Weekly Rollup and Open Thread, 12/18/2009

It better be the people who own the rights to the videos. I'd be calling someone who knows intellectual property laws if I made or was in one of those vids...

Isabelle rocks the banked track and SDDD, after all these years, has been one of my most favorite stops. Great people. I've called a lot of bouts. I don't count them, but there can't be many who have seen more. I have three moments in all of that which I will never forget - being part of the first Dust Devil, calling a wild-ending bout for B.A.D. at a magnificient Nationals in Portland, and working the National Banked Championship last year. No, it didn't have the drama of the previous year, nor all the glamour, but flat-trackers, it's a great game. Granted, and rumor has it this is being done, it needs standardized rules. House rules do hurt legitimacy in any sport. Good vs. bad matchups will come into play as in any bout. But last year's Battle of the Bank II in Austin gave us two bouts worth seeing again. Most would be surprised to know many of the rules written for that event were adapted from WFTDA 3.1.

Yeah, it's a bitch to load a freight truck with tons of piping, plywood and laminate flooring, it takes a good day to set up, but the final four that weekend was as much fun as it gets. You think one-minute jams aren't long enough...blah...blah...blah, well, realistically, how many full two-minute jams do we run? And the beauty of the one-minute jam is it is total balls out from the whistle. Others will complain about the lead jammer changing. In banked track, the jammer in the lead IS the lead jammer. Balls out jams and fights to get out front make for nothing short of thrilling derby. To me, anything that makes derby slow, sucks. Banked track will never disappoint. The penalites are WELL COMMUNICATED ("white board girl" would hold up a board to the announcer booth with player numbers and abbreviations for penalties after every jam - can we adapt this please?), penalties are much easier to understand - fans actually get them - and, at least that weekend, the officiating was spot on (not a dig on flat track officiating which, I thought, had a stellar year). Hand signals are nice, our refs are much better at using them, but unless we're raised, you can't see every spot on the track and you just plain miss signals. Not in that tourney. The SDDD victory over LADD was potentially one of the greatest bouts I've had the pleasure of calling.

Hey, I have plenty of friends skating at Playland. I love them and won't stick myself in the middle of what was and the feelings that remain. But I can say the ladies at TXRD were no less hospitable. All of us who travel a lot during the year know the pressure of the schedule, empty pockets once we get there, and feel the change as the sport grows in its professionalism. But TXRD treated me as well as anyone and I hope I'll have the honor of doing it again.

Bob