Sunday, August 13, 2006

Super Roll Sunday - 1

It was Super Roll Sunday today – the first match for the Cincinnati Rollergirls. I’m sure you’ll be able to find out more on their website soon and see some better photos of the action there. Going in, I was pulling for The Riots (because of Lauren’s Roller Derby Diva blog and the Ithaca connection) and the Full Metal Corsets (just because I liked the team name and some of the member names). But alas, both of my teams lost by huge margins. Now that I've got a first look at some of the characters, I might have to rethink my favorites.

The first match was between the Bloody Sundays and The Riots. This was a blowout with the Sundays winning easily. The Sundays were good, but it seemed like the Riots beat themselves by running into each other and having their jammers lose momentum. My take was that Gummilove was their strongest jammer and Bola del Fuego seemed to do well. Miss Print had one good jam but also another where she got held up in the pack and didn’t score. Dianne commented that there wasn’t enough whipping or helping along of the jammers. It was hard to get a good picture, but here is an artistic view of one of the Sundays/Riots jams.

CinciRollergirls_SRS_4Watching the warm-ups, especially for the second match between the Full Metal Corsets and the Dames of Destruction, it was readily apparent which team had the best skaters. In that match, Sadistic Sadie of the Dames was far and away the best jammer. She really maneuvered through the pack well and she used her teammates to help her advance and score (sometimes by pushing them to the ground in order to stay in bounds and keep moving ahead). The Corsets took a beating with three players going down hard on separate occasions that stopped the match. That was no fun to see. Two of the girls (The Librarian and I believe Collier Mamma) seemed to be hurt bad and they sat out the rest of the match. The Corsets had some tough cookies on the team that were fitting into the bad girl mold, but not the best skaters. Among the bad girls was Sk8 Crime whose attitude or persona I didn’t care for. After some tough jostling with Sadie in the next to last jam, I was happy to see Sadie pull Sk8 Crime down from behind using her belt and then go at it. It was worth the penalty to put Sk8 Crime in her place.

All in all, I thought it was a good event. It seemed like the Rollergirls were having fun and many were playing to the crowd. The flat track style is different and takes more planning to work through the pack and stay in bounds. Most everyone was giving it their all and the blocking was tough. It also takes a lot of work from a lot of volunteers to put on something like this. I hope they can make a go of it! However, you could tell the league is young and they need to work out some kinks like scoring (having team names rather than home/visitors), timekeeping, concessions to handle the crowd, announcing, etc. Nevertheless, I’d go again and encourage anyone with a roller derby interest to check it out. Who knows, maybe I can talk Dianne into SRS II coming up in a few weeks.

7 comments:

Lauren Bishop said...

Hi Earl--thanks for commenting on my blog, and for posting your thoughts on the bout! It's really helpful to have an outsider's view of things. Please introduce yourself if you come to SRS II! (What's your Ithaca connection, btw?)

The Kman said...

Earl I talked to Dianne and it sounded like a fun Sunday afternoon. I would like to tag along if you go to SRS II. Tresha doesn't have any interest in going but I use to love watching Roller Derby on the TV when I was a kid!

Anonymous said...

Earl, this is great! Thanks for your view of what happened! This is quite helpful. We all know our faults and what we need to work and you hit on a couple of them. :)I, myself, have equipment issues that couldn't be fixed for the bout which really inhibited me physically and mentally. I was very disappointed in myself but this was my first time to EVER compete. I have never played sports. So don't count me out yet! This is a work in progress and a learning experience for all. I myself just LOVE to skate and this is fun for me. I must come to the defense of Sk8te Crime. She is one of my fav people and players. She is very animated and competitive and really one of our best skaters. She is motivator and for me, a role model. Check her out again....she really brings fun and excitement to the teams. I love all the girls and am honored to be able to be a Rollergirl!! Keep watchin. You never know what is going to happen. :) Bola

Dianne said...

I was surprised by Earl's take on Sk8 Crime... she and Sadistic Sadie were my favorites. I thought that Sk8 Crime looked like a strong player... but I may have been biased by her fashion decision to wear board shorts! (The other roller girl uniforms would be a real barrier to participation!)

BTW, Earl and I went to school in Ithaca (Cornell) and that is where we met each other.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you had a good time even though you didn't like my attitude or my persona. But hey, i wasn't trying to impress you anyways. Love me or hate me...just don't get in my way.

As for Sadie...There is no one else in the league that i would rather have been taken out by... She inspires me to be a better skater and she sets my prison heart on FIRE! I'm just glad i finally gotta chance to tumble with her.... mmmm...sweet memories.

BTW... i will have a special attitude (and squirt gun) just for you at the next bout.

Not Yours,
Sk8 Crime

Anonymous said...

MY NAME IS EARL. That's the sign we're going to make for you to take to the next battle. :) Good luck!!

-Kim, Ed, and Carla

Anonymous said...

To be fair the Full Metal Corsets had half their team and all of their jamemrs played in the first bout. Some of teams cannot field a full team due to injuries so the FMC loaned their players to both teams for the first bout. As a result they were wiped and could not move. That is one of the reasons they got beat so bad.