Would ya look at that!

The local derby-sphere is buzzin' because it was recently announced that the Capital District Trauma Authority is headed down to SUNY Purchase on April 21 to take on the New York Shock Exchange in a double header with Suburbia.  Taking a closer look at the poster... well hey!  Isn't that Lehman Smothers!  Yup yup yes it is!

Anyway, you know I'll be headed down to Purchase on 4/21 to catch the derby action. At 6pm, the guys from the New York Shock Exchange battle it out with the Capital District's Trauma Authority. Then at 7:30pm, the ladies of the Suburban Brawl host Bleeding Heartland (#13 in WFTDA's North Central region). Tough guys, fast girls, cupcakes, plenty of parking, and Purchase College's huge, shiny gym.

MRDA Champs

If you are keeping track at home, you will notice that I traveled to Baltimore three times in the span of a month (August into September) and in October I found myself rolling down 87 thrice for adventures in NYC/Long Island - the Gotham Boot Camp, CDTA vs NYSE, and on October 22 - Men's Roller Derby Association (MRDA) Championships. The event took place at Skate Safe America (also LIRR's venue) and was hosted by the New York Shock Exchange.

New York Shock Exchange

My second post ever on this blog was about men's roller derby. Since then I've come to appreciate it more and more. I definitely see some differences between the way men and women play, but I like watching both.

MRDA Champs featured six teams from around the United States:
Dallas Deception (Texas)
Magic City (somewhere in Florida)
St. Louis Gatekeeper (Missouri)
Puget Sound (Seattle area)
Pioneer Valley (Western Mass)
New York Shock Exchange.

woohoo, PVRD!

PVRD is my favorite MRDA team. Ever since I saw them last year, I've been all about the mustaches.  I also love the Shock Exchange, cause hell yeah New York! Plus they're all super awesome. Side note: CDTA is obviously my favorite not-yet-MRDA team.


The other four leagues I didn't know much about.  Dallas?  Texas has roller derby, that's cool.  St. Louis? The guys with beards. Also, where the heck is St. Louis? Puget Sound = Quadzilla.  Magic City? wow... those are some ridiculous names on that roster.

So that's what I was working with going into the tournament.

It was a solid event of all-day derby - there were 8 full length men's bout, plus one women's bout in the middle to break things up.  I hung out mostly with the dudes from CDTA and there was also a bunch of people from the Utica Quadfathers there and Central New York players there.

Capital District Trauma Authority
Roarshock, Jonny Malice, Massacre, Wellen Dowd, and Museknuckle

Being the top two ranked teams, St. Louis and NYSE had a first round by. NYSE ended up playing Magic City in the first game, and the score was a lot closer than I expected.

Grambo from CNY volunteering at
MRDA.

Magic City is ridiculous.  I mean that in a mostly good way, although at first I was not sure how I felt about them. Rumor had it that most of their skaters have a background in jam skating. They definitely had some fancy footwork. Overall, NYSE played a tighter game strategy-wise and were able to take the win. Check out the Derby News Network recap here. There's a comment which is a bit critical of NYSE's strategy that won them the game, but heck - that is the way derby is played these days. It's just playing smart based on the rules of the game.  Anyway, the first picture on that article where Magic City (green) is facing reverse direction pretty much sums up the whole game.  It was an exciting game to watch.

PVRD had a tough first game against Puget Sound, who are a powerhouse in the west. After losing to them, they played Dallas Deception, which was a little bit closer.

The best game of the day, in my opinion, was Magic City vs. St. Louis. Two teams I knew little about going into it, but I think this bout exemplified some of the best men's derby has to offer. The two teams were very well matched game and I decided I just really like to watch Magic City skate.
If you watch any videos of the bouts from MRDA Champs, I definitely recommend Magic City vs St. Louis.

These are just my basic impressions from Champs.  If you want some real stats based, unbiased recaps you should check out DNN here, here, here, here, and here.

Bout recap: CDTA vs. NYSE. October 8, 2011

The weekend of Saturday, October 8 I headed down to Long Island with Massacre for the Capital District Trauma Authority's bout against the New York Shock Exchange brand new B-Team: the Dow Jones Average, featuring saucy players such as everybody's favorite Jimmy Rage as well as Bane-Ana-on-Skates, or as Wellen's mom put it, "Oh that 1B player - he's so out of control - he's dangerous!" In only the voice a mother could have when a scruffy lad is beating up on her seven-foot-tall son's teammates.

NYSE took the lead early in the game with a 29 point jam by Starsky. I should back up and state that NYSE, as a League, has been a dominant force in men's derby for years. This bout was to be a learning experience for CDTA. And to be fair, there were a few A (B+?) players on NYSE's roster.

Let me get some numbers out of the way: the final score was 194-91, and Roarshock scored 49 of those points and was voted MVP. All of CDTA's jammers had to fight hard for their points, though - Roarshock, Jonny Malice, and Up End Atom faced solid and disciplined walls from the Dow Jones.

