migration's blog

DETROIT, MI -- A very impressive second-half performance from #23 Grand Raggidy wasn't quite enough for what would have been a massive upset over #8 Detroit, but the girls from Grand Rapids fell only 12 points short in Saturday night's 94-82 struggle in Detroit. Grand Raggidy skated hard out of the box to take a quick five point lead, but then Detroit got the lead in jam 3 and held that lead all the way to the end of the game.

While Detroit led by 21 points near the end of the second half, Grand Raggidy put a late scare into the favored team, cutting the lead to only 10 points with 5:45 to play -- but Detroit MVP Killbox pulled off an 8-4 jam with a grand slam to up Detroit’s lead to 14, then threw in another 2-0 jam very late in the game to seal the 12 point victory. Killbox skated away with MVP honors on the night, scoring a game-high 35 points in 7 jams, getting lead 71% of the time.

It was a very defensive oriented game. There were only 5 grand slams in the game, 4 by Detroit. The DDG were shut out in 20 of the game’s 41 jams, and were held to less than four points in 8 other jams. Similarly, Grand Raggidy was shut out in 14 jams, scoring fewer than four points in 17 other jams.

Detroit won the 1st half 46-32, then Grand Raggidy came back to outscore Detroit 50-48 in the second half, falling a little short on the scoreboard. A huge surprise in the game was Grand Raggidy holding Detroit’s phenom jammer, Racer McChaseHer, to only 11 points for the game, far below Racer’s travel team average of 48.3 points per game.

1st Half

MP3: Post-bout interview with Detroit's Roxanna Hardplace (1:41)

Grand Raggidy started Dot Matrix at pivot, Bette Mangler, Terrorhawk and Lindsay Blowhan as blockers, and Mira Maheiney at jammer. Detroit countered with pivot Killbox, blockers Roxanna Hardplace (seeing her first travel team action), Honey Suckit and Del Bomber, and Polly Fester at jammer. Mira made a nice move to pass Killbox on the inside to earn lead jammer, but then on her scoring pass Mira couldn’t get by Killbox again, so called off the jam after staking Grand Raggidy to a 3-0 lead. In jam 2, GR’s Jackie Daniels forced her way through the pack to lead jammer, scored two points and was then stymied by Detroit’s wall and so called the jam. GR led 5-0, and that was the last time they led in the game.

Detroit jammed Honey Suckit against Racey Wreck’Hell in jam 3. Racey had a tough time in the pack, first getting knocked down by Del Bomber, then getting forced off the track by Vicious Vixen. Meanwhile, Honey Suckit made two 4-point scoring passes and won the jam 8-2, putting DDG in the lead, 8-7. In jam 4, Detroit’s Killbox hip-whipped herself off Summers Eve-L and into lead jammer, but then Mira Maheiney passed Killbox. Killbox didn’t call the jam even when Mira started scoring first, although eventually Killbox was able to win the jam 4-2 for the DDG, upping Detroit’s lead to 12-9. Jackie Daniels got a couple of points back for GR in jam 5, helped by a nice block from Bette Mangler knocking Roxanna Hardplace out of the way. That closed the score to 13-12, the last time Grand Raggidy was within one point of the lead.

The middle of the 1st period saw Detroit slowly build a lead. The DDG led 24-14 after jam 8, then GR chipped away to reduce the lead to 28-22 after jam 13. Then Detroit pumped up their lead in jams 15-17 as Honey Suckit and Polly Fester each scored 5-0 jam wins with grand slams followed by a 4-0 jam win by Effin’ Money. That gave DDG a 45-24 lead, and it was starting to look like maybe Detroit was starting to run away with the game.

Grand Raggidy wouldn't let that happen, though, outscoring Detroit 8-1 in the last four jams of the half, including a nice 5-0 grand slam from Dot Matrix in jam 20. That made the halftime score 46-32 for Detroit.

In that first half, Detroit’s Racer McChaseHer jammed 5 times and only scored 2 points. After the game, Detroit said Racer was skating with 3 minor penalties and so they were loath to jam her until she could get a 4th minor and a trip to the penalty box out of the way; however, Racer did manage to pick up her 4th minor as a jammer and so lost major track time in jams 18 and 19.

Each team earned 10 lead jammers in the 1st period’s 21 jams.

2nd Half

MP3: Post bout interview with GRRG's Mira Maheiney (1:48)

Grand Raggidy’s Mira Maheiney grabbed lead jammer to open the second half, although Racer McChaseHer was right with her, stride for stride. Each skater scored 4 points on their first scoring pass, then Mira made a tactical error by not calling the jam quickly on the second scoring pass when Racer passed her. It turned out that Racer outscored Mira 7-5 on the jam, upping Detroit’s lead to 53-37. Honey Suckit got lead for DDG in jam 2, scoring 5 points to Jackie Daniels 3 points. Honey called the jam when she was floored by GR’s Bette Mangler.

After a couple of tie jams, Grand Raggidy's would get on a roll. Mira Maheiney and Jackie Daniels put up 3-0 and 4-0 jams to cut the lead to 66-55 Detroit, and while Racer McChaser won a narrow 2-0 to follow up, Grand Raggidy's Javelin doubled that with another Grand Raggidy 4-0. Suddenly the visitors had closed to within just 9 points at 68-59.

However, Detroit's Killbox had one of her “Focus Factor” jams in jam 9 just in time. She got lead with two Grand Raggidy blockers in the penalty box. GR’s jammer Racey Wreck’Hell got trapped in the pack, bounced around by some particularly hard blocking from Racer McChaseHer, and Killbox zoomed for a critical 11-2 win that restored DDG’s lead to 18 points, 79-61.

