Sunday, September 20, 2015

9/19 Derby Double Header – Rip Tide

Women’s flat track roller derby returned to Morristown last night in a double header with inland teams taking on two shore based teams:

The Jerzey Derby Brigade Corporal Punishers vs. the Jersey Shore Roller Girls Beat Down
            and
Garden State Roller Girls Brick City Bruisers vs. Shore Points Roller Derby Boardwalk Brawlers

The first bout was exciting from start to finish. Time and again, the Punishers built a substantial lead only to see it vanish. For the Punishers #22 Apocelyse put the first points on the board in the second jam. #3684 CaliforniKate built the lead. Both jammed extraordinarily well and successfully for the rest of the bout. But a power jam by #356 sevral minutes into the game Novapain put the Beat Down into a 1-point lead.  The Punishers in turn recovered the lead and built up a 20-point advantage only to see #355 Soco eliminate all but 3 points of that lead in a power jam. This pattern continued for the rest of the game. At the start of the very last jam the score stood at 161-141 in favor of Punishers. The whistle blew with a nail-bitingly close win for the Punishers 165-158. Blocking by both teams was aggressive and well organized, with special mention to Beast Witherspoon and Purple Krush.

The second bout was also good hard fought derby, but the power edge of the Brick City Bruisers appeared quickly and persisted throughout the bout. Most often, the difference between two experienced teams shows up in defensive blocking, but the Bruisers and the Brawlers were pretty well matched in this regard. In this case the Bruisers’ advantage came from a depth of skilled and effective jammers including #110 Tess T Rossa (who scored 34 points in a single jam early in the bout), #9999 Tifa Knoxhard, and the very fast #992 Anita Chainsaw: all of them adept at powering through defensive lines and weaving through holes in them. The Brawlers jammers had their moments too, notably #66 Sleyre, #511 Eiffel Terror, and #1979 Kid Vicious. Yet despite good blocking strategy and execution by both sides (special mention to Clara Form and Sweet Action Sally), the Garden State Roller Girls Brick City Bruisers built an early commanding lead and expanded it throughout the bout. Final score was 378-106 in favor of the Bruisers.



Promise Ring: Jersey Shore 



4 comments:

  1. Well, you had a pretty exciting weekend. I cleaned house some, and later went to an art gallery opening. One a little dull, while the other stimulating. Later I watched a Dr. Who Pertwee ep. of The Green Death. All in all, I enjoy my weekends.

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    1. That sounds a bit more intellectual than my weekend (including Dr Who), but I'd still probably pick derby. Actually, after faltering for a couple decades, derby got its second wind in Texas thanks to the women's leagues started there in 2000; its popularity re-blossomed from there. If you haven't seen it, I recommend the flick Whip It set in Austin.

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  2. I do remember late night derby on TV. Golly that had to be in the late 80's. But I have not seen a televised derby on TV in a long time. Perhaps if you had one of those cable sports networks you might could catch one. I'd often wondered if it was still a going thing in certain areas of Texas. Dallas or Houston may have a team, I just don't know. I remember you reviewing Whip It, sounded interesting.

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    1. You're in Tyler? It looks like your local team is the East Texas Bombers

      Next bout: October 24: East Texas Bombers vs River Valley Rollergirls
      at the Nacogdoches County Exposition & Civic Center

      http://www.easttexasbombers.com/about-etxb/

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