which CRG's Black Sheep (A-Team) welcomed the Fort Wayne Derby Girls (FWDG). I honestly wasn't expecting much of a contest, as Cincinnati came in ranked 5th in the North Central Region (WFTDA) and 16th in all of derby (DNN). Fort Wayne was ranked 15th in the North Central, unranked in the DNN poll. Form held, and the Black Sheep took control of the game early. CRG won the point differential on five of the first six jams, the only exception being a 2-1 edge for Pushy Cat over K Lethal. By the time Wheezy posted a 14-0 jam, it was 39-7 in favor of CRG after ten minutes. Over the next ten minutes, Fort Wayne showed some signs of life, as Majestic earned (by my recollection) her team's first lead jammer call, almost 17 minutes in, earning an 8-4 advantage. Nonetheless, after 20 minutes, the CRG lead stood at 51.
*** The next jam was FWDG's best of the night. Majestic rolled up 12 points, as her pack battered and frustrated K Lethal. Pink Painther did the majority of the damage, supplying some devastating hits at the back of the pack. Any thoughts of a momentum shift, however, quickly vanished when Hannah Ouchocinco immediately took advantage of a power jam, to the tune of 14-2 CRG. The half ended with the score CRG 108, FWDG 55.
*** The second half began with a few uneventful and low-scoring jams. Then, K Lethal took to the jammer line by herself. Hopes of multiple grand slams quickly disappeared, as she completely lost a wheel near turn two. K carefully made her way to the box, and the jammer switch put FWDG into the power jam. The Cincy blockers were up to the task, speeding away with the pack, and Fort Wayne managed only two points on the jam. CRG took a timeout while two of her teammates brought a skate to K, leaving her with a mismatched pair. Unfortunately, she came out of the box and approached the back of the pack before the jammer whistle was blown, sending her directly back to the sin bin. The teams punched and counter-punched until Fort Wayne's Pushy Cat took the star to the penalty box, leaving K Lethal and a very slow CRG pack to do some serious scoring, ending the jam 21-4. From there, not much changed, and CRG finished with a 187-105 victory. Fort Wayne kept it closer than I expected, losing to CRG by fewer points than did 2010 WFTDA Championships participant Nashville just two weeks before.
*** The Black Sheep employed a three-jammer rotation, and all were effective. K Lethal had the best night, due to her impressive speed and balance, as well as her knack for being on the track when a FWDG jammer went to the box. Even on a borrowed skate, she was two steps faster than the opposing jammers virtually all night. Hannah Ouchocinco had a very steady performance, rarely breaking out with a big jam, but doing the right things to tactically and incrementally give her tea the advantage. She also had a wonderful start-and-stop move right in front of me (turn three) on an early jam. Wheezy proved she belongs on the A-Team with a very good performance. It certainly seems like she's added some power to her game since last year, while maintaining her speed and agility.
*** In the pack, CRG employed a strategy I had not seen from them in a while, often sending all four blockers to form a wall at the front of the pack. At other times, Cincy stuck to its more common two in the front, one middle, and one back set-up. No matter the alignment, CRG's blockers were generally effective in controlling the speed of the pack and the movements of the opposing jammer. At times, the middle of CRG's pack got a little loose, and I'm sure this will be a point of emphasis as the Sheep quickly approach the meat grinder section of their schedule (beginning with this weekend's bout at Texas).
*** Luckily, when the back or middle of CRG's pack faltered, standout blockers were ready at the front. Bout MVP Trauma seemed to be everywhere, her smooth skating and quick reflexes suddenly closing a hole before a FWDG jammer could reach it. While most of her work was positional in nature, Trauma also brought the thunder with some powerful one-on-one hits. Joining Trauma with some great blocking work were birthday girl Sk8r-Kinney, captain Karma Krash, and Buckhead Betty. I've seen quite a bit of roller derby so far this year (including teams such as Denver, Rose, and Rat), but I have rarely seen as technically-sound and frustrating a 2-wall as Trauma and Kinney at the front of the pack.
*** Other notable blocking work came courtesy of Jungle Lacy, whose quickness made her very tough to pass. Nuk'em did what she does best, dishing out hits when the Fort Wayne jammers caught a bit of daylight. Killian Destroy is one of the most under-appreciated skaters on CRG's roster, and she brought her usual solid, consistent game. Finally, I must recognize Mirderher for her hockey-style devotion to her team's star jammer. In the last minute of the game, FWDG's Enya Grave was taking some unnecessary liberties (some might say cheap shots) with K Lethal as the clock wound down. Mirderher caught sight of this, and like a great enforcer should, locked in on the offender and flattened her.
*** On the Fort Wayne side, I was impressed by jammers Majestic and Pushy Cat. Both of them featured very good speed and toughness, plus excellent track awareness. Plus, I absolutely loved Pushy Cat's attitude and persona on the track. She is the one opposing skater I would have most liked to meet. FWDG's other two main jammers had a tougher time of it. Riptide got free on a couple of occasions, while Enya Grave never really solved the CRG pack. In terms of blockers, Pink Painther was tough to miss. She has very good lateral quickness, and her hits are memorable. Overall, I thought well of Fort Wayne, who went on the road to face a higher-level opponent and played a solid game. Their squad has a nice foundation, but it will take some additional depth for the ladies from Harry Baals' city to significantly climb in the rankings.
*** Moving on to general impressions of the evening, I will note that the title of this post does not refer solely to my weary body. On a good note, CRG came to the realization that no one could understand the announcers over the Gardens' sound system. Lacking a perfect fix, they opted to give just basic information over the PA, such as who was jamming when a time out was called. This freed Cincy's strong announcing duo of Tank and Caesar to work on the DNN video feed, where (presumably) they didn't come across sounding like Eddie Vedder gargling. Two major things were lacking in the Gardens, however. First, the large overhead scoreboard remained dark, taking away two important aspects of the bout experience. It made the skater introductions far less exciting, while also robbing fans of our only place to see the score of individual jams. Many times, I missed the beginning of the next jam, waiting for the main scoreboard to slowly ascend to the new score and trying to remember the previous totals to calculate the jam score. Second, the crowd was pretty lackluster. While the attendance was somewhere between 2500 and 3000 (a number most leagues would kill for). the fans really didn't get into the act. The boos the generally thunder down as opponents are announced were barely audible. A few brief and sporadic chants arose, only to fizzle quickly. Perhaps it was the rain, or the uneven matchup, or the uninspiring beeramid building skills on display in the floor seating area, but something just didn't click. I'm hoping for a much better atmosphere on April 30, vs. Naptown.
*** Even the skaters seemed to be running on empty after the bout. Almost everyone I talked to seemed upset with her performance or something else. To their credit, everyone was polite to me and signed autographs for waves and waves of children (and a few adults), but most just didn't seem in much of a mood to talk. I got in some quick hellos with a number of CRG skaters, including Hop Devil, Karma, Trauma, Pistol Whippin Wendy, Poppy Chulo, and Nastee. Even though I didn't get to see her skate, perhaps the highlight of my night was getting to spend a few minutes with The Librarian and her husband.
