Mon 11 Dec 2006
I have to say, when the Tent City Terrors were behind significantly at the end of the first period in their bout against the Carolina Rollergirls on Sunday night, I thought they were just toying with their prey. Carolina was having to sweat hard to keep up the pace against them.
When Carolina was still leading significantly at the end of the second period I was starting to be surprised. I’d figured AZRD would turn on the nitro and just go.
When Carolina squeaked out a 10 point win despite a substantial come-back by AZRD in the third period, I was ready to eat my hat. Nobody expected that. I didn’t expect that and I was watching it happen.
So, let me formally say that I was, as has been demonstrated, uniformly wrong with my prediction for Sunday’s bout. Let me get that right out of the way! I was completely wrong, and utterly glad to be proved so.
Now, that said… wow. What a dirty game. I have to say, I was pretty shocked by some of the stuff I saw pulled out there on the track. Whichever Arizona skater tried to mix it up with Lucy Lastkiss was, depending on whether you saw the precipitating event, either insane or just settling a score. Regardless of all that, however, I have to say it’s not very classy at all when a third party – skater’s boyfriend or no – leaps into the fray. I thought that – getting involved in a personal way with what was going on out on the track or between the skaters when one isn’t a skater one’s self – is what got people thrown out of the rink…
In other measures of how dirty it was: I think Carolina got a lucky break on more than one occasion in terms of fouls not being called against them. That is not to say, however, that Arizona was some poor, mistreated team who got robbed of the match. Carolina’s jammers were rarely able to overcome Arizona’s jammers, who were simply faster and, let’s be frank, meaner than Carolina’s, even faster than Roxy, but there were jams where CRG held the lead jammer position and heck, let’s just go ahead and say it: Arizona fight dirty and when they do they do it dirtier than any Carolina player I saw. In the same jam I saw Deez Nuts (1) grab a Carolina Rollergirl by the arm and fling her out of the track in the middle of a turn and then (2) put her hands on the helmet of another and shove her down and outside in the middle of the same turn on the way through. I don’t know the rules in and out, but that hardly seemed legal.
Let’s be even more frank: Mink Stole – whose masked persona becomes more understandable when you’ve seen how she treats her foes, as surely she makes enemies at every game – is very, very good at keeping an eye on where the refs are and who’s looking and, when the refs are not looking, beating the hell out of anyone she can get her hands on. Or, if other watchers are to be believed, simply turning one foot out to trip anyone who happens to be skating by at high speed.
And finally, let’s talk about Arizona’s penchant for staying on the track after being sent to the penalty box. I won’t say they were outright insubordinate, though. I’m sure it’s very hard from the middle of the pack to hear what’s being said. Over the loudspeakers. In a raised tone of voice. For the fourth time. And hey, if you just happen to get a couple of takeouts in the lap (or two) you squeeze out of your meandering path to the penalty box, well, who’s counting? Right?
This game was very different from what I expected. Arizona are crazy skilled, yes, but Carolina showed that they’re way more skilled than even I was willing to think and I’m a hometown fan. On the other hand, Carolina was way more willing to throw elbows and, let’s be honest, completely superfluous flying tackles while not even inbounds and for no real apparent reason (*cough*LucyLastkissWasKindOfAskingForThatPunch*cough*) than even I had been willing to think and Arizona? Oh my. That southwestern sun does bake a hot temper into those ladies.
There are all sorts of psychological factors to take into account when analyzing this bout and its outcome, of course: Arizona just beat #1 Texas in Austin, something never done before. Maybe they came into this thinking that, in comparison, CRG would be a cakewalk. Maybe they held back a bit too much in the first period while testing their opponents’ mettle. Maybe some CRG member read my last derby post and felt there was something to prove (if so, my response: point well and enthusiastically taken!).
On the other hand, maybe it’s been a long time since the last national meet and those rankings – which put Arizona at #3 and Carolina at #8, and which are about to be updated in early 2007 – are more overdue for that update than anyone realized… who knows?
