Posted by Justice Feelgood Marshall on 8th May 2008
Lizzy the Axe, Frau Scientits, Mary Tyler Roar, and referee Seamonster star in a genius little series of PSAs produced by the Minnesota RollerGirls. Required watching.
Posted in Bout video, Derby in the Media, Minnesota Rollergirls | 1 Comment »
Posted by Justice Feelgood Marshall on 27th February 2008
Cambridge Community Television has put together a very impressive half-hour documentary on the Boston Derby Dames, featuring appearances by league founders Ivana Clobber (who has since moved to Kansas City) and Sarah Doom, along with skaters Maura Buse, Harlot Fevah, Shelby Shattered, Triple Deck-Her, Dreadnought, Xena Paradox and others … and even better, you can view the whole thing online!
As always, DNN stands up and cheers whenever media coverage of derby goes pleasingly in-depth instead of painfully boilerplate, so don’t be shy about stopping by CCT’s site and leaving a comment to congratulate them on a job very well done.
Posted in Boston Derby Dames, Bout video, Derby in the Media | 1 Comment »
Posted by Hailey Hawkeye on 13th February 2008
BROKEN ARROW, OK — On Sunday night, Central Arkansas Roller Derby (CARD) traveled to Broken Arrow Roller Sports to meet Oklahoma’s own Green Country Roller Girls competing for the win in the “Love Hurts” Bout. CARD was relatively new to the interleague bouting scene, with only two losses to the River Valley Roller Girls under their belts. WFTDA’s unranked Green Country has been around for a bit longer, and it showed in a lopsided final, as the home team cruised to victory, 209-17.
The huge margin didn’t seem to have too much of a negative effect on a pumped-up home crowd, though. Broken Arrow Roller Sports was packed with loyal GCRG fans — notably, star jammer Rosie the Wrecker had a hulk-esque cheering section matching her hulk-like face for the evening. Syko Path too had a cheering section complete with green wigs and ‘S-Y-K-O’ spelled out across their chests.
Green Country entered with Project Huckleberry leading the way. The tribal sound of the opening drum corps seemed to feed the crowds energy, but it’d be Green Country taking most of that energy. In the 20 jams before half-time, GCRG had already gone up 112 to 7. Bruise Whisperer from CARD was added as the jammer for more jams in the second period, and ended up as her team’s most effective jammer with 8 points in the end — though the night belonged to Rosie the Wrecker, who scored an incredible 123 points (including a 15 point jam and two 14 point jams) and picked up lead jammer status on 18 of 22 trips to the line.
This bout was covered by local station KOTV — check out their story and video here.
Green Country is back in action in just two weeks, set for a bout with the Oklahoma Victory Dolls on February 23 in Oklahoma City. Meanwhile, CARD takes a few months off before getting it on with Memphis in an away bout on June 7.
Posted in Bout Recaps, Central Arkansas Roller Derby, Derby in the Media, Green Country Roller Girls, Interleague Bouts | 2 Comments »
Posted by Hurt Reynolds on 12th December 2007
With media coverage of modern roller derby on the uptick lately, we at DNN thought it would be interesting track the trend of “by day/by night” (over)usage.
The good news:
The BD/BN news:
So, with a score of six moderately creative articles against just one “by day/by night” job, it was a good week in derby coverage. You can be sure that we at DNN will keep a vigilant eye on this pressing issue!
Edit: Make that five to two. Doh.
Posted in Derby in the Media, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Posted by Justice Feelgood Marshall on 17th November 2007
The most highly trained and nationally acclaimed journalists and editors from the Paper of Record take a swing at writing a roller derby lede. Surely they will come up with a unique way of grabbing reader interest, something that throws off the old tired lede template, something clever and different and … oh, nevermind.
By day, Jennifer Donovan works as an astronomer, listening for the faintest whispers from atoms in deep outer space, the tracings of movement in galaxies millions of light-years from Earth.
But it is nighttime. And in an abandoned cigar factory on a deserted street in Astoria, Queens, Jennifer Donovan, the astronomer, has become Luna Impact, roller derby chick.
Enough carping, though: you don’t get too much more mainstream news-worthy than the NYT, so this is a moment for derby to be proud of. Also check the video, featuring interviews with the Bronx Gridlock’s Ginger Snap and Brigitte Barhot, the Queens of Pain’s Cheapskate, and GGRD head ref Mr. Rawk. Not too shabby (even if a subtitle stating there are currently 48 leagues active in roller derby undershoots the real total by about 150 percent…)
Posted in Bout video, Championship Bouts, Derby in the Media, Gotham Girls Roller Derby | 3 Comments »
Posted by Justice Feelgood Marshall on 10th November 2007
Sitting in front of your teevee? Hot Legs Hooligan from Atlanta sends along the following good news:
Atlanta Rollergirls Roller Derby League (a founding league of the WFTDA organization), will be featured on CNN Headline News TODAY (Saturday, Nov. 10th, 2007), every half hour during the Headline News Sports segment. This two-minute feature story will feature background information on the resurgence of a historical full-contact extreme sports for women with an introduction to Flat-Track Roller Derby, as well as a profile of skater Queen Loseyateefa, ARG’s outgoing League President, recently voted “Rollergirl of the Year” by her peers.
BROADCAST SCHEDULE*
1:10 and 1:40
2:10 and 2:40
3:10 and 3:40
4:10 and 4:40
(*Please note that these times are Eastern Time; airtimes are 10am-2pm on the West Coast.)
UPDATE: You can watch the segment online here!