Since I wasn't staying overnight, I didn't even consider stopping by the after-party. It was almost 10:30 by the time I got on the road, and I was struggling. On more than a few occasions, I thought about just pulling off and finding a hotel along the way. Complicating matters was a dense fog that started near Dayton and stretched until roughly Findlay. I probably would have found a hotel, except that I couldn't read any road signs or billboards through the fog. Ultimately, the safest thing to do was to stay on the road and follow the reflectors. After two stops (before Dayton and in Findlay) and 72 oz. of various diet colas, I finally arrived home a bit after 2am.
While I always enjoy attending CRG bouts, I will admit that this experience left me a bit underwhelmed. I know that I wasn't at my best, and I'm sure that colored my view of the night. In sports, everyone has an off night sometimes, and when you don't have your best "stuff," you fight through and make it better next time out. I'm optimistic that the next bout will be much better. I'm looking forward to having a friend at the bout with me, enjoying the after-party, and staying for a Reds game the next day. I'll be ready.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Smells Like Nirvana
This past weekend, I set a new personal record for longest distance traveled to see a sporting event (1946 miles as the crow flies). The destination was Bremerton, Washington, home of the Wild West Showdown (WWS) roller derby tournament. Truthfully, the purpose of the trip was twofold. I was excited to visit my good friend from college, Brian, who lives in the Seattle area. He and I have discussed going to a Rat City bout up there if we could time it well, so why not just see Rat City and many others, all together at the tournament? Not a bad way for him to lose his derby virginity! Of course, I was also thrilled to have a chance to see so many teams from the West, as the only ones I had seen were those that made it to the WFTDA Championships in Chicago last autumn. The WWS promised 17 WFTDA leagues, playing in a total of 23 bouts, from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon.
In the end, I managed to see eight full bouts and portions of three others. I got to watch 12 of the 17 teams in attendance at least once. I will detail the weekend's events chronologically, with some final thoughts at the end. Since there's no way I could do full recaps for that many bouts, you'll find mini-recaps for each, marked with "***" within this post. Some of them, especially those for the bouts I only witnessed in part, may be just a few sentences. Others may be a long paragraph or two. At the very end, I will rank the five teams that impressed me most, as well as select my personal all-star skaters from the weekend. So, I suppose I should get on with it.
In the end, I managed to see eight full bouts and portions of three others. I got to watch 12 of the 17 teams in attendance at least once. I will detail the weekend's events chronologically, with some final thoughts at the end. Since there's no way I could do full recaps for that many bouts, you'll find mini-recaps for each, marked with "***" within this post. Some of them, especially those for the bouts I only witnessed in part, may be just a few sentences. Others may be a long paragraph or two. At the very end, I will rank the five teams that impressed me most, as well as select my personal all-star skaters from the weekend. So, I suppose I should get on with it.
(DISCLAIMER: I am not a journalist, and I did not keep stats nor extremely detailed notes during the bouts. This is a post about my experiences and opinions. Please forgive me if I am off on a fact or three.)
FRIDAY, MARCH 4
I woke up around 4am to prepare for my 5am ride to the airport in Detroit. When I walked out to meet my friend, I nearly fell. There had been no real mention of it on the previous night's news, but a sheet of ice covered every surface, and I hoped that the expressways would be clear. We carefully made our way to the on ramp, and we instantly knew this was not going to be a fun commute. It was barely 5:15am, and cars were backed up, with two accidents in the immediate line of sight. I-75 North was completely stopped, and we turned the radio on just in time to hear that the interstate was closed. We managed to get to an exit and picked our way across icy city streets until we were finally able to catch I-75, no more than 1/2 mile north of the third major accident in a four-mile stretch. Traffic heading up through Michigan was crawling at 25 mph, and I was very glad that I always leave very early for flights. After about 15 miles, we finally drove over some salt, and as the road crews caught up, the pace improved some.
I arrived at the airport around 7am, thanked my friend for risking her life and limb to get me there, and hoped for a very short security line. I quickly checked my bag at the counter, and ended up in a line only six people deep at security. In all, I went from the curb to my flight's gate in roughly ten minutes. The first leg of my flight, a little over an hour to Chicago's Midway, was perfect. I had an empty seat next to me and got to read most of the Sporting News Baseball Preview (Hooray Baseball Season!) before touching down for a quick layover.
Unfortunately, my luck evened out as I boarded the plane for the final four-plus hours to Seattle. The flight attendant mentioned that the flight was completely full, but I managed to get on early enough to find a seat on the aisle. Those of you who know me know that I am not a small man (6'3", 240ish), and the aisle seat makes a big difference. In the window seat of my row was another tall guy, although not as large as I am. The stream of people kept coming onto the plane. I knew that someone would be sitting next to me, and I watched intently, hoping it would be a smaller person. I saw the perfect candidate a few people back, a guy who was maybe 5'6" and 130 pounds. Unfortunately, the man immediately before him stopped at my row. If you picture the comic book guy from The Simpsons, but with curly, greasy hair and a week's worth of body odor, you know exactly who wedged himself into the middle seat. Of course, his seat could not contain him, and I thought about asking him to cover a third of my airfare for the third of my seat he occupied. He slumped against me as he slept for most of the trip, and that may just have been the longest four hours of my life.
Finally, I had arrived in Seattle. I picked up my luggage and checked in at the rental car counter. With the keys to a Chevy Malibu (not bad) in hand, I turned on the GPS and hoped for the best. I usually do pretty well with city driving, thanks to learning to drive on the Eisenhower Expressway in Chicago. I managed to reach my friend, Brian, and he said he'd meet me for lunch near the airport before I drove to Bremerton, which is a 55-mile trip through Tacoma and up the Kitsap Peninsula. We caught up a bit and ate some good bar food (giant chili cheeseburger FTW), then parted ways for the day.
The drive wasn't bad, with some ugly stop-and-go down I-5 to Tacoma offset by the beautiful scenery on the way up to Bremerton. I arrived to check in at the Baymont Inn just a bit before 5pm, and I was very pleased with my accommodations. My room was large and comfortable (despite the fact that my shower head was placed roughly chest-high), the views from my room and from the lobby were excellent, and the free breakfast was quite good as well. I settled in for a bit, but decided to get moving pretty quickly, as I wanted to catch at least a couple of the Friday night bouts. The roads were a bit dicey from a steady rain, but I made my way to the venue with little problem.
The Kitsap Sun Pavilion hosted the tournament. The main building held two tracks, set side by side and separated by a curtain. Track One featured a long set of three-high bleachers the entire length of the backstretch (and then some), a set of roughly ten-high bleachers on the end (between turns one and two), and a balcony "beer garden." The beer garden had a lone row of chairs, some tables, and a tall section of all-in-one plastic fold-down chairs (similar to those at the Seagate Centre in Toledo). Track Two's seating consisted of a shorter set of three-high bleachers down the backstretch and a rickety set of metal bleachers between turns one and two. Concessions and merch tables were set up along the two outside walls, parallel to the track straightaways. It certainly didn't have the feel of an arena, and the bleachers were not easy on my butt and back, but I think that tournament host Slaughter County did an excellent job in using the available space. A third track was set up for challenge bouts, which were held in a separate building, a few hundred feet from the door nearest Track Two. I did not venture into Track Three's building, as I was only interested in the WFTDA bouts.
