DNN coverage of the Northwest Knockdown 2008 WFTDA National Championship Tournament is made possible through generous financial support from Broken Cherry rock 'n' roll boutique, custom apparel & design studio.

6:30pm Friday -- (W1) Texas vs. (E4) Carolina

The tournament kicks off with the third tournament confrontation between Texas and Carolina, two teams on very different trajectories coming into Portland.

Last month, Carolina barely escaped from their Eastern Regional quarterfinal battle with Boston, staging a literally last-minute comeback to edge the Massacre out 77-75. They had no luck in the semifinals, though, getting thumped 106-66 by the eventual 2nd place Windy City, and then dropped the third-place bout against Philly 112-48.

Most recently, Carolina sent a crew to Chicago to take on Windy City in a non-sanctioned game -- although all of Carolina's roster in that bout were all-stars, they brought a short roster that didn't include critical jammers Roxy Rockett, Shirley Temper or Zella Lugosi. WCR ended up eating Carolina's lunch in that one, 191-16.

Texas had a much different experience at their Western Regionals. With two dominating wins over Rocky Mountain (173-50) and Bay Area (135-59), along with a doubtless cathartic victory over longtime rivals Rat City (108-97), Texas rolled to the Western championship with a 3-0 record that extended their current winning streak to five bouts. They also finished the tournament with about as strong a statement as one could hope for, holding the explosive Bay Area girls to only 18 points in the second half of the final while piling on 80 of their own.

It's worth noting that while Texas has won all three of their previous meetings with Carolina, they've done a lot better against Carolina when meeting deep into a tournament. At Dust Devil 2006, Texas dismissed Carolina 177-65 in the single-elimination rounds that took place after a day of round-robin action, and at the 2007 Nationals, Texas controlled a clearly exhausted Carolina team in the third-place bout, 110-46. However, when both teams went in fresh in a September 2007 battle in Raleigh, Carolina nearly managed to topple Texas in a 64-59 nailbiter.

Both teams come into this bout missing a player that was a significant factor at their respective regionals: for Carolina, veteran Shirley Temper is not rostered, while Texas will be without Lady X. Rostered players that weren't on the Regionals lineup include Kali Debutante, Maddat U and Pink Slip for Carolina, and Babe Ruthless and Curvette for Texas.

The winner of this bout takes on the survivor of Windy City / Rat City in a semifinal bout at 6pm on Saturday night.

Betty Rumble 11 // Bianca O'Blivion 83 // Daisy Rage 66 // DVS 131 // Elka Meano 454 // Holly Wanna Crackya 999 // Kali Debutante 51 // Kelly Clocks'em 212 // Kitty Crowbar 110 // Maddat U 256 // MC Fyte 12 // Militia 10 // Minnie Mauser 763 // Ms. Anthrope the Mordant 17 // Penelope Bruz 36 // Pink Slip 224 // Princess America 1492 // Roxy Rockett 77  // Trudy Struction 22 // Zella Lugosi 73

Babe Ruthless 9 // Belle Starr 1889 // Bloody Mary 40 // Bullet Tooth Tracy 17 // Cat Tastrophe XX // Cheap Trixie 41 // Curvette 76 // Dagger Deb 77 // Desi Cration 222 // Friction VixXxen 15 // Lucille Brawl 56 // Morphine 2 // Muffin Tumble 28 // Olivia Shootin' John 3 // Rice Rocket 3e8 // Ryder Down 13 // Shank 18 // Sparkle Plenty 0 // Vicious Van GoGo 53

8:30pm Friday -- (E1) Gotham vs. (W4) Duke City

Duke City was the biggest surprise from either Regional tournament this year, shocking 2007 champs Kansas City on the opening night of Westerns to become the only non-bye team to advance to Nationals. (To underline their feat: the other teams advancing to Nationals were ranked #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7 and #8 going into Regionals -- Duke was ranked #17.) They'll have another chance to break brackets across the nation when they clash with the demolition machine from New York on Friday night. It's the first time these two teams have met in regulation play, though Gotham did take a win in a 10-minute mini bout at Dust Devil 2006, 30 to 6.