But every time Detroit thought they had gained some breathing space, Grand Raggidy made another charge. GR’s Mira Maheiney and Jackie Daniels once again put up 4-0 and 3-0 jam wins to cut the lead back to 11 points at 79-68. When DDG’s Polly Fester got a 5-0 slam to put DDG’s lead at 84-68, Mira and Jackie again put up 4-0 and 2-0 jams to get to 84-74 (with a timely block from Detroit's Cookie Rumble forcing Jackie to cut off the action early in that 2-0.)

Jam 17 started with only 5:45 remaining on the game clock, and it was DDG’s Killbox jamming versus Mira Maheiney. Killbox hip-whipped herself twice through the pack first, but neither jammer was declared lead. Killbox got through the pack on her scoring pass, but was only awarded 3 points. Mira did get 4 points on her scoring pass, but she was held up for quite some time by DDG’s blockers Polly Fester, Fatal Femme, and Racer McChaseHer. The blocking would allow for a key grand slam, as Killbox came around for 5 points on her last scoring pass, winning the jam 8-4 and upping her team’s lead to 92-78 with less than four minutes left to play.

Grand Raggidy still wasn’t about to give up. Jackie Daniels won jam 18 over Effin’ Money 4-0. JD scored quickly and quickly called the jam. That cut Detroit’s lead to 92-82. Then Killbox got lead for DDG in jam 19. The Detroit crowd finally started some serious cheering without being prompted. Killbox got two points and called the jam. Then GR put up Racey Wreck’Hell against Racer McChaseHer in the final jam of the game, but that jam started with only 30 seconds remaining on the game clock, and so time expired before the jammers could ever get close to scoring.

At the final whistle, the Detroit skaters and crowd were relieved that they were still in the lead as they won the game 94-82.

Afterthoughts

There were some folks who thought before this game that Detroit would easily be able to handle Grand Raggidy. After all, Detroit had beaten them twice before, by 67 and by 18 points. And that was before Detroit had Racer McChaseHer on the travel team. But Grand Raggidy has improved in the year since the last meeting between these teams, and the win for Detroit was not easy. While Detroit led after the 3rd jam of the game, the lead was never more than one good jam away from having GR come back to take the lead.

Each team had almost the same number of lead jammers, GR having a slight edge at 19-18 in that statistic. Grand Raggidy’s blockers did a fantastic job at containing Racer McChaseHer, only allowing Racer 11 points in 11 jams. Racer also only got 2 leads, and no grand slams. Racer was also a -13 in plus/minus as a jammer, only the 3rd time in 17 games that Racer was a minus jammer.

One thing that stood out, though, was Detroit’s blockers seemed to have just a slight edge in team tactics, particularly in the last half of the second half. There were several times when Detroit deliberately slowed down to split the pack enough to make the GR blockers have to yield and let the Detroit jammers pass without being blocked. There were a few other jams late in the game when DDG’s blockers totally controlled the front of the pack, bottling up the GR jammer, and the GR blockers were too slow to react to try to open a lane through the DDG blockers. Those little things the Detroit blockers did just a little bit better/smarter was the difference in the game. As in football, derby blockers don’t get the credit they so richly deserve!

Grand Raggidy also did a fine job containing most of the other DDG jammers, except for Killbox who scored 35 points in only 7 jams. Honey Suckit also had 18 points in 5 jams, a 3.60 per jam average. While Grand Raggidy’s jammers did score some points, only Racey Wreck’Hell was able to score more than 2 points per jam (Racey got 2.67 pts per jam). Jackie Daniels scored 24 points in 13 jams, a 1.85 pts per jam average, but she was the only GR jammer to be on the plus side of plus/minus with a +5 as a jammer. GR had to work hard for each and every point they scored -- DDG didn’t give away any free points on the evening.

Statistics

Detroit’s Killbox was the leading scorer and MVP, scoring 35 points in 5 jams, with 5 leads and 1 (official) grand slam. Killbox was also the leader in overall plus/minus with a +30. Other Detroit jammers: Honey Suckit (18 pts, 5 jams, 2 leads, 1 slam); Polly Fester (14 pts, 6 jams, 4 leads, 2 slams); Effin’ Money (12 pts, 6 jams, 4 leads); Racer McChaseHer (11 pts, 11 jams, 2 leads); Roxanna Hardplace (4 pts, 3 jams, 1 lead); Del Bomber (0 pts, 2 jams); Cookie Rumble (0 pts, 1 jam).

Grand Raggidy was led by Mira Maheiney’s 32 points in 16 jams with 8 leads. Other GR scorers were: Jackie Daniels (24 pts, 13 jams, 8 leads); Racey Wreck’Hell (16 pts, 6 jams, 1 lead); Dot Matrix (6 pts, 4 jams, 1 lead, 1 slam); Javelin (4 pts, 2 jams, 1 lead).

Detroit’s blocking was led by Cookie Rumble with 19 blocks, 12 assists, and 6 knockdowns. Other particularly strong blockers were Bikini Killer (12 B/13 A/4 KD) and Racer McChaseHer (12 B/11 A/4 KD). Del Bomber, Killbox, Polly Fester, Honey Suckit, and Vicious Vixen were other major contributors to the Detroit “D.” Other skaters who helped out with total team defense were Fatal Femme, Roxanna Hardplace, Summers Eve-L, and Effin’ Money.

Bette Mangler led Grand Raggidy defensively with 17 blocks, 3 assists, and a knockdown. Lindsay Blowhan (11 B/5 A), Javelin (11 B/2 A/1 KD), Terrorhawk (12 B/2 A), and Lucy Morals (9 B/3 A) were the next best (statistically speaking). Other skaters for GR, in order of defensive stats: Angie Warhaul, Mira Maheiney, Dot Matrix, The Vindicator, Tone Loco, Jackie Daniels, and Racey Wreck’Hell.

This was one of the least penalized games played in Detroit. Detroit had 58 minors and 6 majors, spending 16 minutes in the penalty box. Grand Raggidy only had 37 minors and 2 majors, for only 7 penalty minutes.

