CHICAGO, IL -- Two top ten WFTDA teams try to bounce back from recent losing streaks on Saturday evening as #6 Tucson travels to Chicago to take on #7 Windy City.
Windy City has been very busy since their home season ended on May 31. Firstly, they took on #17 Madison at home on July 14 and scored a sizable 132-74 win.
The next weekend, they traveled to Philly for the June 21-22 East Coast Extravaganza event, where they would drop two in a row, but not without fierce battles in both -- they were upset by the hosts, #9 Philly, in a 92-76 contest and then hung with #3 Carolina for most of their bout but eventually lost 76-60.
#6 Tucson is on a bit of a skid right now -- they haven't won an all-star bout for almost exactly a year (their last win was over Madison on July 14, 2007).
They've dropped four bouts in a row, and their last two were particularly surprising -- up till May 2008, they had never lost to a non-top-5 team, but they were blown out by #10 Bay Area 96-39 on May 31 and then shocked by #27 Pikes Peak, 94-81, on June 28. The Pikes Peak game currently stands as the biggest rankings upset in WFTDA history (not counting bouts in which ranked teams were beaten by unranked.)
Notably, this bout will not count toward the crucial Quarter Two WFTDA rankings, which will decide seedings for October's regional tournaments, as the ranking period closed on June 30. Just a couple of months ago, both teams would have seemed locks to place in the top four for their respective regions and claim the related first-round byes -- but with increasing parity in the derby world, such a outcome is no longer a sure thing.
DNN hasn't been able to get a hold of rosters for this bout yet, but unquestionably a critical factor for Tucson will be whether they bring repeated MVP Sloppy Flo out for the bout -- she was marginalized in the Bay Area bout and did not play at all in the Pikes Peak bout for medical reasons.
Windy City will bounce back
Windy City will bounce back against Tuscon after a less than stellar effort at ECE. I expect WCR to be back to their former kick-ass self.
Windy City has got a
Windy City has got a tremendous homefield advantage at the Cicero Stadium; as best as i can tell, the playing surface is slow as hell and most visitors can't figure out how to cope with it until it's too late. This might not impact a defensive team like Tucson quite as much as teams with more usually explosive offenses, but i think the smart money's always on Windy City at home.
In an semi-unrelated note, i liked my Ivy King Cup poster i bought at the Windy City/Madison bout so much that i put it up at work, AND bought a 24" blacklight bulb to shine on it night and day!
TRD may have a chance here
Tucson has recently had two major butt-kickings this year and hopefully things will get better. I believe that Helen Wheels is going to be playing for Tucson. She's a derby legend here in Arizona formerly with AZRD and the Arizona Bruisers/Phoenix City Rollers.
If Tucson does win this, I predict a slim win by a small margin reminiscent to the TRD vs. Texas bout from February.
Don't count out the Tramps on this one.
with derby love...
Michi-chan
http://www.michichan.com
Scores?
Are there any online realtime scores from this bout?
No realtime, but ...
Chairman Meow reporting the current score is Windy City 32, Tucson 0, 15:56 left in first half, with 9 of 11 lead jams so far going to Windy City.
JFM
Thats the WCR I've come to
Thats the WCR I've come to know!!! Chi-town baby!
Update
Now Windy City 108, Tucson 14 with 16 minutes left in second half. Wow.
JFM
Wow.
Thats unbelievable....Thanks JFM!
Final score
Windy City 138, Tucson 19.
JFM
cicero!
has anyone beaten WCR at Cicero, ever?
Other than the NY Shock Exchange (mens), of course ?
Cicero Stadium - where non-WCR teams go to die.
Not to take anything away from WCR of course. But dang!
slippery
I've seen one bout at Cicero (Rat City's Grave Danger vs. the Windy City All Stars in April of last year) -- definitely lives up to its slippery-floor reputation. Someone there was telling me that when they first started bouting there, they'd been through a couple of bouts before they learned that the venue staff was actually taking pains to WAX the floor the day before their bouts! Just, you know, trying to be helpful :)
Even without the pre-bout wax job, it still seems pretty slick to a non-skater observer, but I don't think anyone's suggesting that's enough to win bouts. So, who's gonna go to Chicago and break their home victory streak? Looks like Kansas City's taking a swing at it on September 20th. Should make a hell of a tournament warmup bout for both teams!
I am so looking forward to
I am so looking forward to the upcoming KC vs WCR bout! Prediction: KC wins a squeeker over WCR. Really, I still think that KC is a bit out of Chi-towns reach.
floors
hey guys
We do everything we can to try and make the floor more bearable and frankly, we practice on painted concrete in our practice space, so the floor isn't even consistent for us.
No one waxes it down and we use a special solvent called Traction to make it grippier. We also provide people with wheel solutions in our welcome packets and give them substantial warm up time to try and get adjusted.
Everyone has to make adjustments when they travel to other bout venues. Whether it's concrete, linoleum, wood, sport court, skate court, until we have WFTDA stadiums with some standard, we all have to remain versatile.
I'm not saying it doesn't suck sometimes. I think what also sucks is people saying we win because of our floor. I agree it makes a difference but it makes a difference for all of us. When we went to Philly this past June, we felt like a lot of the things we were used to doing on our home floor was not feasible on a surface like sport court. We don't blame it on our loss, we blame our loss on the fact that we did not play the game we intended to(which happens to all good teams sometimes)and that the teams were formidable opposition.
Fortunately as we look to the future and we want to remain competitive with the rest of the country, who seems to have fallen in love with skate and sport court (we have too :)), we are in the final process of purchasing some of our own. It should be here in a couple of months (maybe in time for KC).
p.s. You're right it is where other teams come to die...hahaha that was the most awesome sentence I have ever read. Thanks for making my day...ha!
Didn't mean to imply that
Didn't mean to imply that the WCRs win because of their floor if that's what you inferred...that is not at all the case ((as 2007 regionals shall thusly attest)). Quite frankly, i think the whole secret to their success is actually attributable to the Jeerleaders.
To clarify, the NY Shock
To clarify, the NY Shock Exchange beat Midwest Men's Roller Derby during the halftime expo at WCR's "Four Leaf Clobber" game earlier this year at Cicero Stadium.
I was thrilled to skate in this and it is something I will never forget.
slippery
Yeah, the track is slippery as all heck, but you know, that is part of being a travelling team: learning to adapt. We had a heck of a time with the floor, but that doesn't take away from WCR playing a tough, well rounded game. We're grateful for you having us.
--dot stoevsky
AKA -- west nile iris
Thanks!
Thanks, Iris! You ladies were a total treat to host. I'm glad we got so much schmooze time, too.
KY