CRG Rain of Pain

On Saturday night Dianne and I went to the Cincinnati Rollergirls Rain of Pain event at the Cincinnati Gardens. It was their home opener, a double header, against the Fort Wayne Derby Girls. We were part of the 1800+ crowd -- no doubt due in part to the local newspaper, radio, and TV blitz this past week to drum up excitement for the match. Not only are they practicing and organizing events, the skaters also do a lot of promo work. There seemed to be quite a few derby virgins in the crowd, so hopefully they got hooked. We talked with one first time spectator who thought it was a blast to watch. Also part of the crowd was Mama Sac (at the right), the proud mom of CRG skater Sista Sacralicious and probably the most easily identified fan with her cow bell. I went over to say hi and see how she was doing since we missed her in Louisville.

In the first bout of the evening, the CRG Silent Lambs skated against the Fort Wayne Flying Squirrels. It was the first bout of the season for several rookie skaters and some of the returning CRG crew. The Lambs took the lead and held it over the first part of the match, but the Fort Wayne skaters came back, took over the lead, and held the Lambs off at the end. I missed the final score. It was quite the nail biting battle -- especially in the middle of the match. There were times where the Silent Lambs' defense was well organized and slowed Fort Wayne, but it wasn't consistent enough to minimize Fort Wayne scoring. On top of that, the Fort Wayne blockers were pretty tough and gave some hard hits to the CRG jammers. Oreo SlamHER was particularly tough, but many of the Flying Squirrels were dealing out hard blocks. Check out the size difference here. Miss Print seemed faster than last year in the open, but was bottled up a couple times and took some hard falls. Of note for the Lambs was jammer CandyKICKass, shown above about to get a whip from Ima Payne. Candy must have put in a lot of work during the off season because her skating ability is much improved from last year! She was a good contributor on the jamming front.

In the second bout, the Cincinnati Rollergirls' Black Sheep took on the Fort Wayne Bomb Squad and defeated them 100 to 35. This bout was another fantastic effort by the Black Sheep. What more can I say about the CRG blockers? They were great at controlling the pack and shutting down the Fort Wayne jammers. For much of the first 30 minute period, the Fort Wayne score stayed at 3 -- they had multiple jams with zero points. Their jammers were just stuck behind the CRG folks as in the photo here where Ruby Killer (red jammer) tries to deal with Blu Bayou (in front) and Panterrorize on the inside. It's not just one or two folks, but the whole blocking team that deserves kukos for their effort.

As in the first two away matches, Sadistic Sadie, Hannah Barbaric, and Roseanne Scarr did the bulk of the work as jammers. The photo to the right shows Sadie scoring as she passes the Fort Wayne pack in red. But it was no picnic for the CRG jammers. The Fort Wayne blockers were tough and there were quite a few hard hits like this one and this one. Fort Wayne blockers Mayhem and Bang Bang LaDesh (who went down hard at one point and was limping after the match) seemed especially tough.

After the match I was able to talk with a few skaters and Dianne took some photos. Thanks to all for taking time to say hi and chat. The first shot is of me with Ruff'n the Passer. She was doing a lot of blocking, but did wear the jammer star on a couple of the jams. First saw her skating with Gem City about a year and a half ago -- sat next to her mom. A very good skater all around.

The second photo is of me with Arche Enemy. She is another one of the amazing blocking crew on the Black Sheep team.

The third photo is of me with CandyKICKass.

Dianne and I were honored with seats on the VIP couch for the match. Thanks much to the CRG group for that. Also, you may notice in these photos with the skaters I'm wearing a new CRG T-shirt. A special thank you to Juwana Hurt for giving me a special Juwana shirt. A very pleasant surprise!

I have a bunch of photos you can see in my Rain of Pain Flickr set here. I posted a few favorites below. I have to say the lighting in the Gardens kinda stinks, so I can't wait to see the always wonderful photos from Jason and Jeff who were both at the match. I'm sure they'll post photos soon. Also, ESPN was there filming last night for a SportsCenter segment on flat track roller derby. Keep an eye out for that!

The next CRG home match is May 17th in the Gardens. In that bout the Black Sheep will be going up against the Philly Roller Girls, a higher ranked team. It should be an exciting match to see. Perhaps by then it will be a little warmer to make tailgating a little more do-able. Don't miss it!


Below, Sk8 Crime (with the jammer star) and Ima Payne look to take on Oreo SlamHER.



Below, The Librarian and Cherry Choke (in black) have a good position to slow down the Fort Wayne jammer Sugar Guns.



Below, Hannah Barbaric leaves a Fort Wayne skater falling behind her.



This is another shot illustrating the CRG team work. CRG skaters Blu Bayou, Panterrorize, and Ruff'n the Passer have the Fort Wayne jammer Ruby Killer (red star) boxed in while Hannah Barbaric has a clear path around the outside as Mayhem falls behind her. Perfect positioning for the CRG group. That is fun to watch!