Both teams next see action on June 21-22 at the East Coast Derby Extravaganza (ECE) in Philadelphia, PA. Grand Raggidy plays the Cincinnati Rollergirls and the Ohio Roller Girls. Detroit skates against the Dominion Derby Girls (it’s DDG vs. DDG!) and Atlanta. Additionally, the Mitten Kittens all-Michigan team, featuring players from both Detroit and Grand Raggidy (and perhaps from Killamazoo) will play in a 30 minute challenge bout vs. the two-time Philly home champs, the Philthy Britches.

FEASTERVILLE, PA -- June 7th could cap an amazing turnaround year for the Heavy Metal Hookers. For the past two seasons, the team has settled for last place in the Philly Roller Girls' intraleague standings, with only one lonely win to its credit. However, as this team of bad girls tears another month off its "Year of the Hooker" calendar, the skaters are setting their sights - for the first time in league history - on the big dance: the Season 3 Warrior Cup championship bout.

Local fans were treated to a preview of this pairing on May 3rd, when the Philthy Britches came out victorious by a margin of 97 to 60. Even though the results from that bout did not impact the Championship matchup - the teams had already clinched their spots - both higher seeding and bragging rights were on the line. Additionally, the teams were able to use the occasion to their benefit by scoping out and getting a feel for their opposition in order to anticipate how things might go down on June 7th.

The Hookers have always had the league's most die-hard fans, in spite of their two seasons at the bottom of the rankings, but will a sea of neon green in the audience help boost the team to victory? Can the roar of the crowd enable them to do what no other team has done in 3 years of Philadelphia derby league play - can they bring down the Philthy Britches? The Hookers roster boasts the 2007 League MVP, Teflon Donna: a triple threat, she excels at all elements of the game, and looks equally comfortable as jammer, pivot, or blocker; however, the Britches may be able to counteract her performance with the tag-team of 2007's League Pivot, Violet Temper, and 2007's League Jammer, Mo Pain. Violet has made a name for herself at the pivot spot by putting the breaks on some of the best jammers in the game, while Pain is known for her speed, agility, and an uncanny ability to make her way through the smallest of holes in a pack.

This season, the Hookers have built a solid core of jammers who are just as happy scoring points as they are blocking their opposing jammers and keeping the competition off the scoreboard. Not to be outdone, the team's blockers have hit their stride and can turn any bout into a defensive showdown. The Britches have stuck with the recipe that nearly three seasons have proven to work all-but-flawlessly for them: teamwork and communication that produces a dense, intimidating pack, combined with aggressive, nimble jammers whose numbers speak for themselves. History undeniably favors the Britches in this matchup, but momentum has been backing the Hookers all season long. A battle of strategy will take place on the track, and it's anyone's guess which team will prevail and take home the 2008 league championship.

The evening will also feature an opening bout starring the Broad Street Butchers, who for the first time in three seasons have found themselves absent from the title game. They host the Dutchland Derby Rollers' All-Stars, who are entering their second season of play at the Overlook Center in Lancaster, PA. The league's three teams have distinctive names that reflect their area's unique culture and history: the Barn Razors, the Distel Finks, and the Hex Offenders; however, the All-Star team that the Butchers face will feature skaters from across the three. The Butchers are winless in interleague play this season, having suffered a loss at the hands of Carolina's Trauma Queens, in addition to a disappointing intraleague campaign against the Hookers and Britches. The Dutchland All-Stars have played two interleague bouts in 2008, starting out with a victory over Montreal on March 29th, and effectively splitting a decision at a "mixer bout" on May 18th versus the Wilmington City Ruff Rollers of Delaware.

Doors will open at 5:00 p.m., with the first bout starting at 6:00 p.m. Both bouts will feature two 30 minute periods, with an intermission between bouts. The second bout is scheduled to kick off shortly after 7:45 p.m. La Resistance will perform live.

Immediately after the bout, the Warrior Cup will be presented and the fan-favorite winners will be announced for such categories as best jammer, best pivot, best blocker, and the referee people most want to send to the sin bin.

Annie Christ - #777 // Antidote - #100cc // Black Eye Susan - #9 // Butterscotch Cripple - #42 // Goldie Boxxx - #19 // Elle Viento - #22 // Nina Knockout - #36XXX // Persephone - #15 // Shenita Stretcher - #305 // Skirt McGirt - #88 // Tara Newone - #76 // Vixen Van Go Go - #00

Bunny McBones - #703 // Cherry Crush - #337 // Cole Slaughter - #$2.49 // Fujiyama Mama - #23 // Hillbilly Hellcat - #1218 // Irene Business - #911 // Jolene Jawbreaker - #3 // Josie Cuervo - #21+ // Marie Antoithreat - #1793 // Mary That Motha OH GOD! - #667 // Rachel Slur - #4shizzle // Spawna Skatin' - #540 // Spinal Snap - #goes to 11 // Stompin Lizzy Stanton - #19th // Treasure Chest - #777 // Twisted Scizzors - #40 vol. // White Thrash - #16 oz.

Dara Licks - #67 // Dotti Horror - #7 // Gefilte Fists - #18 // Gloria Grindem - #1972 // Janet Meano - #40oz. // Liz Teria - #919 // Mo Pain - #8 // Olivia Face - #668 // Racey Intent - #79 // Rosie Bloodbath - #24 // Violet Temper - #06

Alessa Evil - #$9,104 // Euro Thrash - #XIV // Felony Griffith - #44 // Heavy Flo - #527 // Ivana Rock - #11 // Mandawar - #333 // Miranda Slambert - #R5 // Robin Drugstores - #714 // Teflon Donna - #85 // The Cycrone! - #63 // Val Halla - #17 // Wendy Whiplash - #1369 // Wreckin Eyez - #4SALE

MADISON, WI – By halftime of the May 31st match-up between Denver’s Mile High Club and Madison's hometown Dairyland Dolls, there was no doubt about the end result. Ten minutes into the game, Madison had already built a 30-7 lead when Jenny Knoxville made three clean scoring passes with the advantage while her defense kept the Denver jammer from clearing the pack. After a jammerless jam call three jams later, DD pivot Chop Suzzy put up the first 20 point score in Madison history, again the DD pack keeping the Denver pivot-cum-jammer bottled up. The score at the half was a commanding 93-28 Madison lead.

