Roller Derby Helmet Cam - Eastern Regional Tour

Just heard about this video via the rollergirls yahoo group and Hurt Reynolds. Very cool footage. I would love to see more of this!

"If you've seen helmet cam footage shot by competing skaters, you've probably noticed that it can be hard to follow because any alert skater keeps her head on a swivel at all times. Refs, though, are watching the bigger picture, and the change of aspect yields a much better result. Interesting to think what a dedicated camera-skater might accomplish this way."

National Medical Roller Derby Research

Photo: K. T. Ryder Wilkie, 10-14-07

From the rollergirls yahoo board comes this interesting post about a new medical study being done on injuries in roller derby. I think this is so fantastic. Good solid research will eventually help us to be safer. More safety = Less injuries = More kicking ass! I have already filled out this survey and I think you should, too. Right now.

Injury Experience in Roller Derby Athletes

Attention Roller Derby Girls!

Roller Derby is moving fast! Media exposure is expanding.

The next step is medical research! Sports medicine doctors at the University of Utah are studying Roller Derby injuries. By studying how athletes get hurt, they hope to figure out how to prevent future injuries and keep Derby Girls safely rolling.

Everyone's experience is important. Be heard by helping with this nationwide study. Follow the link below to answer some questions. Even if you haven't been injured, please fill out the survey. It will only take five or ten minutes, and we aren't collecting any names. We will collect your year of birth, insurance status, and description of non-Derby and Derby related injuries.

Your information is safe and will only be used for this research project. All data will be password-protected on a University website and database. However, with everything there may be risk- a potential risk may be loss of confidentiality. There is no reward for completing the survey; but, everyone's experience is important! Be heard by helping with this nationwide study.

Do you have any Roller Derby friends that didn't get this link? Please send this link to them – we don't want to miss anybody!

If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints or if you feel you have been harmed by this research please contact Dutch Plante (Research Coordinator, Division of PM&R, University of Utah) at 801 585 6998.

Contact the Institutional Review Board (IRB) if you have questions regarding your rights as a research participant. Also, contact the IRB if you have questions, complaints or concerns which you do not feel you can discuss with the investigator. The University of Utah IRB may be reached by phone at (801) 581-3655 or by e-mail at irb@hsc.utah.edu.

Participation in this study is voluntary. You can choose not to take part and you can also choose not to finish the questionnaire or omit any question you prefer not to answer without penalty or loss of benefits.

By completing this questionnaire at the below listed web link, you are giving your consent to participate.

https://securembm.uuhsc.utah.edu/ESurvey/index.cfm?event=Run.Open&Run.RemoteKey=060105677678756371037467790F701170750416727B05657071021073797461

Thank you for your participation,
Ethan Colliver, D.O.
Stuart Willick, M.D.
University of Utah

Dreadnought and her Derby Quilt of Awesomeness

Dreadnought's roller derby quilt has taken on a life of its own and decided to move to a new blog. Check it out at http://rollerderbyquilt.blogspot.com/. There are rumors of a magazine article and a possible senate seat. Stay tuned for more details!

We season our lobster with the blood of our enemies! Yummm

The Weekly Dig came out with its Dig This Awards 2008 and guess who was voted Best Citizen's Militia? You guessed it!

Best Citizens' Militia
Boston Derby Dames

"Anyone who's been to one of the league's roller derby bouts wouldn't mind getting "blocked and rolled" by the Boston Derby Dames. Fueled, no doubt, by some combination of petrol and bourbon, they season their lobster with the blood of their enemies and look hotter on wheels than any girl in stilettos. What began in 2005 now boasts three home teams - the Cosmonaughties, Nutcrackers and Wicked Pissahs - and an all-star traveling team, the Boston Massacre. With handles like "Pussy Venom" and "KrushPuppy," the Dames would likely jump at the chance to defend the People's Republic. As one classic derby adage goes: "Skate faster, pussycat! Kill! Kill!" [bostonderbydames.com]"

How to protect your toes!

It is amazing to me that companies like Riedell have not caught on to the fact that roller derby utterly and completely destroys the toes of your skate boots. Very quickly. Those toe guard things they sell do not do the trick. If you look at the toes of roller girls you will likely see a lot of duct tape. Some folks do get more creative. I've seen bike tire tread, for instance, which is pretty cool.

Right now my skates look like this: I have the traditional Riedell toe guard (black) over a hand made leather toe cover (blue) that I bought at ECE. The toe covers looked cool but did not last very long, although I heard that they were selling versions with more durable leather, but had sold out by the time I got there. So there is a lot of duct tape in addition to those two things. And I can tell that this won't last very long either. So I am in the market for new toe protection.

Here are some other options I have found:

A couple of enterprising souls have made their own wrap around toe covers. Dandelion Factory has some handmade toe covers for sale at Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16986912) that look pretty good.