I arrived just in time for the beginning of the 6pm bout, which matched Slaughter County Roller Vixens (SCRV) and Sin City. I settled in to watch the bout for a few minutes, then wandered to the other side to find a single piece of merch. Screama Donna of Circle City Roller Girls won the "Pick Your Prize" giveaway on our Facebook page, and she chose the limited edition Hellarad/Flat Track Revolution hip bag. I found my way over to the booth and bought one of the last few remaining, feeling more than a bit odd making such a purchase. I noticed that the evening's first bout (Bellingham vs. Santa Cruz) was down to its last 15 minutes. At the completion of that contest, I moved back over to track one and saw the remainder of SCRV and Sin City.
*** Bellingham vs. Santa Cruz: I didn't see enough of the bout to really comment on the ebb and flow of the contest. I also didn't even have my notepad out, so I can't speak to many of the details. Still, Santa Cruz found itself ahead by eight with a single jam worth of time on the game clock. Bellingham clamped down, and through great pack play and a speedy jammer began to narrow the margin. As the jam clock would down, the jammer headed in for one last pass. When the jam was called, the scoreboard showed a Bellingham victory by a single point. Tension filled the room as everyone watched the officials confer, and when they certified the score, Bellingham's fans erupted and charged down to the trackside, welcoming ecstatic skaters during and after the victory lap. WWS was off to an excellent start.
*** Slaughter County vs. Sin City: I watched most of this bout, including a decent chunk of the first half and the entire second half. SCRV were completely dominant throughout, storming to136-26 halftime lead over the ladies from Vegas. On'Da Sligh was easily the best skater on the track, taking regular turns with the star and virtually always getting the lead jammer call. She was extremely quick, and she pulled off some moves I had never seen before, including a couple of 360-degree spins that would put a Madden Football running back to shame. Toucan Slam and Asonya Face rolled up points as well, and Aretha BreakLimbs was a standout in SCRV's outstanding pack play. Sin City had a tough time putting much together and fell by a final score of 258-81. DVS Dicer was the most effective jammer for Sin City, showing a lot of toughness and determination to break through some very tough blocking.
*** Denver vs. Rose City: After checking out the various seating areas, I settled into the backstretch bleachers of Track One for the evening's marquee matchup. Denver (#6) was a slight underdog to Rose (#5) in the Derby News Network power rankings, but it seemed like a very even matchup. The first thing I noticed about Denver was that its skaters use their real names on the track (for away bouts only, I later learned). I have mixed feelings about this. I certainly think using real names makes roller derby seem more professional and more like a mainstream sport. On the other side, however, I think the tradition of derby names is one of the things that makes the sport unique and fun. Perhaps one of the best things about derby is that the leagues and skaters get to make these decisions, so that each may have it its/her own way.
*** Denver/Rose (cont.) The action was back-and-forth, with each team going on small runs throughout the first half, which ended with a 53-45 Denver lead. Jammer Andrea Hill played a key role in Denver's performance, coming through time and again with excellent performances every time Rose seemed to have the advantage. The first big momentum swing of the second half came via an 18-point power jam for Rose, allowing the Wheels of Justice to take a 77-71 lead with 18 minutes remaining. Heather Juska and Denver fired back just five minutes later with a big jam to tie the score at 84, and the teams kept it close for the next ten minutes. With just 2:30 remaining in the game, Denver clung to a two point lead. Denver pulled away a bit in the final two jams to win by a score of 112-98 and bring Friday's action to a close. This was one of the closest and most entertaining bouts I have seen. Juska and Hill turned in outstanding jammer performances for the Mile High Club, while Gabrielle Begeman and Shannon Dorato were forces in the pack. On the Rose side, Soulfearic Acid was sharp with the star. and White Flight and Scratcher in the Eye added some effective jams. I noticed Napalm Beth and Heidi Go Seek providing the muscle and tactical blocking for Rose.
*** Denver/Rose (cont.): A final point on this bout pertains to the announcing. I am fully aware that the announcers volunteer their services, so I try not to be critical. I'm not expecting Al Michaels, Vin Scully, or Ernie Harwell out there, but please don't detract from my enjoyment of the game. One of the announcers for this bout was constantly trying to be cute, using different voices, from a high-pitched squeak to a "Dr. Claw" growl, or screeching "White Flight!" as though he were trapped in a disco song. It really got annoying after a while, and I felt sorry for his partner, who was doing a very good job.
Having enjoyed a great start to the WWS, I made my way back to the hotel in steady rain. I stopped by my room to get my laptop and went to the lobby to take advantage of the WiFi. Many skaters were still arriving at the hotel at the point, and I killed a bit of time with email and Facebook until I got into a conversation with Jet City announcer Bulldog about the DNN power rankings. I wondered why my eyes felt so heavy at 11pm, then realized that I had been awake for 22 hours at that point and excused myself to get some sleep.
SATURDAY, MARCH 5
My body was still on Eastern time, and I found myself wide awake at 6am. After lying around for a bit, I decided to head down to the lobby and take advantage of the hotel's free breakfast. I eventually outsmarted the waffle maker and complemented my main course with bacon and hash browns. The food was excellent, and I noticed many of the skaters from various teams beginning to funnel in to eat. Just across the aisle from my table were two women in Denver Roller Dolls attire. Even though I am not good at walking up and talking to strangers, I interrupted them for a moment and offered praise for their team's performance the previous night. One of them, Andrea "Kendra Blood" Hill, introduced herself. I realized that just before leaving my room, I had posted a comment on DNN's Facebook post about the Denver-Rose bout, lauding Hill''s performance. We chatted for a moment about the funny coincidence, my trip to watch the WWS, and her team hosting the WFTDA Championships later this year, before I went back to my room to get ready for the day.
Brian decided to take the ferry from Seattle to Bremerton, arriving a bit after 11am. So, rather than go back and forth among the hotel, Pavilion, and ferry station, I opted to miss the first two bouts of the day and hope to arrive in time for the high noon duel between Rat City and Denver. I had given him the quick explanation of derby gameplay the previous day, so we just chatted and caught each other up a bit on our lives while we made a very scenic drive to the venue. We arrived with a bit of time to spare and wandered around a bit so that he could decide where he wanted to sit for the first bout, then picked up a snack from the concession stand and settled in.
