Not of the Hellions, unfortunately (although you can check out this DNN archive of our match against Montreal from this past summer)...but it's the final weekend of WFTDA Playoffs - North Central Region edition.
My favorite North Central team? The Minnesota Roller Girls! I caught them once East Coast Extravaganza. I love 'em! I have one of their stickers on my helmet >:) BTW, they have two skaters heading to Toronto in December to represent USA Roller Derby at the Roller Derby World Cup!
Starting at 9am Eastern, you can catch the action at http://derbyaccess.com/.
(At 1pm Eastern, make sure to catch Bout 4: #3 Minnesota RollerGirls vs #6 Mad Rollin’ Dolls!)It's the best roller derby the North Central region has to offer. Check it out, so you can estimate how teams will faceoff against the other regions at Championships in November (including New York's own Gotham Girls).
You can also stream the video on your iPhone. (The derby access link above can be used on any other mobile phone though). I've watched some of the games on my phone (when I was on the road), and the quality is great.
Lastly, Derby News Network is providing supplemental live coverage throughout the event. Happy viewing everyone!
0:17. Check me out passing three opposing players.
I'm awesome.
I used to think I was hot stuff in this video. OK, to be fair, you have to love my jammer start (0:05). A somewhat good start off the line (0:08). And that's not a bad derby stance - I'm got pretty low when on my initial approach to the pack (0:13). I manage to sneak up the inside line, passing three MVRG players at once (including jammer) (0:17).
Then what happens?
Who's awesome now? :(
Instead of hauling ass and moving my feet, I start to coast. Then a three person wall of MVRG players gets in front of me. It looks like I am coasting from 0:20 to 0:34.... 14 seconds! That's a long time in the grand scheme of a two minute jam.Finally, at about 0:34, I turn up my speed and break through the wall to earn lead jammer status (0:35). I think at this point, the opposing jammer is still trapped in the pack by Kitty, Pork Slap, Nymph, and Missy (continuously awesome, the whole jam).
My speed around the track to lap the pack isn't too bad. I think my stride is ok, but I think I've surely improved in the past year. It takes me about 20 seconds to reach the back of the pack.
Eventually I catch up and am able to pass the opposing blockers to score my points easily for the most part, after taking a bump or two. I think I may have scored all four points. At that point, I take a good hit and am knocked to the floor, at which point I decide to call off the jam.
In hindsight, I'm torn if this was the right opportunity to call off the jam. As I am falling, you can see that the opposing jammer has finally broken through the pack for her initial pass - she had not made her scoring pass yet. It was conservative tactic -- perhaps I would've had to refight my way through the pack again, whilst the other jammer made her way around to make her first scoring pass. Alternatively, I could've hopped back up, fought through the pack, caught the other jammer, and possibly scored again.
The amazing Space Chalky, a Hellions super fan, put together some awesome footage from our January 15 bout against the Nickel City Knockouts. Here's Part 1, with links to Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
Check out this video Mr. T showed me of Gene Kelly tap dancing on roller skates. It's a scene from the movie It's Always Fair Weather (1955).
There's a lot I can do on my toe stops. Jammer start, jump around, run backwards, jumprope. I think I have new challenge! Actually, it looks like Gene Kelly is doing a lot of figure skating moves, which sort of makes we want to take artistic skating lessons.
At first I was skeptical that this might not be real. I mean - I don't mean to doubt Gene Kelly, but I feel like it could be staged or dubbed over. I looked up the movie on IMDB and one of the commenters makes a good case for why this probably is real:
You notice how sparsely Gene Kelly's finest numbers are shot? Long takes,little in the way of cinematic flair? Well,ponder this for a moment-he will often do something truly spectacular at the end of a take,leading one to wonder just how many times the poor chap put himself through the preceding minutes before getting it right...
A case in point is the justly famed (among those in the know) "Rollerskate Number":In order to demonstrate that the skates are,indeed,authentic,Kelly will swap-flawlessly-from "tap" to "glide" at the end of each take.
Pretty talented, I'd say. I've never watched any of his movies, but just the dancing and singing alone makes me want to. Happy Friday everyone - hope you enjoyed this little number!