I found this interesting toe cover from Skechers (http://www.skates.com/Skechers_Toe_Covers_p/sctc.htm) that I might try out:There are also a couple of products out there that you can brush directly onto your boot that are supposed to create a hard layer on your boot toe. For instance, A.L.21 Sports Toe Guard Hockey Skate Protector and Pro Guard Hockey Skate Toe Protector. I don't know anyone who has tried these, but at around $5 it seems like it might be worth a try.

Anyone else out there found a better (or cooler) way to protect yor toes? I'd love to hear about it.

Start checking off your Christmas list -- BDD 2009 Season passes are here!

Season Passes to Boston Derby Dames' 2009 Season!
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/producerevent/46105?prod_id=2585

Tickets $14 in advance, $16 at the door (good for both bouts of the double header)
Season tickets now available! 9 nights, 17 bouts for $117—just $6.88 per bout!

*February 28th - Boston Massacre vs. Maine
*March 21st - Boston Massacre vs. Charm City and Nuts vs. Cosmos
*April 18th - Nuts vs. Pissahs and Boston Massacre vs. Philly
*May 16th - Boston Massacre vs. Rocky Mountain and Cosmos vs. Pissahs
*June 20th - Nuts vs. Cosmos and Boston Massacre vs. Texas
*July 18th - Boston Massacre vs. Duke City and Nuts vs. Pissahs
*August 15th - Cosmos vs. Pissahs and Boston Massacre vs. Detroit
*September 19th - Boston Massacre vs. Pikes Peak and Home team
Playoffs (Team #2 vs. Team #3)
*October 10th - Season 3 Championships and Team #3 vs. TBD

All bouts held at Shriner's Auditorium in Wilmington MA.
February bout: Doors at 5pm, bout at 6:00
Doubleheader bouts March - October: Doors at 4pm,
1st bout at 5:00, 2nd bout at 7:00
DJ
Awesome half time shows
Family friendly
Bar and concession stand on premises
After party on location, directly following each bout

***You must provide an address in order to get your season pass***

Notes
Directions: Shriner's is located just 15 minutes north of Boston at
exit 39 on route 93. There is FREE PARKING on site.

For purchasing tickets for individual bouts see the following link:
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/2585

Pizza, Buns, and Roller Derby!

People who know me know that there are three things that I am crazy about: Roller Derby, Ants, and Bunnies. I have finally managed to find a way to combine at least two of those passions:

The House Rabbit Network (HRN) is a rabbit adoption and rescue organization of which I am very familiar with as Mr. Mayhem and I often have them bunnysit our two adorable buns. On Tuesday, October 21st from 4-9 pm they will be holding a fundraiser at Flatbread restaurant in Bedford. Order pizza and Flatbread will donate a percentage of their profits to HRN. In addition, you can buy tickets for a menagerie of auction items including a facial rejuvenation treatment ($450 value), a pair of ski passes good for skiing at Wachusett Mountain ($98 value), Legal Seafood gift card ($50 value), an autographed photo of Kevin Youkilis at bat, and ...... wait for it...... 2 tickets to a Boston Massacre bout! Oh yeah. More info here.

And now I have an excuse to put up some photos of my bunnies:

POWER JAM!

Boston's own Jeff da Reff explains what a POWER JAM is:

Roller Derby Power Jam Explained

Not Boston's year for nationals, but stellar nonetheless

Via Boston Derby Dames:

"In the 2008 eastern regional tournament, the Boston Massacre found themselves on both sides of the coin in the two closest bouts of the weekend: losing by two to Carolina only to beat Madison by two later in the weekend.

After rolling over Grand Raggidy Roller Derby 130-32 (holding GRRD to two points in the entire second period and turning in the largest point differential of day one), the Massacre missed a berth at nationals by just two points with a 77-75 defeat at the hands of 3rd-ranked Carolina Rollergirls.

In the consolation bout rounds, the Massacre defeated Cincinnati for the second time this season, sending them home with a 131-76 loss. And in what many skaters called the toughest bout of the tournament, the Massacre turned in another nailbiter with a 90-88 victory over the hosting Mad Rollin’ Dolls to end up fifth in the tournament.

As they did in 2007 with an overtime loss to Detroit, the Massacre turned in the closest, hardest-fought bouts of a weekend that saw many runaway victories. Doubters be damned—Boston is undeniably on the national flat-track map!

Check out archived boutcasts at Derby News Network and check back there later this week for more full recaps of the weekend’s highlight bouts."

Oh, yeah... did I mention I got teamed?

Queen Kamayhemayhem is now officially a member of the Cosmonaughties!

new regions!

