Tramps Climb 5280' For A Fight - 1 November

The Tucson Saddletramps hit the road this weekend for one final bout of the 2008 season.  They will head to Denver to challenge the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls 5280 Fight Club on 1 November.  It is my understanding that this is officially Sloppy Flo's final bout.  Not sure if any other Tramps have announced retirement yet.  I also believe that our own intrepid Downtown Dave will be joining them to announce.

While these two teams did not cross paths at the Western Regionals, their respective bouts show this to be a fairly even match-up.  The Rocky Mountain Rollergirls entered the Regionals as the #6 seed, and Tucson was the #7 seed.  Rocky Mountain went 1-2 defeating (#11) Houston, then losing to eventual champ (#3) Texas, and in a consolation bout to (#5) Rose City.   The Tramps were 1-3.  They beat the (#10) Dallas Derby Devils, then lost to (#2) Rat City, (#8) Pikes Peak, and the under-ranked (#12) Denver Roller Dolls.

Reading the tea leaves of these bouts reveal no standout difference.  Tucson took out Dallas by 60 points, while Rocky Mountain was 57 over Houston.  They both got shellacked by the top teams.  Then Tucson had a 28 point loss to Pikes Peak, and 34 points (in their fourth bout in three days) to Denver.  Rocky Mountain was handed a 69 point loss by Rose City, but Rose City was the higher seed.

My own observations is that that Tramps played well together at the Westerns.  They were one of the few defenses (along with Duke City) to prevent scoring in an opposing power jam.  The offense was hobbled (as with most teams) by Jammer penalty box action.  I expect adjustments will be made, and the Tramps have a good shot at ending the season with a second road win (after Dominion).   They'll have to control RMRG's Jammers Frida Beater, and She Who Cannot Be Named as they are likely to be the the core of their rotation.  It may come down to home court advantage.  Or it may come down to the Tramps showing their star may be lower in the West, but it ain't set yet!

Will follow up with score and info when available.  Will also post a some musings on East and West Regionals and preview the Nationals.  My derby jones is going crazy.  Time for the Bombshelters to head to Portland (OK, that's a little way's off, but I CAN'T WAIT).

GOOOOOOOOOOOO FLOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOO TRAMPS!!!

Don B.

WFTDA News Announcement

Check out this short post at the WFTDA rules website, 

http://rules.wftda.com/news

From The Penalty Box

A weekend without massive derby action.  An odd empty feeling, but I'm consoled as there's more to come, and I guess I should do my day job some time.  

After two weekends of roller derby action, THE story is the impact of rules changes in 3.1, or how they are being called.  Specifically with the changes for "Cutting The Track".  From my viewpoint, and the multitude of posters at DNN, that the amount of penalties seemed excessive.  Lots of good discussion going on at DNN.  I think it boils down to one of three areas:

-  Skaters need to adjust to the rules changes.  Learn how to come back in, and prevent the new tactic of blocker slowdown to hold the opposing player outside.

-  Referees need to adjust how they are calling the rules.  The interpretations are resulting in actions that do not effect play resulting in minors or even majors, and it can be addressed by referee changes.

-  The rules changes went to far and need to be changed again.

Each area has some truth to it, and I have no doubt the WFTDA will be working on this.  In the meantime, follow and participate in the discussions on the DNN boards.  While I don't know that it will affect what WFTDA does, it will provide them with a multitude of perspectives in a very difficult area.  

Next time, I'll do some Western v. Eastern comparisons

Don Bombshelter

Eastern Regionals - Day Three

After 40 bouts in two weekends, it is clear. Womens Flat Track Roller Derby is THE most exciting sport. So much fun. So much derby. Awesome stuff.

Day three had two consolation bouts where Cincinnati beat Grand Raggidy (who have become a new favorite), Cincy: 102, Grand Raggidy: 58. Then Boston took a squeaker over Madison, Boston: 90, Madison: 88. Boston lead for much of this bout, then Madison clawed back into it and regained the lead after the 13th jam of Period 2. Boston re-took the lead in the next jam and was ahead by 17 points with the clock winding down. The last jam would go past the period clock. Madison got Lead Jammer as Boston fell apart, sending thier Jammer AND two blockers to the Penalty Box. Power Jam for Madison to end the bout. Madison Jammer Wildberry Punch had several Grand Slam runs, but Boston Jammer Claire D. Way got back on the track and was able to score a few points at the end. When the jam ended, Wildberry had 18 points, but Claire had 3, resulting in the 2 point win.