Denver made some positive adjustments in the second half. They slowed the Madison jammer attack by keeping three skaters together up front, and picked up their hitting intensity. Meanwhile the Dairyland Dolls jammers became all too familiar with the penalty box, taking a seat six times. Penalties reigned in general, with two more jammerless jams over the final thirty.

With their adjustments and the Madison jammers sitting idle, Denver began to score consistently. Even with their penalty troubles, Madison grabbed lead jammer nine times in the half and grew their lead behind solid pack defense. The score for the second half favored the home team 66-46.

Jenny Knoxville was the top socrer for Madison with 49, followed by Mouse with 35. Angela Death led the Mile High Club with 28, and Shelia Tack added 24 for the visitors.

The Mile High Club came into Madison minus two of their skaters, Bria Fraid and Lt. Redrum, due to injury. Two more Denver skaters would go out during the second half. Berlin Brawl wasn’t able to breath after suffering an “athletically induced asthma attack,” while Reapercussion skated off under her own power following a hard hit early in the period.

Although they came up short in the score, the Mile High Club did not lack in energy on or off the track. They played well, but were simply overwhelmed by Madison’s depth. Denver brought a big support crew to Madison; merch, fans, refs, and most importantly, Dumptruck, their gravelly voiced, utterly unself-conscious announcer. Dumptruck sang the national anthem, charity skated against Bob Noxious during half-time (the entertainment value of this contest defies description), and drew the most attention of anyone on the streets of Madison afterward.

Denver will keep on playing top-ranked opponents when they host the Texas Rollergirls June 13, and then they travel to the East Coast Extravaganza in Philadelphia. Madison will also be at ECE, but first travel to Chicago June 14 to face Windy City at the Cicero Stadium. This will be the first meeting of the two teams since Windy City’s win over the top-seeded Dairyland Dolls at Heartland Havoc last August, and one of the first matches featuring high-profile teams skating under WFTDA rules 3.0.

FEASTERVILLE, PA -- For the second consecutive year, the Philly Roller Girls present the East Coast Derby Extravaganza (ECE) on June 21 and 22. The ECE is the largest flat track roller derby event in the history of the sport, featuring roller derby bouts on three tracks running simultaneously for two days. Over 850 skaters from 64 leagues across the country will participate over the course of the weekend.

No other event in the history of this international phenomenon has had the number of games and skaters registered to play – not even last year’s ECE, and this year promises to be bigger and better than its predecessor.

Two rinks will be devoted to full-length bouts between members of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) and will count toward those teams’ rankings as the Association approaches its tournament season. Many of the highest-ranked leagues in the country will be competing, including Texas, North Carolina, Chicago, New York and Detroit, as well as 9th-ranked Philadelphia.

As hosts of the event, the Philly Roller Girls’ travel team – the Liberty Belles – will take the floor at 7 p.m. both nights to compete in the Extravaganza’s headlining bouts. Saturday evening’s matchup pits the home team against the Windy City Rollers of Chicago, currently ranked 7th; Sunday’s finale will feature the Belles and the Mad Rollin’ Dolls of Madison, Wisconsin, who occupy the 17th spot in the national rankings.

In addition to the WFTDA rinks, an additional track will be devoted to "challenge bouts," 30-minute scrimmage-like bouts featuring leagues that do not qualify for the WFTDA action. Rounding out the schedule will be teams of like-minded skaters from across the nation who, though they may never have skated together before, will join together to take on their nemeses: think "Villains vs. Super Heroes," "Angry Italians vs. Fighting Irish," and "Geeks vs. Beauty Queens," among many others.

Derby News Network will be running a major ECE preview in two weeks, and of course will be bringing you detailed coverage from the event itself. Till then, for more information on participant leagues, the event schedule, and ticketing, please visit Phillyrollerderby.com.

Be there!

MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- Charm City's troupe of irregulars, Female Trouble, took a lengthy trip for their debut full-length bout -- they ventured across the Canadian border and into French Quebec for a battle with La Racaille, a home team from Montreal Roller Derby.

While La Racaille put up a consistent fight, it would be two big first-half jams from emerging CCRG star Bambi's Revenge that gave the visitors a sizable advantage that La Racacille could never recover from, and the Baltimore girls enjoyed the upper hand for the entire bout on the way to a 120-76 victory.

This iteration of Female Trouble was truly a cross section of established league forces and up-and-coming talent. All-stars Holly Go Hardly and Cheeta Torpeda already had plenty of interleague experience, but four of the Trouble -- Thumper Good, Shi Monsta, Mya Bloody Valentine and Essie Ecks -- had never played a regulation public bout before, while three more (captain Rebel Yellow, Minnie Piledriver and Bambi's Revenge) had debuted less than a month ago at the May 3rd CCRG home season opener. The roster was rounded out by second-year veterans Killer Kitten, Ali Kaida, Ang Thrax and Major Threat, along with original CCRG member Minerva Vavoom.

Female Trouble threw a big jam on the board right from the jump as Izzy Skellington jammed for La Racaille against Bambi's Revenge for the Trouble. Izzy would get lead, but then find herself sent off to the penalty box, and the Trouble shifted quite effectively into all-offensive blocking, clearing the way for Bambi to rack up a 14-0 in what would end up being a full-length jam.

