Peoples,

I know there are some derby fans on here. The Carolina Rollergirls are in Austin Tejas competing in the National Championship. They made it through the first round yesterday afternoon and are now in the semis. They were the only team out of the East bracket to make it to the second day. My ladyfriend said everyone on our team made it through the first bout without serious injuries.

There's a live blog with score updates and commentary at http://leadjammer.com/2007national_liveblog/#

Later,

-Swank

9/30/2007 12:04:40 PM

You wasted your 1000th post on this?

9/30/2007 3:25:01 PM

I thought roller derby was "real" in a professional wrestling sort of way.

If there is a tie do they still wrestle until someone gets thrown into the alligator pit?

10/1/2007 8:54:13 AM

There ain't nothing pre-planned about it. In the last 4 games, CRG has had: 1 broken collarbone, 1 broken wrist, a torn ACL, a possible cracked tailbone last night, about 3 tweaked knees, and the regular bruises. My wife has a bruise about the size of a T-bone on her hip. Skaters from other leagues were dropping like flies all weekend as well. Those girls were beating the shit out of each other!

The closest thing I can relate it to is playing basketball on skates, and having 4 people trying to beat you down when you pass them. I'm honestly surprised more people don't get hurt, but they practice falling drills and endurance sessions 4-5 times a week.

Anyways, CRG came in 4th at the end of the weekend. They beat the #2 seed in their first game, then lost to the eventual tournament winner in the semis. By the time they go to the loser's bracket game, they'd already lost 3 players and were out of gas. The convo center in Austin was rockin', with all manner of craziness going on.

The next home bout is November 17, against the Bay Area Derby Girls. Student tickets are $8, and the bout will be held at the World Famous Dorton Arena as always.

Later,

-JS

10/1/2007 10:32:15 AM