Monday, October 26, 2009

High Heathers pop those Sick Cherries

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.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Viagrrra Falls and Ringer!

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F-Bomb!

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Friday, October 23, 2009

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X2Z and Sump!
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139 to 79 HHMF pack
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George and the Mad Splatter (Fresh Meat!)
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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Extraordinary Derby Weekend Approaches

Rose City Rollers have been doing a great job this year with very innovative events (Derby Daze comes immediately to mind as a stand-out example).

This weekend's Rose City vs. the Northwest may be the most fun Portland derby weekend for fans yet.

Friday night at 8, the High Heathers, composed of draftees of the Heartless Heathers and the High Rollers play a hybrid team of skaters from Salem and Corvallis. Intensive Scare and Mick U Cry will be bench-coaching the High Heathers.

Saturday at 5 p.m., the Buttrock Betties, featuring rookies from GnR and the Betties will go against another mixed team from Spokane and the Tri-Cities. Shove Me Tender and Mullet Bullet will be bench-coaching the Buttrock Betties who will also have GnR's Cher the Pain on the track.

Then at 7 that same night, our revered Axles of Annihilation team competes once again with Everett's Jet City Bombers.

Great stuff!

And then for something completely different, the WOJ Art + Music Symposium, sponsored by Disjecta, at Disjecta, with a ton of visual and performance art, and a show by NINJA that is likely to wow and surprise.

Tickets for Everything.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Sunday Heathers Googling

Goodie



via Derby Helper

No shame in Windy City.


I'm sure it's no surprise to anyone that reads this blog that both WoJ and Windy City Rollers top my "Teams I Love" list. Yeah, I'm homer first but after watching WCR, then ranked 7th, hand then #1 ranked Kansas City Roller Warriors a 159 to 39 loss a little over a year ago, I started following and cheering for the WCR. So a match up that featured my hometown heroes against one of my national favorites was a "Must See" bout for this derby addict.


In the aftermath of Regionals, I didn't know what to expect from WoJ, although I had a good idea what I was going to see from the Windy City Rollers. WCR had a cake walk through their weak ass Central bracket, crushing most opponents by over 100 points. They are fast, tough and a very smart team of veteran players. They have only lost once at home in years and even then by only one point (to Philly). Since I really think this might be the year that WCR takes the National Title, I knew WoJ had their work cut out for them.


Okay, WoJ lost by 40 points...but the score doesn't tell the story of how well WoJ actually played. They held WCR time and time again. Every one in purple played their asses off and forced WCR to elevate their play to win. They pushed, challenged and lead several times. Even as the bout did slip away (in the last 15'ish minutes) I thought they might pull off an upset. It was in their eyes, no panic, no anger, just focus. Although WoJ was behind, they still made the WCR earn every point the hard way.

No shout outs to HH's on WoJ this time. The whole damned WoJ TEAM deserves props, as a team. Regardless of the colors they wear in Intra-Leagues Season, even though there was disappointment in Denver this year, I was damned proud to be a RCR fan in the stand in Windy City last night. Thank YOU WoJ.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Windy City 113, RCR Wheels of Justice 73

From the sound of Heathers blogger JeLLyPiG's Twitter updates, it was a hard-fought, intelligently played bout on both sides.

Windy City even employed an innovative tactic seen earlier this year from the Heartless Heathers (albeit under a different rule set), and later in the year at WFTDA Regional tournaments nationwide, involving bringing the pack to a complete stop.

High praise to the formidable Windy City Rollers, and allegiance and salutes to the Wheels of Justice.

Can't wait for Rose City Roller Derby next week.

Serving Justice in Chicago


photo by Joe Rollerfan

Justice Feelgood Marshall has a preview of today's Rose City/Windy City bout that starts today at 5 Pacific time.

He lists the WOJ Roster as follows:

Blood Clottia
FireCrotch
Hurricane Skatrina
Leet Speaking Missile
Madame Bumpsalot
MegaHurtz
Mick U Cry
Mobi-Wan Kenobi
Rhea DeRange
Scratcher in the Eye
Sol Train
White Flight
Sully Skullkicker
JK Rolling

Um, that is a very impressive line-up, quite capable of bringing it on home.

I do believe that JeLLyPiG is in Chi-Town, so we may be hearing from him on this one soon.

UPDATE: DNN boutcast will be here.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Friday, October 2, 2009

Wheels can't roller over Rocky Mt.

WoJ 77 vs Rocky Mt. 101

They never led. They never executed in the same way that gave them the victory over Carolina, Duke City or B.A.D.g. Worst of all, they became an "also ran" in what could be the second biggest tournament upset in the history of WFTDA to date.

But we love them, we will continue to love because they are our team!

I had said this division had the greatest potential for upset, on that fact I was not wrong. I truly did not expect that our Wheel of Justice would be the prime example of how tough the Western Region Division is but...it is what it is.

Tonight? I became a Ratz Fan...for the weekend anyway.




Wheels of Justice to play Rocky Mountain at 4 p.m. Pacific Time today

Rocky Mountain routed Tucson 319 - 27 to move ahead in the bracket. They will face Rose City's Wheels of Justice in the Western Regional Tournament.

Live bout coverage should be here.