Sunday, September 21, 2008

Well, that was fun: WOJ and Axles both roll to victory





























Axles huddle to hear Scratcher out. Photo via Jason Van Orden's flickr stream.

You may have heard by now that the Wheels of Justice pretty well smooshed Arizona's Tent City Terrors 124 - 34, and that the Axles of Annihilation did in their foes from Sacramento in a much tighter 58-36 battle.

Loved seeing such champion Heathers as Fire Crotch, Goodie 2 Skates, Sol Train, and Vominatrix give it to 'em, in a sweet-assed Coda to the Heathers' RCR championship last month (sad that Scratcher was still on the injured list, but maybe she'll be ready to go by the time of Western Regionals).

And for the Axles, the performance and focus displayed by Ginger Binger, Mobi-Wan-Kanobi, Sump Pump, Titania, and Viagrra Falls were impressive.

I wish I were able to do a decent recap, but I usually just get so revved up yelling that by the time an evening of derby is over, I have forgotten most of what has happened. So unless somebody has anything particularly recappy to say, we'll just wait for ol' Elwood to write one as soon as he gets over having a maliciously dropped brick smash into his windshield. But I will say that it was a particular delight to see Fire Crotch on the jam.

On the social circuit, I burdened the following stalwarts with short bursts of my company: the Mad Nader, MercGirl, Kanna, and George. I also enjoyed hellos and hugs from HRMF's Intensive Scare and Dee Cap-A-Skater, and a beery chat (on both sides) with The Harmacist. D-Day escaped having to shake my sweaty paw by running off in the nick of time.

Speaking of the social circuit, one runs into the damnedest people on Alberta Street. Clearly, I need to quit wasting all my time blogging and devote my energies to portrait photography, my natural gift:





















That's all I got. What you got?

7 comments:

JeLLyPiG said...

Damn, it sounds like Justice was served in the Rose City last night, except for poor Elwood.

I missed the bout but did find some derby action in Cicero IL. Kansas City did not look like the #1 team in the nation and Windy City systematically took them apart. 155 to 39, thankfully they didn't stop serving beer at the half.

It reminded me how top notch our bouts are organized and run. Our teams are great but all the people that work the events do an amazing job and really MAKE the bouts.It became clear to me why Rose City(/Rat City) should be hosting Nationals...

George said...

Yes, another excellent bout! I’m starting to fully get my voice back after it was lost due to excessive screaming. Also, it was great to meet the Coroner and put a face to a name! I looked for MercGirl and her Mercury, but couldn’t find either. AoA really impressed me that night. I was expecting Sacred City to give them more of a run for their money. I remember thinking to myself at one point during the last half “damn, we have a pretty good league.” Congrats to Fire Crotch, Ginger Binger, Goodie 2 Skates, Mobi-Wan-Kanobi, Sump Pump, Titania, Viagrra Falls, Vominatrix, and of course my favorite, Sol Train, on another great bout. This last bout has me more excited than ever to get on that plane to the Western Regionals next week! I can’t freakin’ wait!!!

the_mad_nader said...

The WoJ beating of AZRD pretty much went according to script. From what I gather the Tent City Terrors, a team with about as storied a history as any other in the WFTDA, had seen a lot of changes recently and has basically been been plummeting in the ranks faster than Washington Mutual's bond rating!

In fact, just this past June, Sacred City actually BEAT AZRD - yet the commitments had already been made for WoJ to skate against AZRD, and Sacred to battle the Axles.

The reality is it probably would have been more competitive (at least for WoJ) to have skated against Sacred, but smacking down your opponent by nearly 100 points has gotta give WoJ a nice confidence boost heading into Western Regionals in just a few weeks time. Plus, it gave AoA the chance to really test themselves against a quality inter-league opponent - something many of these skaters haven't had the opportunity to do. I can predict that a fair number of Axles are going to be challenging for WoJ roster spots in the near future!

Personally I am super proud of how AoA skated, and loved watching their fight and spirit. This was a gritty, hard fought battle, and on paper Sacred should probably have won, despite the fact that they apparently weren't able to bring all of their "Sacrificers" A-team. But that's why they play the games.

It's really crazy to think about the DEPTH of RCR, and especially the Heathers. When you realize that AoA/HH skaters like Ginger Binger, Mobi-Wan, and Viagrrra are all solid and STILL GETTING BETTER and more versatile, you've gotta be stoked about the future of our favorite team.

Of course it was also fun to see some of our seasoned vets like Sump, Titania, Vom, FC, Goodie, and Sol skating on WoJ or AoA.

Finally, the best part of an inter-league bout for me is the opportunity to see skaters from all 4 home teams skating together, and watching/cheering for rising stars like Smackya Sideways and LickerN'Split who are only gonna help improve the fortunes of GnR and HR in '09.

Lot's of fun...but not nearly enough to tide me over 'til Nationals (sadly, I won't be able to make the trip out for Regionals next month).

the_mad_nader said...

Oh, and one thing I completely forgot to mention: I gotta take exception to one of The Coroner's comments

"I burdened the following stalwarts with short bursts of my company: the Mad Nader,..."

Getting to shake hands and share a few words (and not digitally, but in real life no less!) with you sir is NEVER a burden!

Looking forward to enjoying a drink or two in your fine company at any other roller derby or Heartless Heathers events that may or may not be in the works for some time in October...

Heathen said...

Oh I was there George, I even has lovely daugher Miss Hanner with me. I did not drive the Merc tho. Sorry I missed you. The bout was a thing of true beauty and I had a hard time restraining myself from bugging Goodie as she sat on the sidelines during the Axel's bout.

The Coroner said...

Hey, MercGirl, did y'all get right up front for Nick Cave? I knew a ton of people who went, but I didn't run into any of them. That place was fuckin' packed.

Magnificent show, though, huh?

Heathen said...

we were pretty close to the front. It was an amazing show! I was completely awed by Mr Cave.