With all the advance notice, the addition of live bout feed by RCR I'm not sure how any fan of this blog could have missed this bout, but in case you did...here's my usual half ass opinion and derby ramblings for your amusement.
First and foremost, I love the whole concept of the "RCR vs the NW" weekend. This was not only a great way to familiarize the fan base with the new players, but also allows the players to gain experience with heavy playing rotation. It creates a great opportunity to not only showcase our players, but players from the surrounding leagues...Genius RCR!
The SOLD OUT opener featured the newest High Rollers and Heartless Heathers against a hybrid team of Sicktown Derby Dames and Cherry City Derby Girls, a.k.a. Sick Cherries, and it was big time derby fun. Though our "High Heathers" established an early lead and held onto it throughout the bout, it was really about the action which was never lacking.
Ten minutes into the bout the High Heathers were up 31 to 1. Though the point differential would ebb and flow a bit, the power of the High Heathers jammers and blockers proved pretty brutal. It took the Sick Cherries most of the first half to warm up, find a groove and get some offense of their own. The half ended with HH up 78 to 53.
Despite some great effort by the Sick Cherries, they struggled to limit the High Heathers jamming crew while trying to provide offensive support for their own jammers. I was seriously impressed by the level of team play between these new High Heathers, until I realized that they should play well together...they've been playing against and with each other on the Fresh Meat team! The team play just widened the scoring gap until the High Heathers closed the bout with a 142 to 109 win over the upstart leagues of SickTown and Cherry City.
As for the roster for the High Heathers, according to the program:
Hard Candy (Though it looked like HARM candy on her jersey)
Monacle Debacle
Butcher Block
Knotty La Rue
French Tickler
Skintastic Dynomite
She Rex
Titania
F Bomb
KicKassedy
Penny Dreadful
Minnie Van Mayhem
Devaskating Deva
Now I give Kudos to the whole damn team, but there are some players that especially stand out in my mind.
Monacle Debacle had several amazing jams and seems to possess the ability to transport herself into a hole and out of the pack. Right behind her on my list would be KicKassedy, who managed some great runs followed by Knotty and Hard Candy.
As for the Pack Monsters? F Bomb was a shining star of brutality and is on my ever growing list of players I enjoy watching. Like my other favorite packster Butcher Block, F Bomb was pushing the pack, taking players out of play before the HH jammer needed them moved. Providing a tough second hit in the 1,2 blocking scheme and finishing every hit, every time. Of course I also saw some serious game from likes of Penny Dreadful, Devaskating Deva, Skintastic and Knotty in the pack.Those Sick Cherries were hammered on and it was fun to watch.
As for day two of the soiree?
The Butt Rock Betties didn't really have much challenge from the Lilac City crew. It was a lopsided bout with Lilac looking more like a first year league than the two first year leagues that played as a team the night before. BrB had 142 to 64 for Lilac City and though it was hardly a trying bout for the BrB, it's was clear that both GnR and those Betties have some new hot shots for next season.
AoA lost a tough one to Jet City 108 to 122. It was a bizarre and often difficult bout for an AoA fan to watch. The bout started very competitive and close, then AoA found a groove, got a lead. It was AoA 70, Jet City 44 at the half. After that, it seemed like things got a bit cocky and really went sideways. Team play seemed fall to the wayside, as frustration set in and Jet City hammered back, taking a 76 to 74 lead and exerted more and more control. AoA did not relent and tried to regains their first half level of play, even taking a one point lead with 12 minutes left. Unfortunately penalties and some well executed play by Jet City would prove too much. Oh yeah there was hope for the last jam with 1 minute left AoA down by 14 points. Unfortunately for me, I spent that last jam screaming at officials, because Jet City had a Pivot on the track...and one in the box???? I was SO confused by that shit and the bout ended with AoA 108, Jet City 122, me with no voice left.
Damn, what a great derby weekend...to bring to a close a fun RCR derby year.
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7 comments:
The derby year isn't quite over yet - AOA plays the Terminal City girls from Vancouver BC on December 5th at the hangar! Woo!
ps. my money is on gotham to win nationals (and beat oly). if they can't do it i'm not sure who can. no offense to the lovely philly girls of course. for the real nerdy, i filled out the bracket with my obviously biased predictions:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2514/4028059221_0351439797_o.jpg
feel free to mock me for my picks!
I am so with you FC on almost everything but I do think Oly has a solid chance of taking nationals. Gotham hasn't been as cohesive in the games I've seen them play this season, they've sped up their game rather than slowed it down like most other teams, but have not adjusted to the increased speed by having deeper jammer rotations which is their downfall. Oly can play that same fast game w/ much deeper jammer rotations. I also agree that the Denver teams will do well at Nationals, they play smart and seem to be able to adjust their game to the situation at hand (other than Denver fielding jammers w/ 3 minors at pivotal times at regionals, ooof).
See now - I just out nerded ya didn't I.
Oh FC, I would love to mock your picks but the link isn't working for me. I'm on the record as this being a the year for Windy Cindy to take it all and that's how I'm rooting in Philly.
And YES, I did forget the upcoming Terminal City bout. I sure wouldn't miss a chance to see all my Riot Girls playing in the TC All Stars vs AoA @ the Hangar Dec 5th.
ringer - agreed. if gotham doesn't beat oly, then oly will probably take the tournament. philly's home court advantage will help them, but i still think that RMRG can beat em. i made a bet that an east coast team would win it and filled out my bracket based on that. really though, if it's not gotham i'm pretty sure it'll be oly winning the tournament. you do win the nerd award though ;)
jellypig - link is a static flickr link so i'm not sure why it didn't work for you, anyone should be able to see it.
Okay FC, I got it working and found the error in your logic. Mock, mock, mockity mock-mock...DRD?!?!? Seriously? Though I did not see DRD in person in regionals, I did not see anything on my screen that would indicate that Varla, Shocka, Malice and Eva couldn't serve up on them.
Friendly wager of shame FC???
Something derby supportive...like loser wears the winners league shirt to RCR bouts for a given number of bouts?
I'm with you FC. I don't think windy is nearly as good as DRD though I think it will be close. They both like to play a fast pack but Denver can also slow the pack better and has more diverse strategy. DRD also has better Jammers, if they can stay out of the box.
I do think that Oly has a good chance of taking Gotham though. Ringer is right that Gotham hasn't played cohesive this year and doesn't have the Jammer rotation that Oly has. That said Gotham has far better understanding of the game. This game could really be determined by reffing and how much the refs are willing to take from the fowl mouthed dirty Oly rollers.
Philly does have the home court advantage but they will have never played against the backwards pack strategy of RCMG. I think it will through them off there game and take them out of contention.
Texas could be beat by either RCMG ot Philly so it doesn't much matter we know they aren't going to make it.
I'm excited to watch.
no more betting for me - the reason i filled out the bracket in the first place was to back up my wager that an east coast team would take the #1 spot rather than a west coast team. so if i lose that bet i'm losing a shirt, which i'm kind of hoping will happen as i would not be mad if oly wins it all.
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