On paper, Gotham would have to be considered the tournament favorites. They haven't dropped a game in 14 months, and currently hold the longest win streak in WFTDA history, having won 9 in a row since then. Going all the way back to their dominant run through the 2007 Eastern Regionals, Gotham is a jaw-dropping 13-1 with an average victory margin of 80 points in their wins. Duke probably won't even be able to count on overconfidence from the New York squad, as Gotham's only loss in that run was in the opening round of last year's Nationals ... to that year's 4th seed from the West, Kansas City. Gotham likely has no interest in reliving that early exit.

In addition to their lengthy run of big wins, they also convincingly handled the only other team to have been as dominant in their victories this year, Windy City, defeating them 133-92 in the Eastern Regional championship. This year, the only team to give them significant trouble was regional rival Philly, who very nearly scored a major upset in the semifinals of Easterns but fell just short at 96-91.

Their opponents from Albuquerque had a start-to-finish spectacular performance against Kansas City, but the rest of their trip through the Western Regionals was marked by inconsistency. They played a tremendous first half against Pikes Peak to go up 101-45 at halftime but then nearly imploded in the second half, allowing Pikes Peak to outscore them 54-13 through the first 20 minutes before finally getting it together again.

They faced similar dry spells in their bouts against Bay Area and Rat City, but without the cushion of a big lead, it sank their chances in both games. They stumbled out of the gate against Bay Area, falling behind 40-4 in the first twenty minutes -- but tightened up afterwards, staying with them 77-69 (in BAD's favor) for the remainder of the bout. Against Rat City, they came out strong and kept the bout close at 22-20 halfway through the first 30, but then got dismantled as the half ended on a 49-8 run for Seattle.

For Duke City to score another colossal upset, they'll need to avoid any cold streaks like those, and will need all their weapons firing. Jammers Muffin and Kamikaze Kim were responsible for the great majority of Duke's points at Westerns, supported by Meep Meep and Tronsexual, but they also gave the jammer star to the tough Amanda Jamitinya in the Rat City bout to good effect. In the pack, Duke's Miss E. Vil, Death Ro, Killer Queen and Dahmernatrix were the major factors in a number of critical penalty-kills that lifted Duke to Nationals.

Star jammer Beatrix Slaughter, while on Gotham's 20-skater roster, is still a question mark for this weekend's action -- she hasn't played since suffering a broken collarbone in a August home bout, but Gotham did prove more than capable of compensating for her absence at Easterns, with a jammer stable of Suzy Hotrod, Bonnie Thunders and Cheap Skate being occasionally augmented by Fisti Cuffs. Fisti also excels in the pack and was especially effective in the Easterns championship, frustrating WCR jammers in tough one-on-one blocking. She works with a very tough Gotham D that features Beyonslay, Sweet Sherry Pie, Ginger Snap and Kandy Kakes.

This bout promises to be particularly interesting from a pack-play angle: Gotham is known for running one of the fastest packs in derby while Duke City consistently confounded KCRW with their ability to trap stragglers to create slow packs. Whichever team manages to impose their desired speed on the pack will likely have a more significant advantage than usual in this bout.

The victor here takes on the winner of Bay Area / Philly at 8pm on Saturday.

Ana Bollocks 00 // Anne Phetamean 7 // Ariel Assault 23 // Beatrix Slaughter 42 // Beyonslay Top 40 // Bluebonnet Plague 5 // Bonnie Thunders 340 // Brigitte Barhot Swingin' 60s // Cheap Skate 2 cents // Donna Matrix 2 // Fisti Cuffs 241 // Ginger Snap 80 // Hard Anya i4i // Hyper Lynx 404 // Kandy Kakes Perfect 10 // Raggedy Animal 67 // Scarlett Rage 75 // Surly Temple 99 // Suzy Hotrod 55 // Sweet Sherry Pie 201

Alida Bout It 50/50 // Amanda Jamitinya 9" // Cabbage Snatch Kid 5 // Carson B. Demented 138 // Cynder Block 6655321 // Dahmernatrix 10001 // Death Ro 86 // Elvira Mental H20 // Kamikaze Kim 0 // Killer Queen 11 // Meep Meep 80D // Miss E. Vile 55 // Miss L. Command 211 // Muffin 350 // Polly Ester 100% // Punchkin Pie 1 Slice // Riff Raff 21 // Sabrosa 505 // Tronsexual 3.14 // Vixenator 11011

1pm Saturday -- (E2) Windy City vs. (W3) Rat City

The Saturday action starts with what's likely to be the fastest bout of the opening round, with both teams sporting lineups built to exploit their extremely high average speed.