*** Rat City vs. Denver: Heather Juska once again led the way, aided by an absolutely dominant Denver pack. Rat City's ReAnimateHer did everything she could to stem the tide, excelling as both a jammer and a blocker, but the Denver attack came in waves. By halftime, it seemed a blowout was imminent, as the Mile High Club led by a score of 86-39. The ladies from nearby Seattle stabilized at the half and gave the local fans a reason to cheer over the first ten minutes after the break. When talented Rat City jammer Carmen Getsome posted a 22-point jam with 20 minutes remaining, it narrowed the gap to 90-69. Rat could not maintain the momentum, however, and Denver steadily increased its lead over the next ten minutes of the half. Even though the outcome was not in doubt, credit Rat with playing hard to the final whistle, coming back over the last few minutes to leave the score a more respectable 140-118 as the clock expired. The Denver jamming troika of Juska, Amanda Sharpless, and Hill continued to impress, and Begeman once again was the anchor of a staunch pack. I also noticed Tracy Akers playing a strong two-way game in Denver's pack. For Rat City, Corrie Caminos joined ReAnimateHer and Carmen Getsome in battling through those tough Denver walls. Sirius Mischief and X-Khan let the blockers, and Goodie Two Skates delivered a monster hit in the final minutes of the bout.
*** Slaughter County vs. Lava City: SCRV picked up right where it left off in the previous night's lopsided win. On'Da Sligh continued to impress with her speed and wide array of jukes and moves. The bout was getting out of hand by the half, so we moved over to catch the first half of Sacred vs. Bellingham. Slaughter ended up posting a 246-96 victory.
*** Sacred City vs. Bellingham: Daddy's Girl and Spiller paced the attack as Sacred controlled the first half, opening up a big lead. Astro Glide, Gladeye Ater, and Dixy DethDlr displayed some strong skating for Bellingham in trying to keep it close. We had planned to watch only the first half of this one, in order to catch the entire Rose-Philly bout. Thinking this one would be a blowout, we migrated to the beer garden above Track One at the half, missing an apparent comeback by Bellingham, which fell short by a respectable 119-76 margin.
*** Philly vs. Rose City: We knew that this would be Brian's last bout of the day, since we were going to dinner near the ferry station afterwards. So, I was hoping for a great bout. I was excited to watch the Liberty Belles, the only team out of the 17 present I had previously seen (at Uproar by the Lakeshore, as well as a few years ago in a bout at Cincy). Of course, after their tangle with Denver, I knew that the extremely talented Wheels of Justice and its large cheering section would be hungry for a win. Rose was ferocious coming out of the gate, and Smack Ya Sideways and Mobi-wan Kanobi led a punishing pack, which shut Philly out completely for the first 13 minutes. By the time the Liberty Belles broke the seal. Rose had amassed the first 42 points of the bout and looked absolutely unbeatable. Philly struggled to stay in the game, but when Rose's Scratcher in the Eye posted a 19-point jam with four minutes to go in the half to run the score to 70-25, I wondered how much longer Philly could keep it interesting.
*** Philly/Rose (cont.): Over those final four minutes before the break, Philly chipped away to bring the score to 74-39 in favor of Rose. For the first ten minutes of the second half, Philly dominated. The Belles never pulled off a huge jam, but won the score differential in virtually every one. With 20 minutes remaining, the Rose City lead was a mere 76-62, and I thought we might see an amazing comeback. The ladies from Portland, however, seized control with a 20-point jam. The best that Philly could do was to close the gap to 22 points with four minutes to play. Rose quickly crushed any dreams of a miracle comeback behind a 25-point jam by Soulfearic Acid (not to mention phenomenal speed control by her pack) and went on to win by a final score of 145-94. The top skaters for Rose included White Flight, along with previously mentioned Soulfearic Acid, Smack Ya Sideways, and Mobi-wan Kanobi. Philly standouts were Teflon Donna and Shenita Stretcher, both of whom played well with and without the star, as well as blocker Copper Top.
As I mentioned, we were off to dinner after this bout. We went to Anthony's, a very nice seafood place just steps from the ferry platform. I enjoyed a great cup of clam chowder and some outstanding crab cakes, two of my favorites. We stayed there and chatted until 7:30 or so, when he made his way back across the water to Seattle and I drove back to the Kitsap Sun PAvilion for one more bout.
*** Rose City vs. Rat City: No bout all weekend drew as much fan interest as this one. By the time I returned to watch, both sets of bleachers were full, as well as a substantial portion of the rows of seats in the balcony. Rose seemed to be the stronger team coming in, but the Wheels of Justice were playing their third bout in 24 hours, and I wondered if fatigue would be a factor. If the Rose City skaters were tired, I sure couldn't tell. They stormed out to a 43-0 lead after a mere seven minutes! Rose lost one of its best blockers early in the game, as Smack Ya Sideways (after a lengthy discussion by the officials) was ejected for a blow to the head. The loss barely slowed the Portland crew down, as it dominated throughout the half, going into the break with a 108-29 lead. Rat City did stabilize in the second half, showing signs of life behind Corrie Caminos and Juliet Bravo. Ultimately, Rat City was unable to mount a sustained push, and the game ended 165-78 in favor of Rose. Rose City got strong outings from the usual suspects (Soulfearic Acid, Scratcher in the Eye, White Flight, Mel Mangles) but also showed off a deep bench, as every skater but the banished Smack Ya Sideways made major contributions.
There is not much to tell about Saturday night after the bouts. I simply drove back to the hotel, caught up on a bit of SportsCenter, and got ready for bed. I was exhausted, but looking forward to some of Sunday's bouts, beginning with the 11am matchup of Philly and Jet City.
SUNDAY, MARCH 6
I lingered a bit longer on Sunday morning before making my way to the lobby for breakfast. I brought my camera with me, hoping to get a few shots of the beautiful scenery through the windows of the dining area. As I sat down with my food, people were streaming in, including most of the Philly Roller Girls. Perhaps ten minutes into my meal, someone walked in and put a very large inflatable zebra at one of the tables., so I got a picture of the zebra and some of the scenery in the background. I finished eating and wanted to talk with some of the Liberty Belles, but I chose not to interrupt any of their conversations. I made it back to my room to get ready, planning on making it to the venue for the first bout at 10am. I'm embarassed to say it, but I actually got caught up in watching Police Academy and completely lost track of time. I finally got on the road a bit after 10:30, making it to the Pavilion with a couple of minutes to spare before Philly vs. Jet.
*** Philly vs. Jet City: Aside from the big four (Rose, Denver, Philly, and Rat), Jet City was the only DNN top 25 team in attendance at the WWS, and I was looking forward to seeing them skate. Through the first 15 minutes of the game, it looked like a toss-up. Both teams played conservatively, and neither could open up an advantage much beyond five points. Shenita Stretcher sparked Philly with at least a triple grand slam (it may have been quadruple, but I lost track) to put her team ahead, 50-32. Philly seemed to find another gear, and it was never really close after that, as Jet fell behind 100-41 at the half and 151-49 with 15 minutes to play. The end of the bout was anticlimactic, as the Liberty Belles won, 185-68. Precious N. Metal and Snack Size were the most impressive jammers for Jet City, while Unshine did some good work at the front of the pack. For Philly, I could probably list the entire roster. Some of the skaters who cought my attention were Teflon Donna, Ginger Vitis, Shenita Stretcher, Persephone, Goldy, and Deevoida Mercy. I had met Deevoida Mercy at the airport in Seattle ad mentioned that I was excited to see her team play. When I shouted my congratulations to a group of Philly skaters walking by a while after the bout, she turned and yelled "Hi, Airplane Guy!" That brought a smile to my face.
