SxSW-Style Texas Rollergirls Bout on 3/18/06

Announcing a special bout at the Austin Music Hall on March 18th (doors @ 1:30pm) -- which just so happens to be the same weekend as the South by Southwest Music Festival (SXSW)!

Not only will you see some bad ass skating from your beloved Texas Rollergirls... we're throwing two other Flat Track Derby leagues from the Dallas/Fort Worth area into the mix. The Hustlers and Hell Marys will go helmet-to-helmet, then Assassination City Derby and Dallas Derby Devils will battle it out. The winners of each bout will then challenge each other for the Deep In The Heart of Derby crown. Look out, 'cause the Texas Rollergirls are gunnin' to have some fun with fresh blood!

And because you can never have enough Flat Track Derby dolls under one roof, three other Flat Track Derby leagues from around Texas will also be representin'. Yeehaw and Hell, yeah!

Because we're the numero uno Rock-n-Rollergirls, we have some great musical entertainment for you, too! Joining us are The Spits from Seattle and... The Motels! with the ever-so-lovely Martha Davis at the helm. Only the lonely or even the not-so-lonely might remember the Motels! And we have a super secret musical entertainment surprise for you while you're waitin' in line outside! Get yer tickets right here, right now!

What: Texas Rollergirls "Deep In The Heart of Derby" Bout!
Where: The Austin Music Hall
When: Saturday, March 18th - doors at 1:30 p.m.
Who: Texas Rollergirls, Assassination City Derby, Dallas Derby Devils
Music: The Spits & The Motels
Tickets: $10 in advance ($12 at the door) at Cheapo Discs, Beerland, Playland Skate Center, and online right here!

Our spotlight charities for Deep In The Heart of Derby are Anthropos Arts and the Austin Music Foundation.

Texas Rollergirls WIN Dust Devil 2006

The first-ever Flat Track Tournament is OVER and the Texecutioners WON the Dust Devil 2006 National Championship, February 24-26, 2006, in Tucson. Three days and nights of Flat Track competition among 20 leagues from across the nation.

This officially makes the Texas Rollergirls THE National Flat-Track Roller Derby Champs in the USA. Congrats to all the girls! I know they worked hard for it!

2/12/06 Bout Review: Lonestar, here I come!

This bout was totally different than the 1/29/06 bout with the Putas/Holy Rollers for several reasons:
1. There was a hell of an Austin Fire Dept (AFD) presence there.
2. It wasn't as packed, crowd wise, even though both bouts sold out.
3. The game was REALLY close. No 40 point blow out. It came down to the last few jams to determine a winner.
4. I drank many more beers this time. (Hell, I wasn't driving so I got down with the Lonestar.)

We arrived around 5:20, thinking we'd get a good spot in the front of the line. Wrong. The line was already starting to wrap around the parking lot, but we managed to get in line before it got out of hand.

The only problem with the line is the cutters. We had a group of 4 people ahead of us in line, but by the time the doors opened, their group had grown to about 10-15 people who conveniently jumped ahead of a long line of people behind them. I heard a few complaints around me.

Even in the parking lot, you could feel the AFD presence. They brought in a firetruck, which I didn't remember being there last bout.

The ticket lines were much better marked with added signs this time. Kudos. Of course, it's like what happens to me at the grocery store. Last bout, I was Will Call tickets, which was the monster line. This time, I was Have Tickets, which was of course the longest line. (I swear I can't win for losin'.)

By the time we made it in, most of the good seats were taken. There were some seats left high up in the stands, but none of them were good for taking pictures with a disposable camera. I noticed that a lot of the prime seats were all reserved for rollergirls friends/family, and rightly so.

BTW, I happened to run into Lux at this point, when we were looking at the seating situation. She was chatting with friends so I didn't bother her. But Frankie, her DJ boyfriend, came up & talked to her as we were leaving the area. (They looked like they are still an item....good for them.)

We found some seats on the standing platforms west of the track. (We were literally directly opposite the announcers station.) We grabbed some beers & chilled for a while. I noticed that they had added a traffic path in the western part of the track. Last bout, there were so many people standing in the west part that it was pretty crowded to walk thru from one side of the venue to the other. But they fixed that, clearly marking the standing area & defining a clear walk path with roped barriers. Again, kudos.

One thing I noticed is that it wasn't as crowded as before. The crowd streamed in steadily, but it wasn't as packed, even though they had announced to people buying tickets that they were sold out pretty quickly after doors opened. If memory serves, I believe they announced that around 200 tickets were available, however there is no way that 200 people went through the ticket purchase line before it was shut down. I suspect AFD had something to do with that.