Next year WFTDA will go from being a 2 region system to a 4 region one. There are a lot of good reasons for this to happen but one downside is that the 12 top teams will advance to regionals, which means (in our region) every single league but one. Sucks to be that league! Although I suspect no league will stand to be in the bottom two years in a row. Should mean some awesome bouts towards the end of the season!

I'm Afraid to Tell my Roller Derby Team

This was spotted by one of my league-mates on PostSecret. I find it rather heart-wrenching and poignant.

Foot pain -- how to tie your laces

What do all roller girls have in common? Well, lots of things. But today we're talking about foot pain. Here is a nice blog about how to tie your laces to alleviate foot soreness. Be sure to click on the followup post for further modifications that can be done to your skates. This looks like a good blog for foot issues. There are posts about heel slippage, blisters, and the dreaded top of the foot bump. For extra bonus fun, check out this site on many and various ways to tie your shoe laces.

3.1 is here: WFTDA Releases Rules Update

What do you call a group of roller derby referees? I'm sure there's a cool word we could come up with. Like a murder of crows. Perhaps a judgment of referees? Or we could just stick with the zebra theme and go with a herd of referees. Anyhoo...

Derby News Network has a nice overview of the rules changes. Most are fairly minor, but one change that will be most obvious to fans is how periods end. Previously, the period would end as soon as the period clock hit zero, even if that occurred in the middle of a jam. Now, the final jam will be allowed to continue to completion.

Get 3.1 here.

New Hampshire Double Dose of Derby

Saturday I skated in my first public scrimmage. It was totally awesome and I want more more more. My favorite pic is above. That's me yelling at my teammates that the jammer is coming up.

This is me in the penalty box. My first major! I got called for cutting the track and passing the last opposing blocker in the pack. I'm actually kind of proud of this because I was trying to get up there so that my fellow blocker, who was up ahead blocking the opposing jammer, wouldn't get called on a 20ft. So my execution wasn't super, but I knew what was going on and what I needed to do to help.

More photos are below:

http://s305.photobucket.com/albums/nn210/NHRollerDerby/Unicorns%20Dragons%20Jesus%20Satan%20Aug2%2008/?albumview=grid
http://www.flickr.com/photos/queen_kamayhemayhem/sets/72157606536660541/
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080804/NEWS01/900604735/-1/OPINION02
http://www.bostonderbydames.com/index.cfm?cd=MAE&cdid=11088&pid=10200
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jgray1205/sets/72157606551674139/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15921553@N05/sets/72157606527050552/
http://sanborn.smugmug.com/gallery/5608171_nKwhG#344250833_x7WGm

Jammin' for Jesus! I love how everybody looks so sweet and I just look like a goofball.


Skatin' for Satan! That's Mini-Bloodbath on the right as the team mascot. So adorable. Of course, we had Jesus rooting for us, and you can't beat that!

Aside from actually skating, my second favorite thing was seeing someone wearing one of my t-shirt designs from my cafepress store. This is the first time this has actually happened and was wicked cool! Big thanks to Dee Stortion and the entire Skate Free or Die Rollergirls for putting on an amazing event that I know everyone had a great time at. I want to do it again right now!

Photos: top two courtesy of Kysa and Jeremy, bottom two from angie_phoenix

August 9, 2008: Boston Massacre vs Dallas Derby Devils

Image: designed by Rocky, photo from ECE by Mayhem (that's me!!)

Saturday, August 9
Boston Massacre vs Dallas Derby Devils
Doors at 5pm, Bout at 6pm
After party with DJ Sir Trix-a-Lot
Tickets available online at BrownPaperTickets.com.
$14 in advance, $16 at the door

"After a brutal smack-down of the Ohio Roller Girls (183-5) in July, the Boston Massacre gets ready to host the Dallas Derby Devils, currently ranked 21st in the nation and 10th in their Western division, in their last home bout before the 2008 regional tournaments.

Boston has lost only one bout since their overtime loss to Detroit at the 2007 regionals—a well-matched bout against Rocky Mountain Roller Girls at ECDX in June 2008—racking up decisive wins against Dominion, Gotham Girl's Bronx Gridlock, Cincinnati, Houston, and Ohio. Meanwhile Dallas has hung tough in '08 against opponents including Albuquerque's Duke City (losing by just one point in a low-scoring 63-62 game) and Charm City (a 117-89 loss for DDD). They've also decimated opponents from northwest Arkansas, Oklahoma, and LA's Angel City.

On paper, these two teams seem able to give each other a run for their money. Will Dallas shake the Massacre's at-home winning streak, or will the pantsless militia send another Texas team packing?"

Boston Derby Dames recruiting skaters and referees

For all you girls out there who have been dying to become a Dame, now is your chance. BDD is hosting informal skate clinics throughout the summer and fall, leading up to tryouts on Sunday, November 2. And if you think wearing stripes and having the power to send a Dame to the penalty box is more your style, referees tryouts will happen at the same time.