*** Philly/Jet City (cont.): This is the second and final time that I will express my displeasure with an announcer. The house announcers for this bout were a male and female duo, and I thought that the woman did a fine job. The guy, however, just would not get away from the Liberty Belles' "spirit animals." As a fan, I don't want to know that a squirrel or a Jack Russell Terrier did something. I'd really like to know the skaters' names, so that I can keep track during the bout. Also, the animal puns and references just got repetitive and painful after a while. The other non-skating thing that got annoying during the bout was a small but loud group of Jet City fans. A couple of them had megaphones, and they just complained about virtually every call and non-call the refs made. I do give them credit for the fervent support of their team, but the refs in that bout did just as well as those in any other one I saw.
*** Dockyard vs. Santa Cruz: This was the only full bout I saw for either team, and it started off as a pretty tight contest. Dockyard held a small lead throughout most of the first half, and it wasn't until 12 minutes of the second half had passed that Santa Cruz snuck back into the lead, 72-71. From there, Dockyard imploded and Santa Cruz took over completely, outscoring the ladies from Tacoma by a margin of 66-7 over the next ten minutes. In all, Santa Cruz scored 89 points over the final 18 minutes to win, 161-86. Unfortunately, the small numbers and lack of names on Dockyard's uniforms made it very difficult to single out specific skaters for praise. I did notice Ida Spyze-Her doing some good work from the jammer line. For Santa Cruz, Lulu Lockjaw and Candie Hooligan were impressive with the star, and Queen Litigious won points both for her blocking and for her awesome name.
*** Denver vs. Sacred City: This was to be my final bout of the tournament, as I had plans late Sunday afternoon. I really don't have too much to say about this contest, as it was extremely one-sided. After Denver racked up 23 points on a jam by (who else?) Heather Juska, the score stood at 55-0 after just nine minutes of play. Sacred City did eventually put together a few good jams, but the halftime score was 145-21 in favor of Denver. For the next 15 minutes, the ladies from Sacramento fought Denver to a near standstill. From there, however, Denver's overpowering talent prevailed, and the final score was 237-50. For the Mile High Club, Julie Adams showed off her jamming skills, including a sweet spin-o-rama. Of course, Juska, Hill, and Sharpless were excellent as usual from the jammer line. Begeman once again dished out some punishing shots, especially at the back of the pack. She was just one of many outstanding Denver blockers, including standouts Deirdre Sage and Danica Dolezal. While all of Sacred's jammers were held in check, Slapjack caught my eye with some strong blocking against some wickedly talented Denver jammers. I was also very happy to meet announcer Val Capone from Windy City, whose work I have greatly enjoyed over the past couple of years.
*** Tournament Superlatives: These choices are solely based upon the action I saw and do not include anything I heard or read about other bouts. First, here are my five most impressive teams:
#5 - Jet City: Put up a fight against Philly and dominated two smaller leagues. Slaughter County got some consderation here, but ultimately lost points for not playing against any high-level competition.
#4 - Rat City: Rat City was game against two outstanding opponents (Denver and Rose).
#3 - Philly: The tournament's lone Eastern team hung tough against an excellent Rose squad and looked very sharp against Jet City.
#2 - Rose City: A loss to a great Denver squad was the only blemish, as Rose had solid wins over top squads from Philly and Rat City.
#1 - Denver: Swept all three games, and the win against Rose put them over the top.
*** Tournament All-Star Teams: My subjective choices, made only on the basis of bouts I saw. Within each team (first, second, third), skaters are listed alphabetically by derby name or last name. Each team is not necessarily made up of one jammer, one pivot, and three blockers, but simply of five outstanding skaters.
THIRD TEAM: Mel Mangles (Rose), ReAnimate Her (Rat), Jessica Rivas (Denver), Amanda Sharpless (Denver), X-Khan (Rat)
SECOND TEAM: Andrea Hill (Denver), On'Da Sligh (Slaughter), Scratcher in the Eye (Rose), Shenita Stretcher (Philly), White Flight (Rose)
FIRST TEAM: Gabrielle Begeman (Denver), Heather Juska (Denver), Smack Ya Sideways (Rose), Soulfearic Acid (Rose), Teflon Donna (Philly)
TOURNAMENT MVP: Heather Juska (Denver)
(NOTE: If any of the All-Star skaters would like certificates from Have Sports, Will Travel to commemorate their awards, please leave a note on our Facebook page, and I will contact you for a mailing address.)
(With Denver's Andrea Hill)
Sunday night, I wandered down to the hotel ballroom to check out the afterparty. That was probably a bad decision, as I mainly sat around, not knowing anyone. Skaters and those affiliated with the teams seemed to be having a good time, especially once the music situation was fixed. To me, there are three rules for fans pertaining to afterparties, and I broke the second and third ones. Rule #1 is "Understand the nature of the party." The afterparty is a celebration and a reward for the hard work the skaters and officials put in. It does not exist to thank you for spending your $10 or $15 or $55 and coming out to cheer. Even though there are a lot of women, it is also not a singles bar. Rule #2 is "If you don't know people, don't go." Aside from briefly talking to a few skaters throughout the weekend, I knew no one. Refer to Rule #1, people are there to celebrate, not to hang out with people they don't know. My general guideline is to attend only if you know at least 2-3 non-affiliated folks (your friends) or 5-6 derby girls. You don't do any favors by attaching yourself to the hip of that one skater you know all evening. Rule #3 is "Every league or tournament does it differently." I expected the WWS afterparty to be similar to a Cincinnati Rollergirls event, at which the skaters (although often in cliques) are mostly there to socialize. The WWS party turned out to be more of a nightclub-esque dance party, with expensive drinks and music too loud to effectively have a conversation. When in doubt about an afterparty, try to talk to those in the know ahead of time and get an idea of what things will be like.
I won't let the leagues or organizers completely off the hook. They should follow a simple rule as well: Don't invite fans if you have no intention of interacting with them. I'd rather miss out on a closed party than attend one where I'm not really wanted. Would you invite someone to a party at your house and then ignore him or her? Of course not. It's rude in that situation, and poor manners extend to the world of roller derby.
MONDAY, MARCH 7
I got to breakfast at the hotel early, then packed and checked out of the Baymont Inn. I began thr drive to the rental car drop-off near the airport, where Brian was to pick me up at 10am for a few hours in downtown Seattle before my flight.He and one of his young daughters met me there, and we made it over to Pike Street Market. I barely recognized it due to the construction going on to renovate some of the shops. I was still able to track down the delicious mini-donuts, while Brian bought some prawns from the famous fish-throwing shop. We then made our way over to Serious Pie, a gourmet pizza shop owned by local celerbity chef Tom Douglas. There were many very odd combinations of stoppings on the menu, but knowing I had a long day of travel ahead, I played it safe. My fennel sausage, roasted pepper, and provolone pizza was excellent. From there, it was off to the airport, where I said goodbye to Brian and quickly sailed through the ticket counter and security line.