Philly dominated Carolina in the third place bout. Philly held Carolina to only 24 points in both periods. The final was Philly 112, Carolina 48.

The Eastern Regional Championship between Gotham and Windy City was a penalty laden affair (a theme for many of the bouts this weekend as well as the Westerns). Gotham would have Lead Jammer the majority of the time and would continue to build a lead on Windy City. The Windy City team had trouble getting a head of steam going in what is normally an offensive powerhouse. Two Windy City players would be ejected in the first period (coming back in the second). I lost track of all the players ejected late in the second period. One was Fisti Cuffs from Gotham, who was mistakenly ejected, then corrected, then later ejected with (I believer) too many penalties. Tough match and WCR was held to less than 100 points. Have to look up when that last happened.

Gotham Girls Roller Derby are the Eastern Regional Champion, GGRD: 133, WCR 92.
Bonnie Thunders was announced the MVP.

The Northwest Knockdown website has posted the schedule/matchups for the Nationals.

Friday (11/14): Texas (W1) v. Carolina (E4)
Friday (11/14): Duke City (W4) v. Gotham (E1)
Saturday (11/15): Rat City (W3) v. Windy City (E2)
Saturday (11/15): B.ay A.rea D.erby (W2) v. Philly (E3)

After seeing all these teams play these last two weekends, this is going to be derby at the highest level. The Rat City v. Windy Citybout jumps out at me as a fascinating matchup.

Major kudos to the Mad Rollin' Dolls for executing the Eastern Regionals. Both Houston and Madison had a huge task pulling off 20 bouts in 3 days and both did a superb job.

Although my hangover today is a bit more severe than last week (closing the Orpheum is probably a major contributor.I haven't had a chance to wade through the enormous material from DNN. Everyone from DNN worked doggedly for days and they announcedseveral times the estimated number of folks following real time. Mad kudos to all the DNN folks. Don't forget you can donate to themto help with costs.

I'll work on a wrap up post for later this week. Time to head out for one last beer here in lovely Madison.

Don Bombshelter

Eastern Regionals - Day Two

Best bout of the weekend was last night with Gotham pulling off the win against Philly in the very last jam, GGRD 96, Philly 91. This sends Gotham to the Eastern Championship bout against Windy City, and Philly to the third place bout against Carolina. The Windy City v. Carolina bout was also exciting, but Windy City had it under control for most of the bout, WCR 106, CRG 66.

Obviously with these results, Philly and Windy City took care of business in the morning. Philly defeated Detroit, Philly 102, Detroit 92, and Windy City beat Charm City, WCR 137, Charm 76. The Windy City bout with Charm City also featured the highest scoring jams to date, first with Varla Vendetta going 19-0 in jam #8 of the first period, then Shocka Conduit going 24-0 in the 11th jam of the second period. Windy City has been a scoring machine in their two bouts today.

Last day. Two consolation bouts with Grand Raggidy (a new favorite for me) v. Cincinnati, and Boston v. Madison. Then the main events. Carolina v. Philly for the 3 & 4 seeds, and Windy City v. Gotham for the #2 and #1 seed, i.e. Eastern Regional Champions.

Follow it on the Derby News Network.

Eastern Regionals - Day One

Madison is kinda weird. They have something here called "cold". It's initially refreshing, but after some minimal exposure, I'm not sure I like it. We'll see how it goes.