All of the information is online here, and in PDF form here. So download it, print it out, and commit it to memory. Then beg, borrow, or steal yourself some skates and start practicing! If you have any questions, email freshmeat@bostonderbydames.com

The Uneven Playing Field -- women and ACL injuries

"If girls and young women ruptured their A.C.L.’s at just twice the rate of boys and young men, it would be notable. Three times the rate would be astounding. But some researchers believe that in sports that both sexes play, and with similar rules — soccer, basketball, volleyball — female athletes rupture their A.C.L.’s at rates as high as five times that of males."

I just read a fascinating article in the New York Times the other day about ACL injuries in female athletes. Really interesting (and scary) stuff. It mostly focuses on adolescent girls, but most of the stuff in it applies to adult female athletes, too. Not only does it talk about the physical risk factors that make women more susceptible to ACL injuries (looser ligaments, more flexibility, greater propensity to be knock-kneed, a more upright running posture), but it also talks about the emotional and social issues which may also have an impact -- the relative newness of women's athletics in general (Title IX is only 36 years old), the feeling women often have that they need to "tough it out" to prove they belong, the strong social bond they feel with their teammates that they don't want to give up for an injury, and the political touchiness of people who think that focusing on a woman's propensity to be injured will set back their work to put men's and women's athletics on an equal playing field. Read the full article here.

The Marriage of Queen Kamayhemayhem and her King

This is my anniversary present to my husband. Happy 6th Mr. Mayhem!

The Slay Ride & Keeping your Eye on the Jammer

Photo: Charm City v Houston, East Coast Derby Extravaganza 2008 (©K.T. Ryder Wilkie)

If you were at ECE (or even if you weren't), you know about the gigantic block Beyonslay laid on Rice Rocket during the Gotham v Texas matchup. Punchy O'Guts has a nice blog post where she not only gives this block the props it deserves, she also comments on the smart play involved:

"What's really notable - besides the giant, most incredible hit I've ever seen - is the smart play.
1. Beyonslay easily moves Rice Rocket out with a booty block. She pays attention to the track boundary and lets up at just the right moment.
2. As the pack moves toward the outside Beyonslay sneaks through the inside - as Rice Rocket does - and prepares for her hit.
3. If the team hadn't raced back up with Beyonslay she wouldn't have been able to legally lay on on her.
4. Rice Rocket took the biggest hit I've ever seen and hopped back up as if nothing ever happened. And this was after another blocker gave her a sternum block. Most jammers would probably lie there in utter shock. Rice Rocket is incredible."

All nice points. I went back and watched the video a couple more times just to see the strategy going on. Really interesting stuff. Going through my bazillion photos from ECE one of the things that struck me is how you can tell the good teams just by looking at the photos because everybody has their eye on the jammer. No matter what was going on in the pack or how far away the jammers were, they all had their eyes on a jammer. Which is a lesson I shall try to take to heart.

Inspirational Roller Derby Posters

Photo by SmoPho

I've been doing a lot of physical therapy of late, and as a result have spent an inordinately long period of time staring at the three inspiration posters that have been hung on the wall there. You know the kind I mean. A picture of a rock climber dangling off the side of a cliff with the word PERSEVERANCE under him, and some pithy quote underneath about believing and achieving. Which is all well and good, but where's the fun in that?

Here's the fun: Roller derby photographer extraordinaire SmoPho has a set of inspirational roller derby posters up on his Flickr page. I love the concept! Also, I really want to make a set of my own, with Boston girls, of course.

June 14, 2008: Season Two Championship, Cosmonaughties 58, Wicked Pissahs 69

So it seems like it was ten thousand years ago, but in fact it was only a couple of weeks ago that the Cosmonaughties faced off against the Wicked Pissahs in the season championships. Mr. Hits did his usual awesome job of recapping the bout:

"Meet the new champs. Same as the old champs. In the business of Boston roller derby, nobody does it better than the Wicked Pissahs, and this revered squad has now added a second championship trophy to their mantle. Saturday, June 14 marked the Boston Derby Dames’ Season Two championship bout, and the favored Pissahs dodged an upset and capped off their perfect season by beating the Cosmonaughties in an epic nailbiter. To the casual observer, the lack of back-breaking collisions may have proved surprising, but for superfans like Papa Fevah, it was glorious derby from both sides: lots of controlled skating and mid-stream adjustments, and a complete unwillingness to quit. The Cosmos, this year’s playoff Cinderella story, worked their magic again and almost engineered an unlikely win. The bout’s outcome remained in question even in the final few minutes, but the Pissahs were a team of destiny this season, and they ultimately locked it down to finish with a 69-58 victory."