The flights (to Denver and then to Detroit) were long and uneventful. Over the last few minutes heading into Denver, I managed to convince a very nice young couple from Nashville to take their son to a roller derby bout in their hometown. Other than that, it was nothing but compiling my notes for this post and eating honey roasted peanuts. I arrived in Detroit just after midnight, and friends drove me back to Toledo, where I got to bed around 2am. The alarm for work went off at 6am, but I awoke in a good mood. I had just spent the weekend in a state of Derby Nirvana. Unlike the music of the Seattle band that killed good music and ushered in grunge in the early 90's, the announcers were generally pleasant and easy to understand.
I'll wrap up my post by relating something that happened to me on my way to work on Tuesday morning. I was driving down my side street behind a small school bus. The bus pulled over nd stopped, but it did not activate the lights or stop sign. Isat a waited for a bit, but nothing happened. I finally went to pass the bus, and the driver suddenly blasted the horm and activated the lights and stop sign. I was startled, and I immediately pulled into a parking lot on the left before I could completely pass the bus. I looped around and pulled back onto the street behind the bus. I think that I subconsciously felt I could avoid a penalty by re-entering play at the "back of the pack." And that, my friends, is how I know I watched entirely too much derby this past weekend.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Heart of Glass (City)
I left my place at roughly 5pm on this afternoon for the trek down I-75. (Sounds like my usual post, right?) Five miles later, I took the downtown Toledo exit and headed for Tony Packo's with friends to get some dinner before the bout between the Glass City Rollers (GCR) and the Circle City Derby Girls (CCDG) here in Toledo. So, it turns out this post is more like "Have Sports, Will Commute." Parking downtown was pretty scarce, and the restaurant filled quickly. Before just about every Toledo Mud Hens home game, "Packo's at the Park" is overflowing with diners, but I had never seen such on a winter evening. I eventually learned that the Toledo Walleye minor league hockey team had a game directly next door to the derby venue. Still, we made it in and out, pleasantly stuffed with chili, hot dogs, and dumplings, in time to stroll over to the Seagate Centre by 6:30. I sent the my dinner companions into the bout to find seats, while I waited outside the gate for two other friends.
Everyone eventually arrived, and I made my way to our seats (a third of the way up, roughly at the center of the back straightaway) with a few minutes to spare. Toledo's venue is no match for those of some of the larger leagues, but I think GCR does an excellent job with the space it has. Sightlines are generally very good, and bouts seem to sell out or come close all the time. I spent a lot of the first half explaining rules and strategy to a derby virgin, so if I am off on a detail or two, please forgive me. I'll give a few more observations on the Glass City bout experience a the end, but let's get to the recap.
*** GCR mostly employed a four-jammer rotation, and all of its jammers had periodic success against an excellent Circle City pack. Punk Monkey got the most turns with the star, as well as the nod for being the most effective of the group. On the open track, she showed excellent speed. Punk Monkey also threw in a few moves that had the crowd gasping and cheering. Unfortunately, many of those moves ended up with a quick stop at the rear end of one of Circle City's excellent positional blockers at the middle and front of the pack.
*** Other GCR jammers Slue Foot Suzie, Fairy Dangerous, and Pamazon had similar difficulties, but each of them pulled off at least a couple of excellent jams. Suzie got the crowd back into the game with a grand slam coming out of halftime. Fairy Dangerous, meanwhile, was all business. Either she lacked the lateral quickness of some of the other jammers or she just chose not to use it, but her style was that of a straight line bull rush. Pamazon has outstanding speed to go with her size, but once she was slowed or stopped within the pack, she had a tough time accelerating and squeezing through gaps. I generally found it tough to evaluate the Glass City jammers because they weren't getting much help from their pack.
*** The GCR pack struggled to match up with its Circle City counterpart for much of the evening. In the first half, it was porous, often managing neither defense nor offense as CCDG built a large lead. On many occasions, the Glass City blockers were completely boxed to the inside of the track, allowing fast and easy scoring passes on the outside. To their credit, the ladies from T-Town made some very good adjustments at halftime, and their packs then played much more stalwart defense. The walls of Toledo skaters at the back of the pack generally held up well, but some penalty troubles often left GCR struggling to avoid being blown out on 2-on-4 pack situations. Even after the adjustments, Glass City didn't get much offensive support from the pack, and that left its jammers to face some staunch walls with no support. Glass City has some good talent, but it must improve the two-way game within the pack in order to make great strides as a team.
*** While Toledo's pack struggled, a few of the GCR blockers had notable performances individually. Betty Floored did a nice job, both with positional blocking and with some punishing hits. I recall a particularly powerful jammer take out against Vivi Section. Slash & Burn played a smart game, and many of Glass City's lead jammer calls were a direct result of her shutting down a Circle City jammer at the middle or back of the pack. One memorable collision left Circle City's Liberty Spykes on the ground and out of bounds. Pamazon did some strong blocking work as well, and based on her work as a double-threat, I'd give her a slight nod over Punk Monkey as Glass City's MVP.
*** On the Circle City side, three jammers took the majority of the work with the star. Co-MVP for CCDG goes to Roll-R-Damage, who combined excellent speed and good lateral movement with a lot of help from her pack to simply dominate the first half. Her first triple grand slam took the CCDG lead to 28-2 after eight minutes, and she followed that with another 15-point jam at the midway point of the first half to extend the lead to 47-8. Roll-R-Damage was rarely contained throughout the game, and she continued to pile up the grand slams. While I don't have the stats, I would be shocked if she were not the bout's leading scorer.
*** Roll-R-Damage was not alone in effective jamming for CCDG. Liberty Spykes showed off some nifty moves to go with her outstanding speed. From where I was sitting, Liberty Spykes was the fastest skater on the track all evening. While she did absorb quite a few solid hits, she showed toughness in bouncing right back up to her skates and excellent acceleration to allow her to skate right past some of the Glass City walls after being knocked to the ground. I saw Liberty Spykes (and some of tonight's other Circle City skaters) in her first ever bout, a "fresh meat" exhibition bout here in Toledo. After watching her in that bout, I mentioned to one of her veteran teammates that she was the one to watch. She has thus far developed into an excellent jammer, and I see even better days to come. Thanks to her, I felt like a very good talent scout from my perch in the stands.
*** The third main jammer for Circle City was Vivi Section. While she certainly has her pack to thank for some low-stress scoring passes, she did some great work herself. Of all the CCDG jammers, I thought she did the best job with navigating tight packs to score. She's a very heady skater, and it seemed like she saw plays develop just an instant before the rest of the skaters on the track. Shock Hop took a break from her outstanding blocking for a rogue jam and came out of it with 20 points. Birthday girl Beattie Sedgwick didn't fare quite as well in her single jam, as it was called off scoreless within the first 30 seconds.
