Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Disparity = Disinterest?

I was surprised to read the comments on Miss Print’s post, at the Roller Derby Diva blog, about last Saturday’s Cincinnati Rollergirls bout. A couple folks commented about how the disparity in the score between the Dames and Corsets has resulted in them losing interest in the CRG-only bouts. I hope these comments aren’t representative of the crowd. I was surprised since that thought never crossed my mind, I’m looking forward to all the upcoming matches. Here’s why.

First of all, I’m probably more of a Corsets fan so I’d like to see them win a match as much as the next guy. The first intra-league match was pretty close compared to last weekend’s event. For whatever reason, things didn’t gel for the Corsets last Saturday and it wasn’t meant to be. Nevertheless, I didn’t get any inkling that they were easing up in the least. I think the fact that the difference in score didn’t continue to grow was evidence of that. If they’re giving it their all, I don’t understand a derby fan losing interest.

One of the benefits of watching an intra-league match is that you can focus on individual performance and effort – it really doesn’t matter what team they are on. I follow skaters on both teams. Who doesn’t enjoy seeing Sadie or EMolition zip around the track, weave through the pack, catch a whip from a teammate, and do it all again? Listen to the crowd collectively gasp when Panterrorize or Collier Mama gives a hard block and knocks someone out of bounds. Maybe it’s because I can barely stand on skates, but I find that amazing and a lot of fun to watch! Pick any skater and watch them during a jam. If they’re focused and giving it their all, that makes for a good roller derby event. At this level, it doesn’t matter to me what the score is.

The Cincinnati Rollergirls’ league has come a long way in just a single year! Athletic ability, event conduct and logistics, and publicity have improved dramatically. Is everything perfect? Of course not. There’s always room for improvement and I’m sure they will continue to improve on all fronts. I hope they have great fan support for all their upcoming matches, intra-league or not.

6 comments:

Kitschywoman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kitschywoman said...

I was wondering if you were going to weigh in on those comments, and I'm glad to see you have. As one of our most loyal fans, you've seen more of our bouts than most people and can grasp the big picture here.

I will say that, as a Dame, it's demoralizing to work on improving my skating only to be told that my efforts are ruining the bouts for some of our fans because the team I'm on happens to win a lot.

--Roseanne

Anonymous said...

Nothing negative was meant for the Dames, you guys are impressive players that were compared to the Super Bowl Champs. The Corsetts have good players but seriously they fell to pieces on the track last week. I suspect there was something to the comment about the Corsetts not coming to practice becuase the problems were team work and stategy, not individual ability. Earl makes the comment that the gap did not get bigger in period 2 and 3 but the Dames bascially stopped jamming Saide with her only jamming once each period and only against Emolition, the strongest Corsett jammer. If you guys had wanted too you could have doubled the size of the gap by playing Saide more against the weaker jammers. That kind of butt kicking just is not fun to watch as a sport. If you knew the Bengals were going to lose every game would you go to see how good the other team was? No. Same thing here.

Dianne said...

Earl, you're such a suck up!!!

Just kidding. You're just a positive kind of upbeat guy... the ying to my yang!

Lauren Bishop said...

Thanks for your support, Earl -- I'd like to think that your feelings are more representative of the fans as a whole. I guess we'll find out at the next intra-league bout!

Earl said...

Thanks for all the responses. Just wanted to get another opinion out there after reading the anonymous comments.

Roseanne -- I hope neither you nor any of the CRG skaters get disheartened. The CRG group seems to have a good self-awareness. I think the group is good about seeking feedback and taking in and responding to any comments. But, as you know, you can't assume a few comments are necessarily representative of the 1000 plus people attending.