The first day of Eastern Regionals is over. The Gotham Girls and Carolina are going to Nationals defeating Madison and Boston, respectively. Both of these bouts were highlights of the day. Here's the short summary:

1. Madison 143, Minnesota 67
2. Boston 131, Grand Raggidy 30
3. Detroit 124, Providence 70
4. Charm City 158, Cincinnati 83
5. Grand Raggidy 136, Providence 21 (Consolation)
6. Minnesota 58, Cincinnati 89 (Consolation)
7. Gotham 138, Madison 70
8. Carolina 77, Boston 75

So all the seedings have held, with one "upset" by Cincinnati over Minnesota in a consolation bout. The Gotham v. Madison match was very exciting, and Fisticuffs was used for multiple jams. The Carolina v. Boston game went right down to the end. Boston was ahead due to Carolina filling the penalty including Jammer and Boston capitilizing to go ahead CRG 64, Boston 70. Then Boston does the same thing, and CRG closes it to CRG 73, Boston 77. CRG Jammer Roxy grabs Lead Jammer then enters the pack gets 4 points and calls it before the game clock expires. Boston calls time out to ensure there is one last jam. It's not over (although it could have been). Roxy (CRG) gets Lead Jammer again, and this time the game clock has expired, and it's over. CRG wins a tough one against a solid Boston team.

So, the 7-12 seeds are gone from National contention. Tomorrow #6 Charm City is against #4 Philly, and #5 Detroit is against #3 Windy City. More tomorrow night (after party depending)

Don Bombshelter

Houston - What Happened: Wrap Up & On To The East

To wrap up discussing the Western Regionals, here are the stories not previously covered.

-  Record Efforts:  Two jammers scored record breaking jams during the weekend.  First Kamikaze Kim, of the Duke City Derby, had a 25-0 jam against the Pikes Peak Derby Dames in Friday mornings first bout.  This surpassed the previous tournament record of 19-0 by Snot Rocket of Kansas City.  Then Snot Rocket tied that effort in her final game before retiring.  This was in the bout against...Pikes Peak Derby Dames.  

Congratulations to Kamikaze Kim and Snot Rocket.

-  Upsets:  This was covered in best bouts but is still hard to believe.  The #9 seed Duke City Derby knocked the #1 seed Kansas City Roller Warriors out of National championship contention.  In a slightly less astounding result, but was probably the best bout of the weekend, the #3 Texas Rollergirls defeated the #3 Rat City Rollergirls paving their way to the Western Championship.

-  Major injuries:  Abhey Rogue of the Denver Roller Dolls suffered a broken collarbone in their first bout against Rose City.  I talked with Abhey that evening as I caught up to her and her boyfriend walking back to the Hilton.  Despite recommendations to take a cab back, Abhey was clear that a walk back suited her fine, and the thing that upset her most was not being able to play the rest of the weekend.  That's a Rollergirl.

DeRanged of the Pikes Peak Derby Dames suffered a major injury in the bout against the Kansas City Roller Warriors.  I don't know the extent.

Rapid healing wishes to all those with injuries, and that you're skating at 100% soonest.

-  Cutting The Track Penalties Have Major Effect

With the 3.1 rules, there are clarifications on penalties on cutting the track.  These changes clearly affected several, if not all, bouts to some extent.  Basically, the rules are to prevent a skater from gaining an advantage by re-entering the track in front of players that blocked them out.  This resulted in several cases where the blocker slowed down and forcing the re-entering player to slow to try to come in behind.  This resulted in a significant increase in penalties called and I believe every team had a period of time with a Jammer and 2 Blockers in the Box.  Whether is is something that the players just need more time to adjust, or whether some rules clarification is necessary will have to be decided by the WFTDA membership.  My initial impression is that it too easily results in Major calls due to errors that did not provide an advantage.  From my view, this affected Jammers a lot, leading to Jammerless Jams in almost (and maybe all) bouts.  I'll be curious to see if the same effect is had at the Eastern Regionals.

-  WFTDA Announced Region Changes

For the next season, WFTDA will be divide it's 61 member leagues into 4 regions.  They are the East, North Central, South Central, and West.  The new map is available at the WFTDA web site.  This will result in four regionals next year in September, and the Nationals will be in Philadelphia, PA, 6-8 November 2009

-  20 Bouts in 3 Days

Last item is the additional consolation bouts that resulted in every team playing at least 3 bouts and 4 teams playing 4 bouts.  This was done to prevent a one-and-done situation where a league goes to the expense of sending a team and they play only one bout.  Not cost effective, and maybe a bit demoralizing (after party consolation notwithstanding).  Houston Roller Derby showed it can be done, and resulted in a glorious amount of roller derby action.  While intense, I think it was an astounding success.  One thing to keep an eye on is whether is there is an increase in injuries for teams with that 4th bout.  While logistically challenging, you really get value on your derby dollar.