*** Don't cry too much for Beattie Sedgwick, though. Her masterful pivot play earned her Circle City's other co-MVP nod. Beattie consistently stymied the Toledo jammers at the front of the pack, often walling them off with superb one-on-one positional blocking. On many occasions, although she was dwarfed by Pamazon, she managed to completely shut down her quarry. More impressive yet was Beattie's management of the pack. The CCDG pack seemed to always know exactly what to do, changing speeds fluidly to take advantage of opportunities and thwart GCR's advantages. While there was generally a wall at the front of the pack, a Circle City blocker often drifted back to the middle or even the rear to give an assist. This was, by far, the best two-way pack play I have seen from Circle City, and Beattie Sedgwick deserves much of the credit.
*** Many other Circle City blockers turned in praiseworthy efforts. Faye Stunaway, in surprisingly limited track time, was everywhere. She was equally adept at serving as part of the inpenetrable front wall and at sliding back to play both offense and defense. Whenever she was on the track, fans could be assured of seeing her ride a Glass City jammer out of bounds or seal off the last Glass City blocker to allow her jammer a clear pass. Faye's smarts, quickness, and fluid skating contributed greatly to CCDG's pack dominance. While I will certainly miss naming some effective blockers for CCDG, I will note that I was particularly impressed by Shock Hop at the front of the pack. Also turning in very good performances were Nova Blaze, Bambi Lance, and Kimmie S'more.
*** As I'm sure you've guessed by now, Circle City was in control of this bout from the beginning. Outstanding defensive pack play held Glass City to only 18 ponts at the half (to Circle City's 76). The action did even out some as the second half began, and the lead jammer calls were roughly equal for most of that period. Circle City just had too much in every facet of the game, and a couple of big jams supplemented steady, disciplined play to produce a 157-42 victory for the ladies from Indy.
*** Allow me a few final thoughts on the overall Glass City bout experience. First of all, I wish that all Toledoans knew of this hidden gem of a team. The Glass City Rollers play hard and truly deliver a great athletic event. Glass City's referees and other support staff did excellent work, and the logistics of the event were very smooth overall. The announcing was very good, although a bit too loud at times (no need to yell into a microphone). One thing that would definitely improve the experience for me would be to silence the DJ's music during play. It detracts from the fans' comprehension of the announcers and adds to the overall excessive level of noise. Why not play the music during breaks and while the pack is forming, and allow the bout action to speak for itself? Also, I noticed that many of the fans are rushing out even during the last few minutes of play. Perhaps GCR should emphasize the availability of skaters for meet-and-greets after the bout. Along with this, it would have been nice to see the skaters remain on the floor a bit longer and make an effort to engage the fans who do come down. Overall, though, I had an excellent experience at my second GCR bout, and I'm looking forward to another in March.
I had originally planned to go directly home from the bout, but Circle City's Screama Donna convinced me to stop by the after-party at the Avalon Bar for a while. I made my way over before any of the skaters arrived and found a spot to relax and sip on my Diet Coke. (I'm not much of a drinker, and never at all if I am driving home.) Screama Donna was the first one I saw when the teams began to arrive, and I talked with her and with one of the announcers for a while. Congrats to Screama Donna, by the way, as she was the only fan to reply on Facebook to my giveaway offer. She will be receiving a limited-edition Hellarad hip bag from the Wild West Showdown, assuming that I can both find one and manage to not look ridiculous buying it.
When this little group moved on to eat, drink, and mingle, I found myself transported back to my early days watching the Cincinnati Rollergirls. I suddenly felt very shy and self-conscious, and I stood back, not attempting to break into the cliques of derby girls and support staff that had formed throughout the bar. I was about to give up and leave when I caught the attention of Faye Stunaway, with whom I had spoken at length the last time her team visited Toledo. Thankfully, she remembered me and was very sweet. We talked derby, dogs, and law school for a while, and I was glad that I got to see her. Finally, I summoned the courage to break into a cocoon of CCRG folks and meet Liberty Spykes. I told her about watching her very first bout and complimented her on her performance at this one. We had a short but friendly chat, and I decided to make my way home to walk my dog. I hope to meet more of both the Glass City and Circle City skaters and staff at upcoming bouts.
In a first for me, I am actually writing this recap the night of the bout (or technically the morning after). Given the travel involved, I could never hope to do this for Cincy bouts or others away from home. I hope that by writing immediately, I have remembered the details more accurately. I also hope that I have written something that makes sense, as it's been many years since my brain functioned effectively much past midnight.
So, tonight I had derby in the city of glass, and parking turned out to be a pain in the ass. Derby's the real thing, and I hope you'll find: GCR is worth getting behind.
Everyone eventually arrived, and I made my way to our seats (a third of the way up, roughly at the center of the back straightaway) with a few minutes to spare. Toledo's venue is no match for those of some of the larger leagues, but I think GCR does an excellent job with the space it has. Sightlines are generally very good, and bouts seem to sell out or come close all the time. I spent a lot of the first half explaining rules and strategy to a derby virgin, so if I am off on a detail or two, please forgive me. I'll give a few more observations on the Glass City bout experience a the end, but let's get to the recap.
*** GCR mostly employed a four-jammer rotation, and all of its jammers had periodic success against an excellent Circle City pack. Punk Monkey got the most turns with the star, as well as the nod for being the most effective of the group. On the open track, she showed excellent speed. Punk Monkey also threw in a few moves that had the crowd gasping and cheering. Unfortunately, many of those moves ended up with a quick stop at the rear end of one of Circle City's excellent positional blockers at the middle and front of the pack.
*** Other GCR jammers Slue Foot Suzie, Fairy Dangerous, and Pamazon had similar difficulties, but each of them pulled off at least a couple of excellent jams. Suzie got the crowd back into the game with a grand slam coming out of halftime. Fairy Dangerous, meanwhile, was all business. Either she lacked the lateral quickness of some of the other jammers or she just chose not to use it, but her style was that of a straight line bull rush. Pamazon has outstanding speed to go with her size, but once she was slowed or stopped within the pack, she had a tough time accelerating and squeezing through gaps. I generally found it tough to evaluate the Glass City jammers because they weren't getting much help from their pack.
*** The GCR pack struggled to match up with its Circle City counterpart for much of the evening. In the first half, it was porous, often managing neither defense nor offense as CCDG built a large lead. On many occasions, the Glass City blockers were completely boxed to the inside of the track, allowing fast and easy scoring passes on the outside. To their credit, the ladies from T-Town made some very good adjustments at halftime, and their packs then played much more stalwart defense. The walls of Toledo skaters at the back of the pack generally held up well, but some penalty troubles often left GCR struggling to avoid being blown out on 2-on-4 pack situations. Even after the adjustments, Glass City didn't get much offensive support from the pack, and that left its jammers to face some staunch walls with no support. Glass City has some good talent, but it must improve the two-way game within the pack in order to make great strides as a team.