All I can say is that I am deeply grateful that the next bout is a home game to benefit charity. There are a lot of skaters I’ve missed seeing on the track (where were Leadfoot and Violet Femme, anyway, and where’s Busty O’Lipp, CRG’s natural answer to Mink Stole, been all this time?) and I hope I finally get to see them this time – and I hope Carolina can play a nice, relaxing bout without having to make those EMT’s at track-side bust ass back and forth from Turn 2 to Turn 3 and back again (and again, and again) like they did on Sunday. Tsk.
But you know what? It was a hell of a fun bout to watch. It was probably the most fun interleague game to watch since they hosted (and upset) Minnesota (who just walloped Ohio 142-55 in November) at the Skate Ranch a year (or so) ago. It might have been the most nail-biting, seat-leaving match I’ve ever seen. It was amazing. It was dirty, but it was amazing. The tapes of that bout are going to be watched over and over again by both teams. If you weren’t there, you’d probably do well to try to buddy up to a roller girl and get your hands on the video. Other teams and other leagues should be asking for copies of those tapes to study. I mean… wow. That was all anyone could say outside, afterward: “Wow.” It was a damned fine game to watch, regardless of all else.
(Please see this follow-up for corrections to this post.)
I wonder how much of it was AZRD pulling a barely legal (and even now, I’m wonder) jammer to jammer elbow to the face on Princess America in the first period. I think that pissed a lot of people off. Me especially – don’t fuck with Princess.
Edited to add that when I haven’t had coffee, I insert random words. That should be “I wonder”.
I skate for CRG. I pivot. This was one of the highlights of my season. I read your pre-game post and yes, it motivated me to prove you wrong, so thank you.
Something worth mentioning is the abundance of back blocks AZ was dishing out. My back was constantly getting pounded on by AZ fists and forearms. A few times I yelled “WTF??” and on 2 occasions the skaters said “oops, sorry!”
Let me clarify rules on elbows here:
Use of elbows (with forearm) is not illegal. It is legal to extend your upper arm (as long as the elbow is bent) and use it to hold someone back. The second you jack it and use force upward, downward or backward, it becomes an illegal move.
jammer to jammer elbow to the face on Princess America
Seriously. AZRD could not have picked a worse player to cheap-shot, from a PR perspective.
Interesting assessment of the game. I think that we all have pretty strong feelings about this game
It certainly seemed like CRG’s most difficult bout to date, that I have seen (but, I didn’t see them in Texas 
But I have to disagree with you on some things. While I saw some “dirty” playing, I think the majority of it was called, and outside of some trips and OOB blocking – which were called – the “dirt” was relatively minor, on both sides. Not completely clean, but I would hardly describe it as a dirty game. But, I’ve seen some other teams play who really _are_ dirty, so it may be a matter of perspective. You say “Carolina was way more willing to throw elbows and, let’s be honest, completely superfluous flying tackles while not even inbounds and for no real apparent reason”, but as Eva pointed out elbows can sometimes be legally used, and Lucy’s OOB hit was a single incident (that she went to the box for). I hope that one incident didn’t color CRG’s entire performance for the game as dirty for you, just as I hope that Babe Ruthless’ subsequent hitting Lucy didn’t color AZRD’s entire performance as dirty.
In my opinion, the truly unfortunate thing about the game (or any game) is the fight. You say “(*cough*LucyLastkissWasKindOfAskingForThatPunch*cough*) “, but I hope you don’t really think that Lucy deserved to get punched. I hope nobody would ever think that any skater, on any league, deserves to get punched. I’ve seen some very bad things while watching other leagues; dangerous trips, elbows to the face and throat, two-handed pushes, etc. But I never thought even once that any skater “was asking for” a punch. Certainly not because of a simple out of bounds hit.