Derbylove

www.nataliedee.com

I just read this great article on derbylife.com. It's written by Bane-Ana, who just days ago I saw play on a compilation team - the East Coast Irregulars (as Bane-ana on Skates, that is) against Harm City Homicide in Baltimore, MD. The Hellions also shared a locker room with his team (New York Shock Exchange's Coney Island Freak Show) at Empire Skate Showdown, so I then knew what he looked like sans banana suit.

Of course I'd seen Bane from afar at Regional Playoffs and on DNN, but most recently I had the pleasure of chatting with him post-bout and at the parking-lot-PBR-after-party on Sunday night. He's really just terrific, and his words in this article complete solidify my positive opinion of him.

If you love derby, then check out Bane-Ana's article on Derbylife.com: Compensation.

Kids

I really like the song "Kids" by MGMT.  It's so catchy.  And the first time I heard it was at a Weezer concert last year when they covered it.  Double love.  To me this song is about enjoying yourself by finding clarity in a situation.

I even got to speak briefly with the
Wall Street Traitor's own Ginger Snap.

We played three games on Saturday.  I wasn't on the roster for the first game, but played in the second and third.  After we lost the first (Central New York 63 over HoTRD 43) and second game (Hudson Valley Horrors 83 over HoTRD 43) I was feeling kind of blue.  Of course I always try to look on the brightside: it was a great day of derby, we had two new girls on the roster, Deadlie Mercury and Delinquen Dollie, and a whole bunch of non-rostered league members came down to cheer us on.  I had also spent the day talking to various girls on other teams and even got to warm up with the New York Shock Exchange (mens derby team!).  And, I got to jam during the Hudson Valley bout - I even made lead jammer and scored a couple points.

Flexi gives the team a pep talk before our
last bout of the day.  Photo by Sean Hale.

So there were a lot of positives about the day, but after all, we were playing in a tournament.  And now we were in the running for 7th or 8th place.  At that point, it was time to remember that I was there to have fun, and play my best.  Flexi, who had to take herself off the roster after getting injured in the first game, gave us a pep talk.  That's when I found my clarity and focused on playing a good game, and being happy no matter the outcome.


As we started the bout, the DJ started playing "Kids".  To me, it was perfect.

 Control yourself. 

Take only what you need from it.

Great game, new friends

Also, before I looked up these lyrics, I always thought the line was "enjoy yourself" instead of "control yourself."  And I was enjoying myself.  I was enjoying playing derby and watching my teammates go give it their all against Assault City.  It was a close game, with Assault City pulling ahead by 10 points at the end (62 over 52).  That was the end of the tournament for us, but at least my mind was clear beforehand.  Now it was time to get off my skates and watch the final bouts, including the championship!

Men's Derby

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending three roller derby bouts. On Saturday I traveled to Old Bethpage, Long Island to see a double header: the Long Island Roller Rebels (LIRR) vs. Pioneer Valley's Western Mass Destruction, which followed a game of men's derby featuring the New York Shock Exchange (NYSE) based out of NYC vs. Pioneer's Valley's The Dirty Dozen, based out of Northampton, MA This was my first time seeing men's derby. Today I will be blogging about that, and later this week I'll write about LIRR v. PVRD and the amazing bout I saw on Sunday. 


I am not sure how many men's teams there are in the United Sates, but the eastern US is lucky to have a solid and growing base of men's derby. In fact, the NYSE and the Dirty Dozen are among the top men's teams in the country. Other local teams of note are the Connecticut Death Quads and the up-and-coming Albany Men's Roller Derby team! 


But for now, my initial impressions: When I first pondered the idea of men's derby, I imagined (with great gender bias, obviously) football on rollerskates. I thought the men would be knocking each other out left and right with little regard for safety (their own or others!) I probably could not have been more wrong. Men's derby leagues, at least the ones I am aware of, play by the same set of rules as women's teams (generally WFTDA 4.0). Instead of going (pardon the phrase) balls out, they played a very strategical game. In comparison to women's derby I have seen, I observed that the men played in somewhat of a tighter formation, and in order for their jammer to get through the pack of blockers, they really had to bounce their way through every time; it was somewhat like watching a pinball machine. I just remembered that alloveralbany had a post about men's derby recently. The article quotes a skater, Museknückle, saying, 

"if women's roller derby is like NASCAR, then men's derby is more like demolition derby". 

I would interpret this to mean that women's roller derby is fast-paced, has a sizable fan base, and the skaters have the endurance it takes to skate through an entire game and come out victoriously. Men's derby :: demolition derby could mean that they might look like a motley crew, but underneath their rusty outer shell is some fine engine work that can power through the nastiest machines on the track. Anyone else want to weigh in on that? (If you disagree, remember, I've only seen one game, but I can't wait to see more!)


By the way, Albany Men's Roller Derby has a recruiting event coming up. Join them at Rollarama in Schenectady at 4:30pm on May 2nd. Check them out on facebook for more information. I promise I will write more about men's derby after I am able to do some more research on it (including my thoughts in response to this comment).