La Racaille's ace jammer Iron Wench was able to get some of those points back with lead jam and a 8-3 over Killer Kitten to follow up, but the Trouble took lead jammer status on the next three jams and rolled up 20 more points to just 5 for La Racaille, leaving the home team at a 37-13 disadvantage early in the bout.

The Montreal girls went back to Iron Wench, who delivered in a big way with La Racaille's most substantial win of the evening -- a 14-0 over Minnie Piledriver, who had to go to the box during that jam. The score moved to 37-27 and the home crowd was clearly re-energized, but the Trouble didn't allow La Racaille to gain any momentum, slowly gaining most of those points back as they went 12-0 over the next three jams.

Female Trouble suffered a significant loss with about 8 minutes to play in the half, when all-star Holly Go Hardly took a nasty fall early in a jam between Lyndsey Kicks and Rebel Yellow. She'd need help to get off the track, and did not skate for the remainder of the bout -- the extent of her apparent knee re-injury is currently unknown.

At that point, Female Trouble had pushed their lead back to 21 points at 52-31, and Bambi's Revenge delivered another huge jam with a 16-2 over Wrath Poutine that put the score at 68-33 and temporarily muted a vociferous crowd. A couple of jams later, the Trouble's Ang Thrax, in her only jam of the night, provided another demoralizing jam for La Racaille as she managed to barely complete a grand-slam scoring lap over No Holds Bard in the 40 seconds of a truncated jam that ended the half, leaving Female Trouble in the driver's seat at 77-39.

La Racaille would keep it closer in the second half, doing a much better job of keeping the Trouble from getting lopsided wins, but there was no comeback in the offing, especially with the Trouble absolutely dominating the lead jammer battle -- from the half's 4rd jam to the 14th, Female Trouble got lead on 10 of 11 jams.

With about 7 minutes to play in the bout, the Trouble's put an exclamation point on the win, as Cheeta Torpeda, playing in the back of the pack, completely controlled La Racaille jammer K-Dawg, slowing her to a booty-block crawl before repeatedly sending her to the concrete. Meanwhile, Ali Kaida, jamming for the Trouble, made a few La Racille blockers fly at air with a couple of flashy dodges on her way to a 10-0 win that gave Female Trouble their biggest lead of the bout at 50 points, 117-67.

La Racacille was able to shave a few points off that margin in the concluding jams, but while Female Trouble only won the second half by 6 points overall, they had done more than enough damage in the first half to ascertain their 120-76 victory.

Female Trouble's Bambi's Revenge made the most of each of her trips to the jam line, putting up a startling 41 points in just 5 jams and outscoring her opposing jammers by 34 points. Iron Wench led the scoring for the home team, racking up 33 points on 5 jams and getting a +21 JPD.

Photo: Bubba Brown

This Saturday is a big one for WFTDA derby around the nation, but the marquee bout is arguably in Arizona. Two of WFTDA's top 10 teams go at it in Tucson's Bladeworld, as #10th ranked Bay Area travels to the southwest to take on #6 Tucson.

These two teams have never met before, but Mandi Festo of the Bay Area skated for the Tucson's league team Iron Curtain for a year and half before she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. And the derby grapevine is full of reports of the Bay Area after their impressive showing earlier this month at Roll for a Cure. So both teams ought to know what to expect.

The last game the Saddletramps played was back in February when they lost a close one, in the last scoring jam, to the #4 Texas Rollergirls 86-81. Bay Area, on the other hand, has been on a roll. They went undefeated at the California State Championship in March, beating Sacramento's Sacred City in the championship match (101-30) and then undefeated again at Roll for a Cure on May 10th and 11th, beating Houston (99-54), Rose City (111-74) and Minnesota (127-25).

The Saddletramps will be bringing a short roster of twelve skaters to the bout Saturday, but Tucson's stamina is legendary and a short roster is unlikely to be as serious a handicap as it might be for a different team. Bay Area will -- for the first time this season -- have their complete travel team ready to roll. Jammer Miss Moxxxie and recent Rat City transfer, the legendary Pia Mess, both missed Roll for a Cure but will be in action against Tucson.

Another factor in the bout may be the weather. The temperature in Tucson is expected to go over 100 degrees this weekend and will probably be 80 to 90 at bout time. In the San Francisco Bay Area, 70 is considered to be a hot day. Will the Bay Area girls melt?

Arrive early to the bout and bid on items in a silent auction to help raise money for Tucson's traveling travel team. Doors open at 6pm, Bout to start at 7pm. If you're a fan of derby and anywhere in the southwest United States this weekend, this is the bout to see.

Sloppy Flo 8 (captain) // Deadlock Doe Holliday 333 (co-captain) // Nokka Ho Down 187 // Polly Graf 7 // Sami Automatic 22 // Sassy Sue 62 //Two-Bit Ore 49¢ // Whiskey Mick C-4 // Foxxy Lockett 0 // Tumbleweed 711 // Carrie Gunns 9mm // Metal Maiden 1980

Kitt Turbo 667 (captain) // Taxi Scab 50¢ a mile (co-captain) // Sassy Slayher .30-06 // Liza Machete 1 // Demanda Riot 0:00 // Mandi Festo 1848 // Miss Moxxxie XOXO // Racey Lane 1314 // Grr Lee Burly 333 // Diane Rott 78 // Velveteen Savage 1.618 // Lusty Malice 4 // Killer Vee 33 // Pia Mess 24/7 // John Diss (coach)

The WFTDA 23rd-ranked Grand Raggidy Roller Girls hope the third time is a charm when they invade the Motor City to play the 8th ranked Detroit Derby Girls on Saturday, May 31. These two teams have played twice before, and Detroit has won both previous meetings. They first played in December 2006 in Detroit, Detroit winning 121-54. The second meeting was in Grand Rapids in May 2007, Detroit winning 105-87 in a much closer game.