Another thing, there weren't any raffle give-aways this bout. Last time, they raffled off a steady stream of things by the last few digits on your ticket. I don't remember them doing it at all cause I was ready this time, since I had my ticket in hand.

The bout started pretty much on time, so everything seemed kosher. However, as per the TXRD message boards, supposedly the bout almost didn't take place since AFD threatened to shut it down. Don't know if that's true or not, but it seems on the up & up since AFD has the Thunderdome currently shut-down for the 2/26/06 bout. (More on that later.)

Skater intros took place rather quickly, then the bout started. The Hellcats took the early lead in the 1st jam, 1-4 Hellcats, which pretty much set the pace for the 1st half. At one point, they were tied 8-8, but a few spins of the wheel had a rollergirl from each team fighting for crowd approval. I believe one was a pillow fight, which got pretty ugly. Hellcats, hands down, won that one. Cowgirls lost a point. The other spin, which saw 1 girl from each team take a lap with the other girl trying to stop her, went by audience to the Hellcats, losing another Cowgirl point.

Both teams were strong, but the Hellcats managed to hold an average 3 point lead over the Cowgirls during most of the 1st half. Unfortunately, my memory sucks. At the time, I was reciting jams & scores in my head, telling hubby to help me remember the particulars. But I also admitted that I'd never be able to remember all this, & hubby's advice was to bring a notebook & pen next time. It looks like I'll probably have to cause it's now 4 days later & my recall is totally gone. I know, I know... I suck.

I have to admit though, not all of it is entirely my fault. The Hellcat uniforms are designed with a large back patch in the middle with the name & number of the player in smallish black lettering around the patch all on hot pink fabric. So it was almost impossible to tell who was who. (I even asked people around me as well as my hubby, who has perfect vision, & no one could help.) Also, there seems to be a lack of speakers for the sound system around the west part of the track. From the south end of the track, I could hear fine while I was walking around. But from our seats, it sounded like...
"Blah-blah-blah-blah, Hellllllcaaaaaats! Blah-blah-blah-blah, Rhinestone Cowwww-blahs."

The crowd is pretty loud, so it muffled a lot of the sound. (Also the girl spinning the wheel is barely audible.) Usually, I had to watch the scoreboard closely to tell what was going on.

During the 1st quarter, hubby Jordon got pics with Chola & the Hellcats mascot. Somehow, that ignited a fire under his ass & suddenly, he was the roving reporter. lol. He had a lot of fun doing it & seems to be getting into my whole blog project.

When half-time started, I began walking around. I ran into Lux again at the restrooms. She was talking to a little girl in front of me, who was all decked out in Cowgirls colors. I managed to shake Lux's hand & chat her up for a minute. She was very nice. I caught the band, which rocked. I ended up behind General Lee Fiesty walking through the crowd. I tapped her on the shoulder & wished her luck, saying they were doing an awesome job.

Then around this time, I ended up spotting Miss Conduct in front of me. She was working, seeming to be checking that trash cans weren't full & beer stations were okay. Ms Thang is tiny but quick. I had to mall walk to catch up to her. It was funny cause I zipped right by my seated hubby fast & waved as I tried to catch up to Miss Conduct. He just laughed at me. She was so sweet & totally down for a photo with me. As I mentioned in my last post, a guy came up wanting a photo & she happily chirped, "Girls first!" Then she literally hugged me by the neck all gung-ho style & posed. She was pretty awesome.

As half-time wore on, I happened to catch sight of an AFD guy hanging out watching the crowd. (Pay attention here cause nobody has this info.) Now my hubby was a volunteer firefighter back in the day, so I've always been supportive of firefighters. (It takes a special type of person to throw him/herself into the life & death situations these people face.)

So I go over to talk to Joe, as it turns out. I told him about the blog & asked him if I could ask him a few questions. He was very nice & agreed. Actually, he mentioned that most people wouldn't really talk to him or they'd leave the area that he'd enter, so he was happy to chat with someone who would give him the time of day. (I told him that most people probably took 1 look at the badge & scattered. He laughed & agreed that was probably true.)

So here is the informal AFD guy interview I did (everything is paraphrased):

1. There's a noticably stronger presence of AFD here, much stronger than the last bout. What's the reason for it?
~ He said they're at all the bouts, but since it's a new venue, a lot of the wrinkles are still being ironed out. They are there to make sure everything is in compliance & the safety of the crowd is maintained.

2. I asked if there had been any problems thus far. Had TXRD's management been in compliance? Were there any problems with fire codes?
~ He said no, the Lonestar Rollergirls organization has been working very well with them. There have been no problems with management. The requests that have been made by AFD have been met and/or exceeded by TXRD.