Windy City has been absolutely untouchable at home this year, putting up an unbelievable 690-92 point differential in four bouts against Tucson, Minnesota, Kansas City and Carolina (though the Carolina bout was not WFTDA sanctioned.)

Through Eastern Regionals, their wins were somewhat more modest, though still convincing -- a 137-76 quarterfinal win over Charm City followed by a semifinal 106-60 handling of Carolina. They suffered a huge setback in the championship bout against Gotham when they lost key jammer Shocka Conduit to a late first-half ejection, which forced them to move critical blocker Malice With Chains to the jam line multiple times in the second. They did manage to keep themselves in the game until fairly late, but couldn't catch the girls from New York, losing 133-92.

Tremendous speed from Yvette Yourmaker, Eva Dead, Athena DeCrime, Kola Loka and Shocka Conduit on the jam line makes WCR a huge threat for explosive jams and high scores. In the bout against Charm City, Shocka nearly grabbed a piece of the tournament single-jam points record with a 24-pointer (the current record of 25 is shared by Duke City's Kamikaze Kim and Kansas City's retired Snot Rocket.)

Rat City very rarely plays outside of the tournament structure -- in fact, they have only one non-tournament sanctioned bout in their history, a 93-88 June win over Bay Area -- but it has apparently not hurt them. They had no problem with Tucson in their first bout at this year's Westerns,  rolling over them 170-81, and had yet another of their classic back-and-forth contests with eventual tourney champs Texas, staying in the game to the very last jam but coming up 11 points short, 108-97.

RCRG's Carmen Getsome has emerged as a primary part of the Rat City jammer attack, joining fellow speedsters Blonde n' Bitchin, Femme Fatale, Miss Fortune and Wile E. Peyote as part of one of the deepest and fastest jammer lineups in the sport. The Rat City defense has a diverse mix of style and size, featuring the long-legged Burnett Down and Summer Assault alongside compact hitting machines like Ann R. Kissed and D-Bomb.

With Windy City also sporting a mix -- tall, agile and wickedly fast bruisers in Malice With Chains and Megan Formor and smaller but extremely effective pack elements like Belle Diablo and Hoosier Mama, this bout promises to provide fascinating one-on-one matchups on both the jammer line and in the pack as both teams try to determine the most effective ways to deal with players they've not seen before -- this is the first meeting between Rat City and Windy City since a barely-there, 26-6 10-minute victory for Rat City during the Dust Devil 2006 round-robin rounds ever (oops).

The survivor of this battle goes up against the winner of Carolina / Texas at 6pm Saturday.

Athena DeCrime 30 // Belle Diablo 666 // Beth Amphetamine 98 // Blossom Bruiso 5  // Donna Party 1847 // Eva Dead 0 // Helsa Wayton 86 // Hoosier Mama 219 // Karmageddon 42 // Kola Loka 911 // Malice With Chains 6 // Megan Formor 1980 // Nina Millimeter 9 // Peg Legs 2 // Shocka Conduit 15 // Tori Adore 19 // Varla Vendetta 25 // Wreck N' Shrew 24 // Ying O' Fire 777 // Yvette YourMaker 999

Ann R. Kissed 0 // Arsenio Brawl 50 // Billie Boilermaker 17 // Blonde N'Bitchin 28 // Burnett Down 16 // Carmen Getsome 44 // Darth Skater 3 // D-Bomb 8 // Deadly Aim 22 // Drew Blood 7 // Edie Brickwall 10 // Femme Fatale 18 // Juliet Bravo 76 // Katarina Whip 6 // Miss Fortune 99 //  Punchin' Judy 2 // Skate Trooper 55 // Summer Assault 60 // Valtron 3000 30 // Wile E. Peyote 21

3pm Saturday -- (W2) Bay Area vs. (E3) Philly

Almost exactly a year ago, Bay Area and Philly faced off in one of the closest and lowest-scoring games in WFTDA history when Philly squeaked by for a 62-56 win in a game hosted by Carolina on November 18, 2007. These two teams join Duke City as crews making their first appearance at Nationals.