I personally (and without representing CRG in any way) think Juan Fantastico was completely right to pull Babe Ruthless off Lucy. I would have done the same thing if someone was beating on my wife. You characterize it as “getting involved in a personal way with what was going on out on the track or between the skaters”, which it technically was, but I believe there is a major difference between breaking up a fight (and a 1-sided fight at that), and actually getting involved in Roller Derby action. I believe as soon as that first punch is thrown, it is no longer Roller Derby. Fighting has absolutely no place in today’s Roller Derby; we do not need to devolve into the artificial spectacle that derby once was. I (again, personally) believe that anyone who fights should be thrown out of the entire game. We should start treating fighting the same way as almost every other professional sport does; as completely unacceptable. I should add here that I don’t think Babe was actually trying to hurt Lucy, and Babe is very nice in person; I’m not trying to single her out. Fighting hurts more than any single player, it hurts the entire sport. And again, this is my personal opinion, nonofficial, completely unrelated to CRG or WFTDA or Roller Derby in general.
Finally, I should clarify that Juan _was_ immediately thrown out of the game by Tomahawk. No matter if Juan was justified or not, you are right that interfering with the skaters at any time is illegal and will get anyone who isn’t a ref thrown out of the game.
On a positive note, I thought it was CRG’s best game so far. Absolutely amazing and packed with excitement, especially the end. If AZRD had another 5 minutes they might have taken it!
Something worth mentioning is the abundance of back blocks AZ was dishing out.
I don’t doubt this at all; they’re a lot harder for we spectators to spot from the stands, but given everything we did see, it’s not at all surprising. I’m glad you enjoyed this bout as much as the fans did!
MrTemper: It didn’t color my opinion of CRG. I don’t think of them as playing “dirty” derby as a rule, and this bout did not cause me to begin thinking such; that’s why I express such surprise at it. I’m glad to hear that LL’s husband was ejected, to be honest. I agree that I would have done the same thing if my boyfriend were assaulted, but the rules are the rules and I would have had an ejection coming to me if I’d done the same. My main concern is for the safety of the skaters from enthusiastic fans. I had no idea who he was until I was told by a CRG skater after the bout, and I’m sure I wasn’t alone in that.
And no, of course I do not think Lucy should get punched. I think that there is an obvious tension between the desire to play clean derby and the desire to play up to the level of a really physical and violent team like AZRD. I understand, as best a spectator can at any rate, Lucy’s desire to give as good as the team was getting, but it was a flying tackle out of bounds that sent an already demonstrably violent opponent flat to the ground. An escalating response is really the only realistic expectation.
And you’re right, I’ve never watched anyone but CRG play and I’ve only seen them host interleague bouts, I’ve never been to or seen footage of away games, so my perspective and thus my sense of what constitutes “dirty” or very violent derby is skewed by the fact that CRG’s games seem, from what I’ve seen and what I hear of their reputation elsewhere, to be so focused on skill and athleticism, something they clearly focus on and something which they clearly have in spades, rather than on cheap tricks (such as the AZRD tactics of cheap-shotting Princess America, or hammering people’s backs, or tripping when the refs are looking somewhere else). My perspective is quite likely skewed; I recall being similarly shocked by the physicality of Minnesota, too, who were the first non-CRG team I saw play.
But no, I do not think Sunday in any way lowers my respect for or admiration of CRG as a team. I don’t think AZRD are terrible bullies, either. The clash of standards is one of the most fascinating things about the interleague bouts I’ve seen. On the other hand, yes, I am looking forward to getting back to regular-season, intraleague play because I would much rather go home and blog about how skilled players are than about how violent players are. This is purely a matter of personal taste, though. I am just one loud-mouthed fan and nothing more, and one who plans to be at the charity bout because win or lose the evolution of derby and playing styles and how interleague bouts allow one team to influence another in a million tiny ways fascinates me just as much as the sport itself engages and excites and I don’t plan to give up that experience as a spectator anytime soon.
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