3. What is maximum capacity for the venue?
~ They don't know yet. That is one of the things they are still working out.

That was pretty much all that I asked him. He did mention that a lot of the AFD guys were pretty big fans. Many of them had been at the old Thunderdome on duty & had become fans of the sport. He also mentioned how much he liked the new venue, stating that the old venue was horribly uncomfortable in the summer since it had no A/C.

He was a really cool guy. When I mentioned that my hubby was VFD years ago, he walked over & shook his hand. They chatted a little about fire stuff. He made sure to ask me what I thought of the crowd & venue. I told him I thought TXRD was doing a great job & that every time I come I noticed changes & improvements. I did mention that the size of the crowd seems to vary from one match to the next, which was why I asked what capacity officially was. He could only shrug his shoulders & say that they are still trying to figure out how many people the venue can accomodate safely. After shaking hands, we parted ways.

At the time, I didn't realize how important the conversation was. Currently, the 2/26/06 bout has been, for lack of a better term, "shut down" until further notice. As per the TXRD message boards, the problem is not with the TXRD organization itself not being in compliance, but with the building owner.

This whole thing is just very curious because the AFD guy I spoke with had nothing but good things to say about the Lonestar Rollergirls & the TXRD management, even mentioning that TXRD was always cooperative & had met any change AFD had asked of them. From what I had gotten out of the conversation, AFD in general seemed pretty supportive of Austin Roller Derby. So I think the problem is that the building owner is just not up to code or something to host the amount of crowds the Lonestar Rollergirls draw. You have to remember that prior to TXRD relocation to this particular venue, the biggest event to happen there on a regular basis is a flea market. But I'll keep a watch out on this & report if I find out anything. (TXRD states the 2/26/06 bout will be rescheduled if need be.)

Before half-time was thru, we took pics with Redd Foxxie, who was very nice. I also got a photo with Bones, the newest Puta. We met a lot of people around us, all of whom were really nice.

The 2nd half of the bout was pretty intense. I have to admit that I didn't pay as much attention the 2nd half. I got distracted cause I was a little tipsy by this point & chatting with people around me. The 2nd half flew by & suddenly, it was over. In the end, the Hellcats weren't able to hold off the Rhinestone Cowgirls. The final score was 65-57 Cowgirls.

We really had a great time at this bout. I hope that everything gets worked out so the next bouts can go on as scheduled. But with the TXRD bout on 2/26/06 on hold, it looks like the next Austin Roller Derby taking place will probably be the Texas Rollergirls season opener on 3/5/06. I'll definitely be there.

2/12/06 Bout Pics: "It's Pose-tastic!!!"

Don't fuck with Miss Conduct. She will put you in a head lock...& that's just when she's being NICE. [grin]

So if you remember, the last bout was laced with several missed photo opportunities & really bad track action shots. Well, I was able to make up for that in this week's bout...somewhat. I got several posed pics with various people, however the track action pics were even WORSE this week, which is really frustrating. I friggin' hate cardboard cameras, but they are the only thing TXRD is currently letting in the venue, so what can I do.

But I'm just thankful they're letting in cameras in some form or another. I mean, shit like this is just too precious to miss out on...

The Hellcats & Rhinestone Cowgirls had a really close game. The whole thing was a much different experience from the Puta/Rollers bout 2 weeks ago. I'll do a full Bout Review about it very soon because I have a lot of stuff to dish about. So for now, just enjoy the pics.

This was the very 1st posed shot of the evening. We saw Chola several times cause she constantly floated from one busy errand to the next. I happened to catch site of her during the 1st half. She was standing, literally, on the t-shirt booth watching the game very intently. (So if you are wondering about the odd camera angle, that's why.) I point her out to my hubby, who immediately runs over to ask for a pic. She was cool about it, quickly posing & busting out a Puta sign.

The guy being sandwiched by these two Hellcats is my hubby, Jordon. By this time, J was running around like a crazy person with my $10 camera. (He had the fever!) The Hellcat mascots were very cool & very in character. I think J said some growling was involved, but he's a nut too so he just flowed with it, as you can tell.

The White Ghost Shivers were awesome. At one point, Lux was out there dancing along with a crowd of people. Check out their website for some videos. If you like old style ragtime, hillbilly-rockabilly, then they are probably right up your alley.