Read more here.
(update: photos can be found here)

East Coast Extravaganza 2008

Photos from top: Boston B Party, Sugar Hits gets a whip from Triple Deck-Her against Houston, Sarah Doom attempts to pull her way through the Rocky Mountain Pack with Shellby Shattered's shirt (successfully, I believe).

I can't even believe how much derby I just witnessed. I cannot even deal with how much stuff I just saw and want to write about, which means I probably never will, so just a quick summary:

Boston Massacre v Rocky Mountain Roller Girls (111-93). Boo!
Boston Massacre v Houston Roller Derby (114-38). Yay!
Boston B Party v Steel City Demons Steel Hurtin (not sure, but it was definitely a Boo!)

• Recap from Ruby Khan's blog can be found here.
• Recap from Derby News Network can be found here.
• Tons o' Photos can be found on my Flickr site.
• Videos (courtesy of Mr. Mayhem) can be found on my YouTube channel.
• While you're there, be sure to check out this video of Beyonslay taking out the opposing jammer. A-frickin-mazing! Be sure to click on the "watch in high quality" link. The big moment happens at 0:41.
• Photos from Xena Paradox.
• Lots o stuff from Derby News Network.
• east coast extravaganza -- 2008 Flickr group -- not to be confused with the Official East Coast Derby Eztravaganza Group. At the moment, the former has only a few hundred photos from 10 or so contributors and the latter has no photos at all. But hopefully that will change soon, so keep checking back.
  

And if anyone else has any more photos, videos, updates, etc. please send them along!

East Coast Derby Extravaganza!!

Even though I can't skate this weekend, I did decide to make the trek over to Philly for the East Coast Derby Extravaganza. Boston Massacre is playing in 2 WFTDA bouts and Boston B-Party is playing in a challenge bout, so I will be sure to cheer them on. I was also scheduled (before the injury) to be in two challenge bouts -- Geeks vs. Beauty Queens and Jews vs. Goys. Although I won't be skating, several other Boston Derby Dames will be in these scrimmages, so I will definitely be cheering from the sidelines. I wasn't sure I was going to go because I thought I would just be too depressed that I wasn't skating; but as the weekend draws near I find that I am more and more excited. It will be so amazing to see so many different leagues all together in one place! I will be sure to take lots of pictures and will hopefully have some interesting blog posts when I return. If you see me hanging out, feel free to say hello. Hope to see you there!

PCL Injuries in Roller Derby

Molly Python, in the process of tearing her PCL.
Photo by L.J. McAllister, posted on the Jet City Rollergirls Flickr site.

Having a PCL tear has been an interesting experience as a patient because it is apparently not a very common injury. My original doctor had never seen one before and was pretty pleased with himself for diagnosing it correctly (later confirmed by the MRI). He's still talking about it. The orthopedist I was referred to gave me a little pamphlet entitled "You and your knee injury" or something similar, where the only line in it about the PCL is that it is injured much less frequently than the ACL. Not too helpful. He only gave it to me for the drawing in it that showed where the PCL was located. When I went to my physical therapist, he called in his student to check it out because she wasn't likely to get another chance anytime soon. Which I find fascinating because it seems to be fairly common in roller derby.

Apparently people tear their PCLs mostly from being in car accidents (when they're shins hit the dashboard) or playing football (when they are tackled from the front while planting their feet). How common it is in the general populace is not really known, but studies of National Football League (NFL) pre-draft physical examinations showed 2% incidence of PCL injuries where the football player didn't even know he had ever torn his PCL. PCL injuries which were known about, operated on, or combined with other ligament injuries ranged from 3.5-20%. That seems fairly high to me, but we're talking about professional-level football players, so it doesn't seem ridiculous.

What about roller derby? WFTDA conducted an injury survey last year whose results are available on the WFTDASafetySquad Yahoo Group. Here's a bunch of disclaimers: This is in no way a scientific study. Responding was voluntary. I have only skimmed the surface of these results and could easily have made mistakes. That being said, I think there are some interesting trends to be found:

• Out of 1070 respondents, 574 (~54%) reported an injury that kept them from participation on one or more occasions.
• Of those 574, 262 (~46%) report a knee injury (more than any other type of injury by far)
• Of those 262, 36 (~14%) specifically mention the PCL in their description of their injury. This does not count all the people (20) who said they had injured their knee ligaments but were not specific as to which ligaments, or the many others who said they had injured their knee in some unspecified manner.

that's a pretty high percentage.

Can we do anything to prevent them? I'll save that for another post.

Answers on demand from the WFTDA Rules Committee

Are you confused by 3.0? Have a question about the rules and want the official answer? Well, you're in luck! The WFTDA Rules Committee has come out with a web page just for you! Answers on demand straight from the horse's mouth. I think this is a fabulous example of an organization using the internet in a simple but highly effective way to reach out to its members. There are only 3 questions up there now, but hopefully more will come. I know you have questions. Come on. You know you want to. What happens if the jammer panty falls off the jammer and then a dog runs onto the track and scoots away with it? What happens if a referee falls onto the track and takes out a jammer? Is it legal to wear an earpiece so your coach can give you advice while you're jamming? I'm not sure. Let's find out!