In the first meeting, Detroit’s Honey Suckit scored 46 points, Vega Vendetta had 34 pts, and Deadly Dose scored 27. Grand Raggidy was led by Mira Maheiney with 24 points and Dot Matrix with 18. In the second game between the two, Detroit was once again led by Honey Suckit, this time with 33 points, followed by Vega Vendetta with 25 and Killbox with 17. GR’s Mira Maheiney led all jammers with a solid 41 point performance, followed by Make Ya Dizzy Lizzy with 24 and Jackie Daniels with 15 points. That second game between the two clubs was an anomaly as GR had 25 lead jammers to DDG’s 11, although Detroit still managed to outscore GR.

Grand Raggidy is paced by their jammer threesome of Mira Maheiney, Jackie Daniels, and Dot Matrix. Look for Racey Wreck’Hell to get some jams wearing the star, also perhaps look for The Vindicator and Javelin to jam some too. Blocking should be led by Bette Mangler, Angie Warhaul, Terrorhawk, and the undersized, overperforming Tone Loco, who gives hits as if she were twice her actual size. Jackie Daniels and Javelin are also fierce blockers when not jamming. Also watch out for Lindsay Blowhan, Lucy Morals, O Yeah!, and Viva La BOOM.

Detroit’s offense is of course led by Racer McChaseHer, who did not play in either of the first two games versus Grand Raggidy. Detroit has the luxury of having many experienced jammers to pick from, so GR can’t concentrate on just stopping Racer. DDG has the “old reliable” experienced jammers Honey Suckit and Killbox, plus the “new breed” jammers Effin’ Money and Polly Fester to choose from. Not to mention Kat Von D’Stroya can jam effectively, as well as Cookie Rumble and Elle McFearsome. Even Del Bomber and Roxanna Hardplace have experience wearing the star.

Detroit’s defense is anchored by the solid Cookie Rumble who leads a talented, hard-nosed group of blockers in Bikini Killer, Del Bomber, Elle McFearsome, Fatal Femme, Killbox, Summers Eve-L, and Vicious Vixen. Not to mention that Racer McChaseHer plays excellent defense when she’s not jamming plus Roxanna and Kat can block when not jamming.

The game should be a good one as each team has a core of veterans and a blend of newer skaters. Watch for speedy jammers, lots of hard hitting, and then lots of “derby love” after the game when both teams go to the after party together. These two teams know each other well as a fair number of skaters on each team have skated together in various tournaments and as the “Mitten Kittens,” not to mention the skaters like to scout their opposition frequently.

The game is in the Drill Hall at the Masonic Temple in downtown Detroit, MI. Doors open at 6pm, skates roll at 7pm. More info at http://www.detroitderbygirls.com/.

LAS VEGAS, NV -- Saturday, May 10th, 2008 was a milestone in the history of the Fabulous Sin City Rollergirls. Their first intraleague bout in their three season history! "What gives," you say. Wasn't that supposed to happen first?

Las Vegas' own WFTDA league has up until now always been a single team league. Each and every one of its bouts prior to this one has been an interleague bout. As far as your intrepid recapper can determine, they have always been WFTDA's highest ranked travel team from a league of its size -- fearlessly taking on and often beating the best skaters from leagues with three and four times the teams and skaters.

Sin City's last interleague bout had the team skating without Devil's Advo-Kate (out with a broken collarbone) and Athena Barbital (leg and ankle broken in three places). This prompted the league to take some time off from bouting, and focus on recruiting and getting its latest batch of new skaters ship-shape and ready for action. The league began growing faster than anyone had ever thought possible. The league reorganized and split into two teams, the "new-Vegas" Notorious VIP and the "old-Vegas" Tommy Gun Terrors. This bout was their first historic face-off, with the aforementioned injured skaters joined as captains by Skid and Bruce Killis.

The Tommy Gun Terrors got off to a stunning 14 point lead by the fourth jam, punctuated with Lali Pop skating a 7-0 shutout in the fourth jam. However, the VIP's Pearly Gates outscored her opposing jammer almost every time she had the star, putting a few good-sized bites into their lead but never quite overtaking them. She scored a 4-0 shutout in jam 5 against Pirate and an 8-1 win over Shawna th'Dead in jam 9. Bruce Killis put in a great turn as jammer in the final jam of the first half, when she put up 5-0 against the short-skating Tommy Gun Terrors' Alma Bichess. This left the bout with a 50-36 spread, the Tommy Gun Terrors leading by 14 points.

A few things became apparent during the first half. The Notorious VIPs, despite being put together largely of well-experienced blockers, were having some difficulty putting together a successful defense as their pack had difficulty stopping the Tommy Gun Terrors' numerous jammers. And given that they were rotating the star mostly between three jammers, this appeared to sap their jammers' stamina a bit.

The second half started with the TGT's Skid clearing the pack first but not gaining lead. Pearly Gates obtained lead and called the jam at 0-0 before Skid could score.

Kelvikta the Blade followed this up with nine points to Black Belt Betty's four. In the next jam Bruce Killis grabbed the lead and outscored Heatherface 3-2.

This steady increase in the Terrors' lead continued until the fifth jam, when Kelvikta the Blade was sent to the slammer for four minors, and Pearly Gates took terrific advantage with an 8-0 jam, bringing the VIP within 10 points of the Terrors.

The score see-sawed between a surmountable 10 and 13 point Tommy Gun Terrors lead for the next eight jams, with a tussle between Sigourney Beaver and Alma Bichess resulting in both skaters being ejected from the bout. Black Belt Betty took a hard hit in the 13th jam and skated off for EMT assistance -- it was determined later at the ER that she'd broken her collarbone.

At this point the Tommy Gun Terrors started to pull ahead, with Lali Pop finishing the jam with two grand slams, bringing the score to 92-69. Skid and Kelvikta the Blade both grabbed the lead in the 15th and 16th jams, calling them after scoring 4-0 shutouts over Bruce Killis. In the bout's final jam, Pearly Gates edged out Pirate 9-8 in a no-lead jam, leaving the final score 108-80.