That's it for Western Regional stuff.  Every year the level of play gets better and more teams are playing at that level.  Can't wait to see who comes out of the East.  Here are the Eastern Seeds, and remember the top four teams have a bye:

1.  Gotham Girls

2.  Carolina

3. Windy City

4. Philly

5. Detroit

6. Charm City

7. Boston

8. Madison (Hosts)

9. Minnesota

10. Grand Raggidy

11. Cincinnati

12. Providence.

Hope to blog from Madison.  WiFi willing.  

Don Bombshelter

Houston - What Happened: Best Bouts

Time for the post game show. What happened in bite sized chunks. As there is so much to cover, I'll break it up into several posts this week. The first is what I think is the biggest story, then the best bouts.

There are several stories for the Western Regionals, but I think the most impressive is that the Houston Roller Derby folks pulled off 20 bouts in three days with minor scheduling issues, no major problems, a week after thier season championship and two weeks after a hurricane hit and left much of the town without power. WOW!!! Hats freakin' off to the HRD crew, the Derby Brothers and everyone associated with this years Western Regionals. Roller derby may be DIY, but it continues to be one of the most coordinated organizations around. OK. Gushing over.

The best bouts were the Duke City Derby (9w) upset of the Kansas City Roller Warriors (1w), only surpassed by another nail-biter between the Rat City Roller Girls and the Texas Roller Girls with Texas finally getting the win.

Kansas City was caught by a disciplined skilled group of the scrappiest skaters you'll ever meet. Duke City jumped out to an early lead with it DCD 27, KCRW 5 after Jam #5 due to Kansas consistently filling the Penalty Box, and Duke taking advantage. KCRW seemed to struggle with contact outside the engagement zone (20' from the pack) on a regular basis. Duke City did an amazing defensive job of holding up the KCRW jammer lap after lap, even when their own jammer was in the Box. At the end of Period #1, it was DCD 62, KCRW 59. In the second period, KCRW would take the lead for the first time in the 3rd jam of the period, DCD 67, KCRW 72. Duke City fought back including some incredible jamming by Muffin and Kamikaze Kim. Duke regained the lead in the 6th jam, DCD 90, KCRW 77. The Kansas team closed it to 6 points by Jam #11, including a 10-2 jam by thier new star, Hall Balls over Muffin. The crowd was clearly waiting to see if DCD could hold on, or whether KCRW had finally sorted it out. This was answered in Jam #12 of P2 with a 14-0 jam by Muffin over Jade Lightning. Duke would not look back and at the end it was DCD 132, KCRW 117. Duke City Derby had earned thier place at the Nationals by upsetting the #1 seed Kansas City Roller Warriors.

As amazing as Duke's win was, a Texas Rollergirls v. Rat City Rollergirls bout always promises to be crazy. Thier match at the Western Regionals delivered. These teams have a rivalry as Rat City defeated Texas at the Dust Devil 2007 Western Regional, knocking them to the 3rd seed for Nationals. Then they met again at Nationals, where Rat City won again eliminating Texas from contention for the championship. Both teams were primed to continue this rivalry. With both winning thier first bout, Rat City beating Tucson, and Texas beating Rocky Mountain, they were bouting again for a chance at the Western Championship 2008. The bout started with each team sizing each other up. No significant jams until Miss Fortune (RCRG) had a 12-0 jam over Olivia Shootin' John (TXRG) in Jam #5, making it TXRG 5, RCRG 21. Texas would roar back and tie it with Rice Rocket goint 14-0 over Valtron 3000 in Jam #7, TXRG 21, RCRG 21. The hits were brutal and the points scarce or in short bursts due to foul advantage. At the end of the first period, it's TXRG 47, RCRG 59. Rat City continued to use thier deep jammer rotation of 8 jammers against TXRG primary rotation of Bloody Mary and Rice Rocket with assists from 4 other jammers. Rat City continued to build a lead in the second period. At one point, RCRG player Juliet Bravo was ejected for too many fouls. The constant foul trouble for skaters is another story from the Regionals I'll cover in a later post.