WFTDA Rules: Questions, Clarifications & Answers

Boston Derby Dames Season Two Championship Preview Podcast

Mr. Hits is my new favorite person. Not only does he do bout recaps, but now he is doing bout previews -- on a podcast no less! Check it out here. Oh yeah, and come to the bout! It's going to be a-mazing!

This isn't skating, this is roller derby! -- knee injury update

So, I saw the orthopedist on Thursday. He said that I had definitely torn my PCL, probably a complete tear, but that nothing else was injured (Yay!). He estimated a recovery period of 6-8 weeks (Boo!). He says he sees this kind of injury a lot in football players and car accident victims! Generally from a hard blow to the shin (which is definitely what happened to me). I probably won't need surgery (Yay!). Apparently the PCL ligament will probably not heal itself but most people compensate for a torn PCL by strengthening the surrounding muscles and never need surgery. I asked, what about skating? He said, that should be fine. To which my husband said, wait a minute -- she's not talking about skating, she's talking about roller derby! Unfazed, the doctor cited a study of knee injuries in college football players who have been scouted and are thought likely to be drafted by the NFL. Apparently a lot of them are found to have had PCL injuries which they either didn't know about or never told anyone about. Which means that even with the PCL injury they were still able to compete at a very high level with little or no problems. Which was exactly the right thing to say to my husband. So.... that's the news from Mayhemlandia. Let's see if I can shorten that recovery time a bit!

Flames shooting up every time someone gets knocked on their ass!

One of the things I love about roller derby is the creativity it seems to produce in people. One has only to look at a list of roller derby names or see a photo album of skater and ref uniforms to realize we are one creative bunch! Check out this article in Make Magazine on wireless motion sensing in roller derby. Not sure it would work very well to actually keep track of hits, but the author envisions something much more fantastic --

"If the skaters wore motion sensors, I figured, you could make things react to the action. Sound effects on every hit! A synchronized soundtrack! Flames shooting up every time a player gets knocked out of bounds! The possibilities are endless."

I like the way he thinks! Check it out here or go buy Volume 14 at your local bookstore.

BDD Season Two Championship Bout -- June 14th

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Shriners Auditorium, Wilmington
Doors at 5pm, bouts start at 6pm
Tickets are $14 in advance, $16 at the door

Live music by Campaign for Real Time
After party with DJ Boo Boo Danger
Don't miss the Digital Automagic Audience Participatory Photo Booth in the Fez Room

It's a re-match of Season One's championship bout, with the Cosmonaughties once again taking on the Wicked Pissahs for the BDD crown.

Last year the Pissahs kicked their game into high gear midway through the season and after one tie (against the Cosmos) and one loss (to the Nutcrackers), they turned it around to beat the Nuts in the playoffs and skate past the Cosmos in the championships.

This year the Cosmos are the ones entering the championship bout with a shaky season record: only one win, a well-timed victory over the Nuts in the playoffs. Will they bounce back from a 1-2 season to hand the Pissahs their first loss of the year, or will the tough-girl townies take the trophy twice in a row, with an undefeated season to boot?

"Lick my Skates" anytime you want!

Speaking of the CCTV documentary, if you really enjoyed the soundtrack song, it is now available to download for free from the CCTV website:

"Lick My Skates" (theme from The Dames)

• 
  
• Length: 1:28 minutes (1.68 MB)
• Format: Stereo 44kHz 160Kbps (CBR)

The theme song from CCTV's Project Documentary production, The Dames.

"Lick My Skates" was written by Eli Kao
Performers are-
Eli, guitar, additional instruments
Shaun Clarke, bass
Justin Vassallo, drums
Galaktika Cheer Squad (Therese, Larisa, Lina, Lizzie and Bob), vocals

This track is free to distribute with following restrictions- Attribution required, no commercial use allowed. Direct link HERE.

The Dames is a short documentary that profiles the Boston Derby Dames, Boston's first and only women's flat track roller derby league.

too much kicking puppies apparently

Tragedy strikes again in Mayhemlandia as our erstwhile hero (that's me) is once again plagued by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. I tore my PCL at practice last Wednesday and will definitely be off skates for awhile. I mean really, doesn't that just seem a little too ridiculous? I've been skating for almost exactly a year now and I have 1) broken my arm 2) torn my MCL 3) gotten pneumonia, 4) fractured a rib, and 5) torn my PCL. What's up with that? I gotta find out who's sticking needles into a doll of me. I have an appointment tomorrow with the orthopedist, so hopefully will know more soon.