*** While Toledo's pack struggled, a few of the GCR blockers had notable performances individually. Betty Floored did a nice job, both with positional blocking and with some punishing hits. I recall a particularly powerful jammer take out against Vivi Section. Slash & Burn played a smart game, and many of Glass City's lead jammer calls were a direct result of her shutting down a Circle City jammer at the middle or back of the pack. One memorable collision left Circle City's Liberty Spykes on the ground and out of bounds. Pamazon did some strong blocking work as well, and based on her work as a double-threat, I'd give her a slight nod over Punk Monkey as Glass City's MVP.
*** On the Circle City side, three jammers took the majority of the work with the star. Co-MVP for CCDG goes to Roll-R-Damage, who combined excellent speed and good lateral movement with a lot of help from her pack to simply dominate the first half. Her first triple grand slam took the CCDG lead to 28-2 after eight minutes, and she followed that with another 15-point jam at the midway point of the first half to extend the lead to 47-8. Roll-R-Damage was rarely contained throughout the game, and she continued to pile up the grand slams. While I don't have the stats, I would be shocked if she were not the bout's leading scorer.
*** Roll-R-Damage was not alone in effective jamming for CCDG. Liberty Spykes showed off some nifty moves to go with her outstanding speed. From where I was sitting, Liberty Spykes was the fastest skater on the track all evening. While she did absorb quite a few solid hits, she showed toughness in bouncing right back up to her skates and excellent acceleration to allow her to skate right past some of the Glass City walls after being knocked to the ground. I saw Liberty Spykes (and some of tonight's other Circle City skaters) in her first ever bout, a "fresh meat" exhibition bout here in Toledo. After watching her in that bout, I mentioned to one of her veteran teammates that she was the one to watch. She has thus far developed into an excellent jammer, and I see even better days to come. Thanks to her, I felt like a very good talent scout from my perch in the stands.
*** The third main jammer for Circle City was Vivi Section. While she certainly has her pack to thank for some low-stress scoring passes, she did some great work herself. Of all the CCDG jammers, I thought she did the best job with navigating tight packs to score. She's a very heady skater, and it seemed like she saw plays develop just an instant before the rest of the skaters on the track. Shock Hop took a break from her outstanding blocking for a rogue jam and came out of it with 20 points. Birthday girl Beattie Sedgwick didn't fare quite as well in her single jam, as it was called off scoreless within the first 30 seconds.
*** Don't cry too much for Beattie Sedgwick, though. Her masterful pivot play earned her Circle City's other co-MVP nod. Beattie consistently stymied the Toledo jammers at the front of the pack, often walling them off with superb one-on-one positional blocking. On many occasions, although she was dwarfed by Pamazon, she managed to completely shut down her quarry. More impressive yet was Beattie's management of the pack. The CCDG pack seemed to always know exactly what to do, changing speeds fluidly to take advantage of opportunities and thwart GCR's advantages. While there was generally a wall at the front of the pack, a Circle City blocker often drifted back to the middle or even the rear to give an assist. This was, by far, the best two-way pack play I have seen from Circle City, and Beattie Sedgwick deserves much of the credit.
*** Many other Circle City blockers turned in praiseworthy efforts. Faye Stunaway, in surprisingly limited track time, was everywhere. She was equally adept at serving as part of the inpenetrable front wall and at sliding back to play both offense and defense. Whenever she was on the track, fans could be assured of seeing her ride a Glass City jammer out of bounds or seal off the last Glass City blocker to allow her jammer a clear pass. Faye's smarts, quickness, and fluid skating contributed greatly to CCDG's pack dominance. While I will certainly miss naming some effective blockers for CCDG, I will note that I was particularly impressed by Shock Hop at the front of the pack. Also turning in very good performances were Nova Blaze, Bambi Lance, and Kimmie S'more.
*** As I'm sure you've guessed by now, Circle City was in control of this bout from the beginning. Outstanding defensive pack play held Glass City to only 18 ponts at the half (to Circle City's 76). The action did even out some as the second half began, and the lead jammer calls were roughly equal for most of that period. Circle City just had too much in every facet of the game, and a couple of big jams supplemented steady, disciplined play to produce a 157-42 victory for the ladies from Indy.
*** Allow me a few final thoughts on the overall Glass City bout experience. First of all, I wish that all Toledoans knew of this hidden gem of a team. The Glass City Rollers play hard and truly deliver a great athletic event. Glass City's referees and other support staff did excellent work, and the logistics of the event were very smooth overall. The announcing was very good, although a bit too loud at times (no need to yell into a microphone). One thing that would definitely improve the experience for me would be to silence the DJ's music during play. It detracts from the fans' comprehension of the announcers and adds to the overall excessive level of noise. Why not play the music during breaks and while the pack is forming, and allow the bout action to speak for itself? Also, I noticed that many of the fans are rushing out even during the last few minutes of play. Perhaps GCR should emphasize the availability of skaters for meet-and-greets after the bout. Along with this, it would have been nice to see the skaters remain on the floor a bit longer and make an effort to engage the fans who do come down. Overall, though, I had an excellent experience at my second GCR bout, and I'm looking forward to another in March.
I had originally planned to go directly home from the bout, but Circle City's Screama Donna convinced me to stop by the after-party at the Avalon Bar for a while. I made my way over before any of the skaters arrived and found a spot to relax and sip on my Diet Coke. (I'm not much of a drinker, and never at all if I am driving home.) Screama Donna was the first one I saw when the teams began to arrive, and I talked with her and with one of the announcers for a while. Congrats to Screama Donna, by the way, as she was the only fan to reply on Facebook to my giveaway offer. She will be receiving a limited-edition Hellarad hip bag from the Wild West Showdown, assuming that I can both find one and manage to not look ridiculous buying it.
When this little group moved on to eat, drink, and mingle, I found myself transported back to my early days watching the Cincinnati Rollergirls. I suddenly felt very shy and self-conscious, and I stood back, not attempting to break into the cliques of derby girls and support staff that had formed throughout the bar. I was about to give up and leave when I caught the attention of Faye Stunaway, with whom I had spoken at length the last time her team visited Toledo. Thankfully, she remembered me and was very sweet. We talked derby, dogs, and law school for a while, and I was glad that I got to see her. Finally, I summoned the courage to break into a cocoon of CCRG folks and meet Liberty Spykes. I told her about watching her very first bout and complimented her on her performance at this one. We had a short but friendly chat, and I decided to make my way home to walk my dog. I hope to meet more of both the Glass City and Circle City skaters and staff at upcoming bouts.
In a first for me, I am actually writing this recap the night of the bout (or technically the morning after). Given the travel involved, I could never hope to do this for Cincy bouts or others away from home. I hope that by writing immediately, I have remembered the details more accurately. I also hope that I have written something that makes sense, as it's been many years since my brain functioned effectively much past midnight.
So, tonight I had derby in the city of glass, and parking turned out to be a pain in the ass. Derby's the real thing, and I hope you'll find: GCR is worth getting behind.
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