After 10 jams in Period #2, the Rat City gals had build a 16 point lead over Texas, TXRG 66, RCRG 82. With the difficulty in scoring, this seemed a huge lead. Morphine got the turnaround going in Jam #11 of P2, with a 10-0 jam over Ann R Kissed. Then Lucille Brawl went 5-3 against Femme Fatale. In Jam #13, Bloody Mary goes 4-0 against Miss Fortune, and it's tied, TXRG 85, RCRG 85. The momentum had shifted and the TXRG was handling the penalty situation a bit better than RCRG. After the 16th jam of P2, TXRG was holding onto a 3 point lead, TXRG 93-90. The teams stalemate in Jam #17, 4-4, and then TXRG holds RCRG scoreless in the last two jams while Bloody Mary and Rice Rocket combine for 11 more. Texas holds on and finally beats the Rat City Rollergirls, TXRG 108, RCRG 94. Bedlam ensues.

The boutcasts for these matches are archived at the Derby News Network website. Check'm out to follow every moment.

More to come,

Don Bombshelter

The West Is Set

20 bouts in three days behind, some beer ahead. Blurry eyed flight tomorrow.

The West seeding for the Nationals are set. They are:

1. Texas Roller Girls
2. B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls
3. Rat City Roller Girls
4. Duke City Derby

Tucson bouted the Denver Roller Dolls, and lost in a valiant struggle. Denver 125, TRD 91. Kay Boom, Carrie Gunns, and Sunni Sideup were not able to play due to injuries from the previous bouts. Flo scored a 10-0 jam in her next to last jam, but was scoreless in her final jam of the tournament. Deadlock Doe was ejected for too many fouls at the end of both periods. This happened despite the sartorial elegance she had applied to her uniform, which should have demanded that she stay on the track. Apparently the refs are not swayed by fashion.

That's it for now.
Don Bombshelter

Tramps Update

Mixed story for Tucson so far. The Tramps(7w) started strong with a
dominating win against the Dallas Derby Devils (10w), TRD 112, DDD
52. This put them against the Rat City(2w)powerhouse. The
stiffling Rat City defense would be the Tramps demise. The Tramps
were down TRD 22, RCRG 113 at the half. The gap would prove
insurmountable. However, Tucson did "win" the second half as they
fought back with 61 points to RCRG's 57. This was all on Friday.

The Tramps then had a consolation bout on Saturday against the Pikes
Peak Derby Dames would had lost to Duke City in Day One. The Tramps
would fall in this one, TRD 79, PPDD 107.

One more bout for the Tramps today (Sunday) against a very solid
Denver Roller Dolls team.

The teams heading to the Nationals will be Duke City (who had an
amazing upset of #1 seed Kansas City), the B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls,
the Rat City Rollergirls, and the Texas Rollergirls. The last two
bouts resulted in the Duke City and Rat City playing for the 3 & 4
seed, and the Western championship will be between Texas and the BAD
girls.

Yep that's right, Texas has finally beaten Rat City in a stunning
game that rocked the house as it went right to the end. The level of
play at the Regionals is phenomenal.
More to come. I don't have the internet access I hoped for so posts
will be sporadic. All the excitement is at DNN real time.

Don Bombshelter

Four For Portland

Escaped work and am now waiting to head out to Houston. The Western Regionals is very exciting. Of course, I have high hopes for the Tramps. But will the B.A.D. Girls continue to show why they rose so quickly in the rankings this year. Will Texas finally take down thier nemesis, the Rat City Roller Girls. Will Rose City score an upset and make it into the tournament that they are hosting.

I have to admit. I have been dreaming roller derby bouts the last two nights and I can't wait for the reality. 12 teams enter and 4 will head to Portland in November. Love the tournament season.

With the growth of the WFTDA, it may not be much longer before they have to expand into more Regionals. That's why I really wanted to catch it all this year. It may not be feasible for self-funded fans/bloggers/reporters to catch it all next year.

More to come.
Don B.

The Initial Test Post