Second (and third and fourth) chance to see "The Dames"

If you missed CCTV's screening of "The Dames" in Feb or if you saw it and want to make your unenlightened friends come with you this time, now's your chance! There will be three more screenings. Admission is free. I highly recommend it!

Thursday June 5th, 8:00pm, Middlesex Lounge. (315 Mass Ave in Cambridge)

Wednesday June 18th, 6:30 + 8:00pm, Enormous room. (567 Mass Ave. in Central Square.) It is on the Red Line Central Square T stop. Right upstairs from the train. The only sign is a red elephant. Look for Central Kitchen and climb on top of it. Wow. Now is your chance to hang out somewhere so hip that you need to know a secret sign to find it! How can you say no?

some great roller derby videos

A couple of great videos have recently been floating around the web. They are all worth a look.

First up we have Ninjas of Knowledge from KCK Public Library. This video features roller derby, ninjas, and libraries. I really don't think I have to say anything else. Except this one thing: how come I didn't know there was a kick-ass rollergirl with one arm? That frickin' rocks.
Via Pigeons Playing Roller Derby.

Next up: Roller Derby PSAs from the Minnesota Rollergirls. "Remember, it's okay to call a foul. Don't let anyone make you feel ashamed. They know what they did. " So awesome. Speaking of, I got called on a head-butt at yesterday's scrimmage. For some reason, that made me really happy.
Via Roller Derby Diva.

Lastly is Roller Derby Revival, a nice little video from ESPN (Yay!) about, duh, the roller derby revival.
It's nice to get a little mainstream recognition, and it's nice to see something professionally done, but I gotta say, I found it kinda lacking. And what's with the pillow fights? Who does that? I much prefer the CCTV documentary.

Roller Derby Party Bus

I saw this flyer on the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls website. What a fun idea! I think this would work especially well for BDD since our venue is not easily accessible to folks without cars. Throw a couple of non-skating derby dames on the bus with the fans, some free-flowing sponsor provided alcohol, fun music, maybe some roller derby trivia, give everyone some free merch, roll it up into an all-inclusive price that includes admission, and I think you'd have a hot ticket.

Bout Recap: Boston B-Party v Connecticut and Boston Massacre v Cincinnati Rollergirls

The final scores were Connecticut (85), Boston B-Party (44) and Boston Massacre (87), Cincinnati (42)

Bout recap by Mr. Hits can be found on the Boston Derby Dames website.
Photos can be found on my Flickr site.
More photos can be found here and here.
A kind of crappy video can be found here.

The Beehive opening postponed to May 24th

I just realized that my previous post about the BEEch did not actually mention when this event would be happening. Good thing, because it has been postponed and is now happening on May 24th. Be there or be square.

Roller Derby Blogs -- RinkTime

Rink Time has a nice listing of roller derby blogs. It not only includes Roller Derby Disorder (Yay!) but also a bunch that are new to me:

• http://www.derbynewsnetwork.com/
• http://leadjammer.com/
• http://interderby.wordpress.com/
• http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/pcult/
• http://rollerderbybuzz.blogspot.com/
• http://anezkasebek.wordpress.com/
• http://blog.myspace.com/all_bout_derby
• http://blog.viaderby.com/
• http://www.ocrollergirls.com/
• http://www.colonelpod.com/
• http://derbytude.com/
• http://www.txrd.com/blog/
• http://the-crash-zone.livejournal.com/
• http://www.catazonia.com/
• http://wordpress.com/tag/rock-n-roller-derby/
• http://bigeasyrollergirls.blogspot.com/
• http://hellonwheelsmovie.wordpress.com/
• http://bigderbygirls.blogspot.com/
• http://www.londonrollergirls.com/zero/
• http://black-n-bluegrass.com/
• http://hellcityhooligans.com/
• http://rollerguysweb.com/
• http://www.derbyluv.com/
• http://www.havederbywilltravel.com/
• http://sassysweetpea.wordpress.com/
• http://vrdl.wordpress.com/
• http://oilcityderbygirls.wordpress.com/
• http://bruisednews.com/
• http://rollerderbydisorder.blogspot.com/
• http://www.txrollergirls.com/

Boston Derby Dames Paper Doll

I made these quite awhile ago and always meant to write a post about them, but haven't gotten around to it until now. I always imagined these as magnets so you could put them on your refrigerator and dress your derby dame up in different outfits. One of these days I would like to add another sheet for Boston Massacre and Boston B-Party.

Roller Derby Quilt

Dreadnought, my fellow Derby Dame, is working on a roller derby quilt for her Issues in Contemporary Art course, which she is hoping will be a collaborative project between herself and other skaters and refs. She is working on a bunch of squares of her own, of course, but is also hoping that other folks will contribute their own versions to be included in the quilt. I had high aspirations but eventually decided to just give her one of my old T shirts (with my skater name on it) to make a square out of. Here are some of the squares (still in progress) that she has been working on:

Square number one is dedicated to rink rash and is made out of old torn fishnet stockings from actual rollergirls!