CRG and DCRG Spring Fling

Last night I went to Louisville to see the Spring Fling roller derby bout between the Derby City Roller Girls and the Cincinnati Rollergirls at the Kentucky Fair and Expo Center. It was a blow out (in fact the last name of CRG skater #32 Flavors comes to mind) with the CRG team scoring 181 compared to DCRG's 41.

This was a very different bout than the last CRG match in Indy a couple weeks ago where the pack was skating extremely fast. The DCRG pack had a slower tempo. Although CRG was pushing the speed, they were attentive to the 20 foot rule and slowed as appropriate to keep the pack tight and organized. Even when slowed down, the CRG blockers still controlled the inside and in many jams completely stalled the DCRG jammers. The photo at the right shows Blu Bayou and Sista Sacralicious blocking the DCRG jammer Envy Myoni. All that with what seemed to be not too many folks in the penalty box. An amazing job from all the blockers as usual!

It was fun for me to watch, but not much fun for the DCRG folks. I thought their fans were really great and supportive. The place erupted when, I think in the second period, a DCRG skater got lead jammer status for the first time. The DCRG was simply up against a far superior team. The DCRG group was persistent and tried hard the entire match. I thought their jammers Envy Myoni and Sir Wheel were pretty good and put out a great effort. At the conclusion of one jam I saw Sir Wheel take off her helmet and she had a disgusted look on her face. Despite her effort, things just weren't coming together for them. This photo shows Ruff'n the Passer blocking Sir Wheel.

As with the Indy bout, Sadistic Sadie, Hannah Barbaric, and Roseanne Scarr were doing most of the jamming duty. However, Sk8r-Kinney, Ruff'n the Passer, and Killian Destroy also got to wear the jammer star. It was nice to see them all zipping around the track. I lost track of how many grand slams they all had. The photo here shows Hannah Barbaric pulling on the jersey of Sk8r-Kinney to give her a little boost to get out of the pack and start her sprint.


The Cincinnati part of the crowd was pretty small. Where was the cow bell? Thanks to Juwana, I had a trackside seat with the CRG spectators and friends and got to meet and chat with a few folks including Jewel B. Hurt and Professor Murder. After the match I was able to meet Hannah Barbaric and, since Dianne is half way across the planet, Miss Print was kind enough to take a photo of us with Lamb Chop. I haven't seen a Lamb Chop puppet for years!

I put a few photos below. There are more to see in my Flickr set that you can see here. Click on any thumbnail to see a larger view and the captions.

If you haven't been able to catch the first two away matches, take advantage of the first CRG home bout coming up this Saturday at the Cincinnati Gardens. We're fortunate to have a very good WFTDA team in our backyard. It should be a fun time! Also, it's a double header so it'll be the first time seeing the Silent Lambs skate in 2008. Be there to cheer on all the ewes!

Killian Destroy, Sk8r-Kinney, and Roseanne Scarr.


Sk8r-Kinney about to pass the jammer star to Sadistic Sadie.


Envy Myoni and Hannah Barbaric sprinting.


Roseanne Scarr racing ahead of Sir Wheel.


I like this photo of June with the Cleaver going for a hit on Envy Myoni. It is the first of a series of three. See the others here and here.


My favorite series is this triptych showing one of the DCRG pivots trying to stop Sadistic Sadie (like that's going to happen). It's a nice series showing how she goes low and scoots around the blocker. In the background you can see Hannah Barbaric and Arche Enemy controlling the inside to stop the DCRG jammer. A great example of the CRG teamwork. It's a little hard to see this small, but you can see a larger version on black by clicking here or view the original here.

CRG Pre-Season Party

On Saturday night I went to the Cincinnati Rollergirls' 2008 pre-season party at the Cincinnati Gardens called the Rock-n-Rollergirls: Battle for the Bouts. There were several local bands at the party who were looking for the honor of playing at half-time during the home season opener on April 12th. There wasn't a huge crowd, but it was a nice event with stuff for the kids early on, a derby match demo, and a full contact musical chairs competition. I took a few photos that you can see in my Flickr set here.

The most animated event was the full contact musical chairs -- in short, the traditional musical chairs game but in roller derby style. There were Lamb Chops and chairs tumbling all over the place. You get a sense of that in this shot from one of the early rounds. Fireman Bill had his hands full judging the competition.



The Librarian and Roseanne Scarr had a struggle for one of the last chairs of an early round. This diptych shows a bit of the battle.



In the end it came down to Arche Enemy and Roseanne Scarr vying for the last chair.



Roseanne came out on top -- although Sk8 Crime tried to foil her victory. Here is Roseanne taking a victory lap.

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.