There were some intriguing change-ups in this bout. Alma Bichess, generally known as one of WFTDA's most fierce and feared blockers, occasionally put in a turn as a jammer for the Tommy Gun Terrors. And during most of those jams, she outscored her opponents, at least once knocking taking out the VIP's jammer on her way to doing so.

Stats

If one had to suggest an overall MVP for this bout, it would have to be Pearly Gates, although her heroics would be in a losing effort. She put up jammer and blocker stats for the Notorious VIP that would've put her near the top of the victorious Tommy Gun Terrors. She outscored everyone else in the bout with 37 points, topped the jammer stats for her team and had the second best pack stats for her team. Other VIP jammers included Bruce Killis (24 points), Black Belt Betty (18 points) and Nikki Nuke-Em (1 point.)

Shawna th'Dead of the TGT played blocker in all but one of her jams, and put in the best defensive performance this recapper has ever seen her skate. Her pack stats were through the roof. Wherever her opposing blocker was, Shawna was almost always right in the way. On offense, the Tommy Gun Terrors deployed a deep jammer bench led by Kelvikta the Blade with 28. Lali Pop (27 points), Skid (12 points), Alma Bichess (12 points), Heatherface (11 points), Pirate (8 points), Jolly Mean Giant (7 points), Maybelline (2 points), and Shawna th'Dead (1 point) all contributed to the total.

The Tommy Gun Terrors were assigned with 38 minors and 2 majors, while the Notorious VIP collected 30 minors and 1 major.

Audience-wise, the event was a raging success. While there isn't a solid number for actual paid attendance as of yet, it was clear that the bout drew two to three times as many fans as in any skated in 2007 -- quite probably an attendance record.

As mentioned earlier, Sin City debuted a significant number of new faces in this bout. Transfers included Maybelline #25 (previously of the Denver Roller Dolls) and Lali Pop #67. Skating in their first bouts ever were Black Belt Betty #4th Dan (who breaks boards when she's not breaking the pack), Heatherface #1974 (from the Mid-Iowa Rollers "new meat"), Kami Flage #3/4, Kelvikta the Blade #440ss (a sword-swallowing speed-skater and sideshow performer), Nikki Nuke-Em #28, Ruth O'Dare #67, and Shebacca #27. Also in her first bout in quite a while was Flamingo Jones (formerly known as Bo Toxic).

And finally, league president Slurpee #7*11 cut her recent "18 year injury" down to a much more reasonable ten or eleven months, which allowed for her adorable new son Devlin to catch Mommy back in action on the eve of Mothers Day.

Photos: Papa Razzi

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- WFTDA's 38th-ranked Brewcity Bruisers traveled from Milwaukee to Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday, May 17, but hosting, 24th-ranked Grand Raggidy presented them with the short end of a 154-41 beatdown in a game played at Rivertown Sports.

Grand Raggidy was in control from the first jam to the last, jumping out to a 51-13 lead by the end of the first period and extending the lead to 97-32 after two. Penalties were assessed early and often, with Brewcity racking up 100 minor and 5 major penalties while Grand Raggidy was whistled for 71 minors and 2 majors. Of the 43 total jams in the game, Grand Raggidy got lead jammer in 31 jams, while Brewcity got only 7 leads.

During pre-bout warmups, it looked like the teams might be more evenly matched than proved to be the case. Brewcity had a few “plus sized” blockers that appeared quite fearsome, along with some agile and zippy jammers who could speed around the track. Grand Raggidy was also without Dot Matrix, a quite capable jammer. But when the game started, Grand Raggidy's superior defense and strategy left the visitors always a step behind.

1st Period

Mira Maheiney started the skates rolling for Grand Raggidy in jam 1, besting Brewcity’s Romaniac 8-4. Then Grand Raggidy shut out BC by a combined total of 16-0 in the next four jams to lead 24-4 and the rout was on. BC’s Romaniac did score an impressive 5-0 grand slam win in jam 6, followed by BC’s Cookie Ciano winning jam 7 by 4-0 to put the score at 24-13 for Grand Raggidy, but that was all of Brewcity’s scoring for the rest of the period. Brewcity was shut out in the final 9 jams while Grand Raggidy ran up 34 more points to close the period at 58-13.

Along the way, GR’s Jackie Daniels, Racey Wreck’Hell, and Mira Maheiney each scored a grand slam. In the period's 16 jams, Grand Raggidy got 12 lead jammers to only 2 for BC. Mira Maheiney was the leading scorer with 25 points in 5 jams in the period.

By the end of the first 20 minutes, it was becoming noticeable that Brewcity’s blockers were mostly not looking back for oncoming Grand Raggidy jammers. Many times GR’s jammers were able to just weave their way past unaware blockers without getting engagement from those blockers at all. There wasn't too team defense from Brewcity; not many walls, no “swarming” defense, etc.

It also appeared some of the Brewcity jammers were intimidated at times. They would take a hard hit from a Grand Raggidy blocker, and then would drop back a bit, seemingly looking for some offensive blocks that didn’t materialize, but sometimes they didn’t really make a challenge to the blockers again on that jam.

2nd Period

Jackie Daniels opened the 2nd period for Grand Raggidy with a 7-0 grand slam, followed by another Grand Raggidy 5-0 slam by Javelin. Jams 3 & 4 were won by Grand Raggidy by a combined 7-6 score, but then BC's offense stalled again, only scoring 2 points in the next four jams to GR’s 16. The highlight of the period for Brewcity came in jam 9 when Cookie Ciano scored a 10-0 double grand slam over Lucy Morals. That boosted Brewcity’s output to 31 points, although Grand Raggidy had 93 points at that time.