Posted in Atlanta Rollergirls, Derby in the Media | 2 Comments »
Posted by Justice Feelgood Marshall on 8th November 2007
Just for kicks, I decided to have a little fun with Google and see how many examples I could find of my favorite derby lede. I was not surprised that it was very easy:
“By day, the ladies of Scare Force One manage offices, direct fund drives and research neural functioning like typical Washingtonians. At night, they step into their alter egos and roll with the punches.”
“Annette Melillo doesn’t look intimidating at 4 feet 9 inches and 95 pounds. But when she flexes her biceps, she puts Popeye to shame. By day, Melillo, 41, is a mild-mannered sales representative for a heating and air-conditioning company. She lives in North Plainfield, where she grows vegetables in her backyard. But three nights a week she changes her identity as surely as Clark Kent did ducking into phone booths.”
“Out of the suitcases came helmets, kneepads, short skirts and roller-skates. Soon, the women, who are mostly in their late 20s and early 30s, were whizzing around the rink at breakneck speeds. By day they are teachers, nurses, mothers and more. But at night they transform into the Los Angeles Derby Dolls, an all-female banked-track roller derby league.”
The Campus Chronicle (Savannah College of Art and Design):
“By day, Savannah College of Art and Design graduate students Zelana Davis and Noelle Wedig can be found studying, attending classes and exploring Savannah, like many of their peers. But by night, they transform themselves into larger-than-life characters who skate fast, play hard and sport major attitude as members of the roller derby team the Savannah Derby Devils.”
“The sport that once was billed as wrestling on wheels is making a comeback in cities across the U.S., giving teachers and attorneys and real estate agents the chance to adopt an alter ego and take out some of their frustrations from the 40-hours-and-then-some work week. ‘It’s kind of like being a rock star and superhero all at once,’ said Noel Christy, a third-grade teacher by day who transforms into ‘Violet Roshambo’ when she laces up the old-fashioned quad skates.”
“By day, she’s a network engineer for Broadwing Communications. By night, she’s Dinah-Mite, jammer, pivot and blocker for The Hustlers, one of four teams in the Texas Rollergirls roller derby league.”
“By day, Rodi Steindl is a lab technician at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences. But on Saturday nights, she is Violet Femme, a Carolina Rollergirl.”
“BY DAY, Jeannie Polson, 27, works for a web design company in Fitzroy. But as Betty BamALam she’s found herself a full-time passion — president of the Victorian Roller Derby League.”
“By day, Sydney Kalnay is a librarian-type at the Rocky River Library where she’s computer-bound all day as the library’s ‘webmaster’. In school, she admits she was a bit of a ‘rebel’. But now, as ‘Vix’ as in ‘Vixen’ Smackey, Sydney is captain of the ‘Rolling Pin-Ups: Homicidal 50’s Housewives on Roller Skates’.”
NPR:
“Across America, hundreds of women are leading double lives. By day, they are teachers, mothers, waitresses, even reporters. But by night, they are performance athletes participating in a revival of one of America’s most violent sports: roller derby.”
“By day, they are teachers, state workers, students and mothers. In their skates, fishnet stockings and short skirts, they become ‘Knuckleberry Finn,’ ‘Mercyful Kate’ and ‘Surly Sioux.’”
“The teams, with names such as the Hamilton Harlots and Gore-Gore Girls, consist of moms and managers, a bookkeeper, a realtor, waitresses, a musician. There is an astro-physicist by day. By night, they are mistresses of mayhem.”
C’mon journalism. I have faith in you. You can do it!
Posted in Derby in the Media | 12 Comments »
Posted by Justice Feelgood Marshall on 2nd November 2007
Check out this very nice segment from Sportsnet New York’s show Street Games, covering the most recent home bout for Gotham Girls (Bronx Gridlock vs. Brooklyn Bombshells, reported on here by yours truly.)
Also in bout video news: looks like rollersport.tv will be adding more amateur video of full-length bouts: you can already find 5 of the 8 Texas Shootout bouts there, and they just posted up the entirety of last weekend’s Jet City vs. Sacred City matchup (recapped on All Bout Derby by Elwood Bruise.)
Posted in Bout video, Derby in the Media, Gotham Girls Roller Derby, Interleague Bouts, Intraleague Bouts, Jet City Rollergirls, Sacred City Derby Girls | 1 Comment »
Posted by Justice Feelgood Marshall on 27th October 2007
The DC Rollergirls pulled off an impressive hat trick with their media coverage of their first championship bout — print media from the Washington Post, radio from NPR, and this quick hit from Reuters. It’s definitely not the most in-depth feature you’ll ever see, but it does manage to focus on the sport over the spectacle, and hey, it’s Reuters. It also seems to include a short clip of some referee running his mouth, but pay no attention to that part.
Posted in Bout video, Championship Bouts, DC Rollergirls, Derby in the Media, Intraleague Bouts | 1 Comment »
Posted by Justice Feelgood Marshall on 8th October 2007
It’s been a phenomenal couple of weeks for roller derby in the Big Media. This time it’s the Washington Post magazine, dedicating an in-depth cover story to the DC Rollergirls, with a focus on the currently undefeated Scare Force One. It’s a little dated, as it covers a period of time from the league inception up to their first bout in March, but it gets remarkably deep into the personalities of the team without sacrificing space for actual information about gameplay. It also provides a vital public service by warning DC residents that messing with SixFiveOnSkates will get you punched in the damn face. More articles like this, please.
(But for the love of all that is holy, journalists, can we PLEASE retire the “By day, they’re [occupation], [occupation] and [occupation], but by night they roll on fishnets, strap on skates and become [city] Rollergirls!” blurb? Seriously, if I read it one more time I will vomit and fall over, perhaps not in that order.)
Posted in DC Rollergirls, Derby in the Media | 5 Comments »