Next up we have a square dedicated to bandages, which is, of course, made out of bandages.

Quilt square number three is dedicated to booty blocking. Or possibly cute undies with words on them. Dread hasn't decided yet. I say, why not both?!

Then we have the cupcake square. What do cupcakes have to do with roller derby? I'm not sure, except our league always seems to have cupcakes at events and fundraisers. I offer as proof the following two photos -- a bunch of cupcakes from our Roller Boogie fundraiser (my cupcakes are the ones that look the yummiest!) and this awesome photo of Dreadnought enjoying a cupcake!

Think this is awesome? Want to be a part of the awesomeness? You can contribute a square of your own! It just needs to be 8" x 8". What says roller derby to you?

BDD helps The Beehive open The BEEch

The BEEch = "an 80 seat outdoor dining addition on the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza. It will focus on an “urban picnic theme” in which diners will be seated and handed a menu of freshly prepared casual gourmet items to choose from. Once customers have selected their items, the wait staff will return with these culinary treasures in packages and jars along with fresh bread tucked in picnic baskets to share." --A Passionate Foodie

The Beehive = "The Beehive at the BCA is a neighborhood cafe des artistes. Located in the underbelly of the Cyclorama building, the former boiler room has the look and feel of an artist's studio, complimented by works of art and musical entertainment (mostly jazz) of local artists. The "starving artist" bar offers a college rustic, artisinal fare from Europe, the Mediterranean, and America."--The Beehive website

helps = co-promotes / shows up in derby attire / signs autographs / makes more interesting

BDD = Boston Derby Dames

Pre-bout eating

During bouts the Shriners Auditorium offers a variety of food choices -- mostly of the hot dog/pretzel/soda variety. Before the bout, though, food is a little hard to come by unless you know where to go. Luckily your friendly neighborhood derby dames created this lovely Google map to let you know where all the food is. Check it out here.

Double Header: Massacre vs. Cincinnati + B-Party vs. Connecticut

Saturday is bout day here in roller derby land and it looks like a good one. First up will be the Boston B-Party vs. the Connecticut Rollergirls. As one might suspect, the B-Party is our B-team, which is not so much a team as all the girls that aren't on the all star Massacre. We haven't had many opportunities to practice as a team, and we've only played a couple of scrimmages, but they have been some of my favorite times since joining BDD. Also, we have a logo! I've been a little less than excited about this matchup because I can't skate in it (booo!), but I think it should be pretty exciting. It will also be the first time the B-Party has played for an audience, which I hope will be a big rowdy one!

Next will be Boston Massacre vs. Cincinnati Rollergirls. It's so hard to make predictions about upcoming bouts in roller derby. Teams play each other so infrequently (I don't think we have ever played Cincinnati) and team dynamics can change so quickly that knowing how a bout will turn out is more of a guessing game than a science. Nevertheless I shall venture to predict that although Cincinnati has generated some momentum in recent months and will no doubt give us a good run for our money, Boston's experience will prevail. Of course, I'm a little biased.

Saturday will also mark the first full-length double header with both bouts having two 30-minute periods. My friends in the audience found the last time (with one full length bout and one exhibition bout of two 20-minute periods) to be a bit long, so I don't know how it will go. If anyone has any opinions out there, I'd love to hear them.

The announcement:

DOUBLE HEADER
Boston B-Party vs. Connecticut Rollergirls
Boston Massace vs. Cincinnati Rollergirls

Saturday, May 10, 2008
Shriners Auditorium, Wilmington, MA
Doors at 5pm, bouts start at 6pm
Tickets are $14 in advance, $16 at the door

Music by DJ Boo Boo Danger and live sets by While Rome Burns

The all-star Boston Massacre (ranked 9th in the east by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association) host the Cincinnati Rollergirls (14th in the east) in the last Massacre bout of the regular season. The Massacre recently pummeled both Maine Roller Derby and the Bronx Gridlock, and are looking toward this fall's eastern and national tournaments, so they're sure to bring their A game.

Before the Massacre takes the track, the league's "junior varsity" Boston B-Party makes its hometown debut against the Connecticut Rollergirls. These scrappy newcomers fell to their CT sisters in the winter, but are coming off an exhilarating scrimmage win against Providence Roller Derby's JV Killer Bees.

Walk for Change

Sunday was the Walk for Change to support the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. The Boston Derby Dames teamed up with the New Hampshire Skate Free or Die Roller Girls and had a great time navigating the stairs and brick sidewalks of the walk route. Thank you to everyone who donated! You are all awesome!