Brewcity did manage to put the brakes on a bit as the period concluded, as Grand Raggidy only outscored BC 4-1 in the last four jams of the period, with each team getting shut out in three of those jams. The second period would prove to be Brewcity's best, as Grand Raggidy only outscored Brewcity 39-19 in the period, leaving the score at Grand Raggidy 97, Brewcity 32. Grand Raggidy got 7 leads out of the 13 jams, while BC got 3 leads.

3rd Period

Things got considerably worse for Brewcity in the 3rd period, though, as they were only able to put 9 points on the board while Grand Raggidy exploded for 53 more.

Mira Maheiney, who didn’t jam at all in the 2nd period, started things off for Grand Raggidy with a 10-0 double grand slam. After a 4-0 win for Racey Wreck’Hell for Grand Raggidy, Mira had a 5-0 slam win followed by a 9-0 slam win for Racey. Then Javelin scored a 4-0 win for Grand Raggidy in jam 5, so in the first five jams of the 3rd period Grand Raggidy had acked up a 32-0 advantage. Grand Raggidy then scored only 8 points in the next 5 jams, getting shut out in three of those jams, but BC could only muster 3 points by Fly Girl in that span. In fact, Brewcity was shutout in 9 of the first 10 jams of the 3rd period, the string only broken by that 3-0 jam for Fly Girl. Jackie Daniels got another 10-0 double grand slam in jam 13, and then in the final jam, jam 14, Cookie Ciano scored a 5-0 jam win for Brewcity to close the game out at Grand Raggidy 150, Brewcity 41. In the period Grand Raggidy got 12 leads to 2 for BC.

The main gameplay element that stood out by the end of the bout was Grand Raggidy's total domination of lead jammer status. Grand Raggidy had the lead jammer edge 31-7, and the Grand Raggidy jammers consistently made the most of that. If the BC jammer was coming around to score, the Grand Raggidy jammers would almost universally get their 4 points after passing through the pack and then quickly call the jam to prevent any BC scoring. If, on the other hand, the Grand Raggidy jammer noticed the BC jammer still stuck in the pack, the Grand Raggidy jammer would go around for another scoring pass before calling the jam.

Another thing that stood out was BC’s getting called for 100 minor penalties in the game. That had to hurt them. Perhaps getting called for so many penalties may have caused some of their skaters to hold back a little defensively to try and stay out of that box.

Statistics

Jackie Daniels of Grand Raggidy was the leading scorer of the game with 47 points while jamming 12 times with 9 leads and 4 grand slams. Mira Maheiney also had a fine game jamming with 44 points in 9 jams with 7 leads and 4 slams.

Other Grand Raggidy jammers were: Racey Wreck’Hell (28 pts, 9 jams, 5 leads, 2 slams); Javelin (17 pts, 6 jams, 6 leads, 1 slam); Viva LaBoom (14 pts, 4 jams, 2 leads); Lucy Morals (4 pts, 2 jams, 1 lead); Lindsay Blowhan (0 pts, 1 jam, 1 lead).

Although it was a rough night for the Brewcity jammers, Cookie Ciano played a good game with the jammer star for Brewcity. She was BC’s leading scorer with 24 points in 12 jams. She also had 3 lead jammers and scored 3 grand slams.

BC’s Romaniac started well in the 1st period with 9 points in 4 jams, but was taken out of heavy rotation in the subsequent periods, only jamming twice in the 2nd (for 1 more point) and not at all in the 3rd period.

Other Bruisers jammers were Fly Girl (3 pts, 4 jams); Rejected Seoul (3 pts, 11 jams, 3 leads); Jackie O’Nihilate (1 pt, 5 jams, 1 lead); Grace Killy (0 pts, 1 jam); The Eviscerator (0 pts, 2 jams); Fidela Castrate (0 pts, 2 jams).

Brewcity next plays a non-WFTDA bout against the Chicago Outfit on June 1, and then battles a relative newcomer to the WFTDA scene, the currently unranked Tampa Bay Derby Darlins -- that action goes down on June 21 in Milwaukee.

Grand Raggidy next goes up against their state rival, 8th-ranked Detroit, in an away game on May 31. Detroit has won the two previous meetings between the squads.

Photos: Colin J

BLOOMINGTON, IN -- In the Bleeding Heartland Rollergirls first intraleague bout, the nearly perfectly matched Slaughter Scouts and Farm Fatales battled down to a thrilling last jam. In the end, it'd be the heroics of the Fatales' Badd Mudda Trucka, scoring 10 points in an unopposed jam, that would lift her team to a 72-71 come-from-behind win.

The first half was a tight defensive contest, with both teams trading the lead throughout most of those 30 minutes. The Scouts were up by 8, until Unicoroner, high-scoring jammer for the Fatales, put 5 unanswered points on the board to close the gap to 34-31 at halftime.

In the second half, the hits got harder, and the energized Farm Fatales found their groove and soon led the Scouts by 20. Then Unicoroner spent three consecutive jams in the Bad Girl Box, scoring only 4 points during the last of those jams, while Scouts jammers Killer Kindness, Felanie Charges, and Ka Ka Caliente scored, 9, 10, and 4 points, respectively. Two jams later, the Scouts were up by 9 with less than 2 minutes to play: 71-62.

Ultimately, though, this contest was decided by the Bad Girl Box. Scouts jammer Ka Ka Caliente spent the last jam of the game in the box, leaving Fatale jammer Badd Mudda Trucka all alone and eager to put the pedal to the metal. Miraculously, Mudd scored 10 points in two grand slams in the final 86 seconds to give the Farm Fatales a narrow, heart-stopping victory: 72-71.

A raucous crowd of nearly 800 fans came out to support BHRG, and if their enthusiasm is any indicator, they'll be back in Bloomington on June 14, as the BHRG all-star team, the Flatliners, takes on the B-team from Cincinnati, the Silent Lambs.

Photo: Adam Zolkover