During half-time, I was walking back to my seat after checking out the Shivers for a little while. Then I realize that I'm walking like 10 feet behind Miss Conduct. And for a little petite thing, she fucking books it. I finally caught up to her & asked for a pic. She was like, "Of course, sure!!!" So while I'm pushing the button for the flash to come on, some guy comes up & wants her pic too. She says, (I love her for this), "Girls First!!!" I thrust my cam at the guy while Miss C grabs me by the neck & we thrust our devil horns out there like, "FUCK, YEAH...grrrrr!" It was so fun! She's a freakin' HOOT! Totally loved her. And in my excitement, I totally grabbed my camera from said guy & ran off, not even bothering to return the favor. I'm such a bitch....lol. (Plus by this time, Jordon was starting to gloat that he was getting much better pics than I was. So I had to sprint back & thumb my nose at him.....yeah, so I'm competitive.) :oÞ

I saw Redd Foxxie close to where we were sitting, so I dragged my hubby over with me & asked for a pic. Her boyfriend, I think, was the one who actually took the picture. They were both really cool about it & very friendly. Her bf actually took two pics, thank goodness, because I looked like I'd been smoking a little Sister Mary Jane in the first pic. And just because I do have a sense of humor about myself, I'll share my cheesetastic moment with you good people, (you could probably use the laugh anyway). Click if you dare...


My last posed pic of the evening is with Bones, one of the newest Putas. Apparently, I have a knack for ending up about 5 paces behind a random rollergirl out of nowhere. It happened with Miss Conduct, General Lee Fiesty, Honey Homicide, Lux, and Bones. I just happened to have camera on hand when I ended up behind Bones. I asked for a pic & she was very cool to do so. I attempted a hasty pic myself, which resulted in a nice shot of Bones. I, on the other hand, look like I got beat up. The flash is doing some crazy things with my face...I think my finger got in the way or something. Anyway, I also congratulated her on the big win against the Holy Rollers 2 weeks before.

Action Shots

I'm not sure what 1/2 of this stuff is. Jordon was my "man on the scene". (I think he was having fun playing reporter.) So he took most of these. I had to do a lot of photo fixing just to make them "viewable". (You should have seen them before I "fixed" them.) But here they are...see if you can make sense of them. These are in order taken, starting with Skater Intros.

1st Half:







2nd Half:





And finally.....just because we're total dorks...here are our before & after photos.

Before Lonestar:

After Lonestar:

Cowgirls Win...65 to 57 over the Hellcats

Or something like that. I admit it...I'm a bit drunk on Lonestar Tallgirls at the moment. The Hellcats dominated the 1st half, then the Rhinestone Cowgirls took over the 2nd half.

Pics to come....hubby was roving reporter. He got some front line pics as well as a cool Chola pic. (I'm a big fan so hubby was all about pleasing....bless him.) However, I trumped him with my Ms. Conduct pic. And we got some other really cool personal pics.

Must...post....soon....

Dust Devil 2006 - 1st National Flat Track Tournament

This is your 2 week warning, guys! If you are in the Arizona area, or can afford to be, then you simply MUST check this out:

What: Dust Devil 2006 National Championship
When: February 24-26, 2006
Where: Tucson, Arizona

Three days and nights of Flat Track competition among nearly 30 leagues from across the nation. On February 26, the last day of the tournament, 1 league will drag its bloody, beaten, bruised, broken self around the track to claim their crown as the first champions of Flat Track Derby.

(Meet the Team that will represent the Texas Rollergirls at Dust Devil 2006.)

Leagues participating in Dust Devil 2006:

Arizona Roller Derby
Assassination City Derby
Atlanta Rollergirls
B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls
Carolina Roller Derby
Dallas Derby Devils
Duke City Derby
Gotham Girls Roller Derby
Houston Roller Derby
Kansas City Roller Warriors
Mad Rollin' Dolls
Minnesota Rollergirls
Providence Roller Derby
Rat City Rollergirls
Rocky Mountain Rollergirls
Rose City Rollers
Sin City Rollergirls
Texas Rollergirls
Windy City Rollers
and, of course, Tucson Roller Derby!

1/29/06 Bout Review: Oh SMJ, Where Art Thou?

The Putas Del Fuego vs Holy Rollers bout on Sunday was awesome. I left the Thunderdome with 2 certainties...
1. The Putas really have their shit together & are a definite threat for the Cavello Cup this year.
2. The Holy Rollers are going through a "rebuilding year".

First, I have to say, that I'm a big fan of all the roller derby teams & leagues here in Austin. I think these girls are great & I love what they are doing. I am a bit partial to the Putas, but I was also rooting on the Rollers. They're sort of the team everyone loves to hate, & I like them for just that reason. And even though they might be crowd underdogs, the Rollers can usually prove their shit out on the track.

