Cincinnati Roller Girls

While growing up, one of the most entertaining sports to watch on TV was professional wrestling. My Dad took me to a professional wrestling match (the AWA) as a kid and I went to a couple during graduate school when the WWF was coming of age and Hulk Hogan was on top. It was fun to see some of the wrestlers live -- Mad Dog Vachan, the Crusher, Andre the Giant, and Hulk Hogan to name a few. I still watch Hogan Knows Best on the VH1 network.

Right behind professional wrestling was Roller Derby. Basically it was like wrestling on roller skates. A lot of posturing, yelling, fighting, and hard hitting action. Unfortunately, the revival of the roller derby teams in the 70s didn’t last long. However, teams are sprouting up again around the country. Last year, the A&E network had a series called Rollergirls that followed teams in the Texas roller derby league. That was an interesting show, although the roller derby matches themselves were slightly different since it was all women. I don’t know if A&E is going to have a second season of the show.

I was pleasantly surprised to see on the Cincinnati Enquirer site that a flat track roller derby team is starting up in Cincinnati! You can read the Roller Derby Diva’s blog about the start up here. They are having there first public scrimmage in July and their first match in August. That has potential for good local entertainment.