Saturday in Indy / Cincinnati Rollergirls

After getting our taxes done and running some errands, Dianne and I drove to Indianapolis for the day. We started out looking around at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Here is Dianne looking at a painting in the European exhibit area. According to their website, it is the fifth largest art museum in the country. It is a huge facility with lots of work on display. Except for special exhibits, there is no charge and parking is free. Definitely worth a stop if you're in the area. We spent a few hours there and didn't see the whole place. I'd like to go back when it's warm and check out the gardens and outdoor sculpture on the grounds.

We drove downtown to catch an early dinner. Downtown was pretty dead on a Saturday except for a few block radius around the Monument Circle area. That was hopping with people! We didn't have too much time to look around, but we saw lots of beautiful buildings driving around.

After eating we went to the Toyota Blue Ribbon Pavilion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds to watch the Cincinnati Rollergirls' Black Sheep team take on the Naptown Roller Girls in the "Lucky Harm" bout. It was the first match of the 2008 season for CRG and I was excited to see them back in action. We were sitting with a small group of CRG fans in the bleachers that included Mama Sac -- Sista Sacralicious' mom. I didn't take many photos, but Jeff and Jason were both there taking photos and Miss Print had a video camera. Look for bout photos and videos from them.

I have to say I was a little worried after the first two jams of the event. The Naptown team came out strong and started out 10-0 over Cincinnati. But that must have been first bout jitters for Cincinnati. After settling down, the CRG team got into their groove. With tough blocking to slow and often times prevent the Naptown jammer from getting through the pack, an amazing effort from the jammers, and some good strategy calls around when to stop the jam, the CRG team chipped away Naptown's early lead and ended up 9 points ahead after the first period.

The second period was all Cincinnati. They started out strong to widen their lead and continued their strategy to shut down almost all Naptown scoring. The CRG blocking was truly a team effort to control the inside line and make it almost impossible for the Naptown jammer to pass. Blu Bayou and Sk8r Kinney were fantastic as pivots and Panterrorize and Juwana Hurt are amazing starting at the back of the pack and moving up when necessary. But all the blockers in between contributed and worked as a team to both shut down the Naptown jammers and help the CRG jammers through the pack. The pack was skating extremely fast which must have been a heck of a workout for the skaters! That speed made the jammer's job all that much harder to get through the pack and then sprint to catch the pack again. Kudos to Sadistic Sadie, Hannah Barbaric, and Roseanne Scarr for their jamming effort. There were quite a few grand slams.

I didn't take many photos since we were sitting back from the track. Here are a couple grainy shots. The first photo below shows CRG skaters (in black and white) Hannah Barbaric wearing the jammer star along with Juwana Hurt and Ruffn' the Passer ahead of the Naptown skaters in red.



This photo shows Sadistic Sadie jamming with Panterrorize blocking in front of a Naptown skater. I like the background of that photo showing coach Pale Rider squatting down in front of the CRG bench.



Naptown was able to score some in the third period, but so did Cincinnati to the extent that they were able to keep their score almost twice that of Naptown. Don't get me wrong -- the Naptown skaters are no slouchers. Naptown was skating hard and fast and there were lots of CRG skaters receiving solid blocks (although I have to say they didn't all look legal :^) ). Most notable for me was the tall Naptown pivot Touretta Lynn. Cincinnati ended with a strong 59 to 32 win over Naptown. Congratulations to the Cincinnati Rollergirls for a great win! It's going to be another exciting season of derby action in the Cincinnati Gardens.

After the match I was able to talk to a couple folks and Dianne got pictures of me with Sk8r Kinney (first pic) and Panterrorize. Sk8r Kinney did an amazing job blocking -- especially for a couple jams when CRG had a couple skaters in the penalty box. She was able to hold back the Naptown jammers for most of the jam by controlling the inside line. A great effort! Panterrorize was the team captain and as always did a great job blocking.

Don't forget the Cincinnati Rollergirls' pre-season party / kickoff event this Saturday at the Cincinnati Gardens. The home opener for the CRG is April 12th. Be there to cheer them on and catch the derby fever.