While Philly finished third at Eastern Regionals, they're likely coming into this tourney feeling good about their chances, as they almost delivered what would have been a total shocker of an upset over Gotham in the semifinals -- Philly charged back from an 86-63 deficit with 11 minutes to play to take a 91-89 lead with 1:35 on the clock, but last-jam heroics from Gotham's Suzy Hotrod gave Gotham the win in the end. Still, that bout made Philly the only team this year to give Gotham a serious scare; the 5 point win was Gotham's narrowest margin of victory ever. Philly went on to easily handle Carolina in the third place bout, getting revenge for a 107-86 loss at home in August and building confidence for this clash with BAD.

Shenita Stretcher stepped up impressively as a jammer at Regionals, and took her place alongside the tireless Mo Pain and extraordinarily crafty tactician Teflon Donna as one of the linchpins of a jammer crew that also includes Violet Temper and Persephone. Teflon is also particularly difficult to deal with in the pack, with a positional blocking style that looks casually lackadaisical but consistently leaves opponents with no escape while Robin Drugstores, Nina Knockout and Ivana Rock bring the hard hits.

Bay Area had a rough, penalty-heavy battle with Rose City to eject them from Western Regionals quarterfinal, and jumped all over upstart Duke City in the beginning of their semifinal match, going up 40-4 in the first 20 minutes and then maintaining that lead for the remainder of the bout. While their championship clash with Texas started out looking great for the girls from San Francisco -- they opened up a 27-12 lead after 13 minutes -- they seemingly got severely rattled when a 14-0 jam erased their lead, and Texas put the hammer down from that point on, outscoring BAD by a remarkable 108-22.

What the shiniest team in derby lacks in subtlety, they more than make up for in talent. The distinctive arm-swinging jammer style of speed demons Kitt Turbo and Grr Lee Burly and the unmistakable game face of Demanda Riot might be the most eye-catching elements of their play, but Westerns revealed BAD to be a particularly deep team, with Killer Vee, Taxi Scab and Sassy Slayher joining Demanda Riot in laying out major hits left and right and Pia Mess excelling both in the pack and with the jam star.

For Bay Area, the goal will be to stay clear of the penalty box that bedeviled them so much against Rose City, remain focused and avoid getting rattled as they were against Texas; a early second-half ejection for Taxi Scab hampered their comeback attempt. For Philly, the goal will be to duplicate their level of play in the Gotham bout. If both teams succeed, this one's got the potential to be every bit as close as their first meeting.

This bout's winner takes on the winner of Gotham / Duke City at 8pm on Saturday.

Annie Christ 7 // 100cc Antidote // Dara Licks 67 // Dotti Horror 77 // Elle Viento 22 // Euro Thrash XIV // Gefilite Fists 18 // Ginger Vitis 93.3 // Ivana Rock 11 // Mandawar 33 // Mo Pain 8 // Nina Knockout XXX // Olivia Face 668 // Persephone 15 // Robin Drugstores 714 // Shenita Stretcher 305 // Tara Newone 76 // Teflon Donna 85 // Violet Temper 06 // Wendy Whiplash 1369

Brawllen Angel 888 // Jane Hammer 777 // Demanda Riot 0:00:00 // Diane Rott 78 // Grr Lee Burly 333 // Killer Vee 33 // Kimfectious 47 // Kitt Turbo 667 // La Chica Mala 1 Kilo // Lemme Chokeya 88 // Liza Machete 1 // Lusty Malice 4 // Mandi Festo 1848 // Frisky Meow 7 // Miss Moxxxie XOXO // Pia Mess 24/7 // Racey Lane 1314 // Sassy Slayher 30-06 // Taxi Scab 50 cents a mile // Velveteen Savage 1.618

Photos: Colin J. , Kerry McClain, JohnU235