However, the Rollers were, (for lack of a better term), handicapped since some of their key players weren't skating. Sister Mary Jane (SMJ) has moved off to Hawaii. (Jailbait has also moved off to Colorado to persue her Masters Degree.) And crowd favorites Ms.Conduct & Punky Bruiser, both present to root their team on from the pits, are currently both benched due to injuries. (Both girls had a knee wrapped/braced.) It was obvious that some alternates & new Rollers had been thrown into the mix. And I'm not sure what the problem was, (the missing skaters, the new & alternate skaters, team chemistry, not enough practices as shown in the A&E show, or what), but the former championship & hard-to-beat team was just not on par with the Putas on this night. ALL of the Rollers put a lot of blood, sweat & tears into the bout, yet it just wasn't enough to hold off the Putas.

But let me start from the beginning....

I bought my tickets the Thursday before the bout. Big Mistake! Here is a big tip for all that are thinking of attending a Lonestar Rollergirl match:

~ Buy tickets WELL in advance!!!!! ~

Doors open at 6pm. At about 6:10, at least 50 people started leaving the well formed line because door tickets were almost sold out. I had "Well Call" tickets, meaning I had bought my tickets online & was picking them up at the door because there wasn't enough time to mail them to me. Unfortunately, most people had Well Call tickets.

Basically, there are 3 lines: Door tickets, Well Call, & Ticket-in-Hand. The ticket-in-hand people just flew through the line. Door ticket people just had to stand there, desperately hoping that they could score a ticket. Well Call people, like myself, had a hell of a wait in line. Even though I arrived before doors were open, we stood in line for a good hour before finally getting into the venue. And let me also mention that these aren't well formed lines. It's sort of like cattle all forming into a building with everyone wondering if they are in the right line until they get about 25 feet from the actual entrance.

This is a known problem of which the Lonestar organization is well aware. After the 1st bout on 1/15/06, an email was sent out saying they are trying to better organize the entrance. It was just kind of insane though & I'm positve more can be done to help things...more signs, roped off lines, something. However, I learned my lesson...buy in advance & have ticket in hand.

So by the time I got into the Thunderdome, every seat in the stands was taken. It was standing room only, and standing room sucked. There were a few rows of platforms for people to stand on, but there were a lot of people at floor level who couldn't see shit. Myself included. I'm all of 5'4", & I was behind about 4 guys who were much taller than me.

But I was a trooper. I didn't bitch. I said fuck it, grabbed a Lonestar beer, (another long line), & found a decent place to stand.....considering.

Oh yeah....I forgot to mention that I met Catalac, who was working the Will Call line. Funny how small a world it is. I happen to know Catalac's man Alf. Not very well, mind you. My hubby knows him better than I do. But we all went to the same high school about 2 hrs from Austin & are friends with a lot of the same people, so we're well acquainted. (He used to throw a mean annual Halloween party back in the day...that's all I'm saying.) Anyhoo, while I was waiting for my hubby & brother to get ID-ed & wrist bands, I chatted up Catalac. I mentioned that I knew Alf, asking if they were married now. (I won't talk about any personal lives & shit cause that's not my blog goal here. If I were a total bitch, I could, but that's just not me. I'm more of a mini-bitch, not full-fledged.) She was nice, but since she was working the door, I didn't want to ask her to pose for a picture with me. I had a full roll of film at that point, but I blew it off, figuring I'd have plenty of photo ops. This was before I got inside & realized there was ZERO seating. Looking back, I should have been rude & asked. She was nice enough to probably be a good sport about it. (And it would have been an awesome addition to the blog.) But oh well.

The last thing I'll say about the crowd & seating situation is just because fire code says you can pack so many people inside, doesn't mean you should. They need to expand the new digs. There, I said it.

After raffle give-aways, (ANOTHER good reason to have ticket-in-hand...they only raffle prizes away by the last 3 numbers on your ticket, which is no good to people who have online order #s), sk8er introductions ensued. The Putas took the track first, followed by the Rollers.

It was about this time that I developed my "Master Half-Time Plan". I figured that I'd pretty much blow the 1st half off, since I couldn't see shit or take a decent picture anyhow. (Besides, things usually get crazy in the 2nd half.) I could go & grab some more beer, hit the smoking section or bathrooms, & just walk around & mingle the 1st half, returning to my place next to my hubby before the end of the 2nd quarter. Then, as people standing in front of me left their spots to hit the bathrooms, get beer or food, or check out the half-time band, I could work my way up to the front. And it actually worked! Muahahaha! I ended up in the front just behind some guy who was slightly shorter than me. (Thank goodness I wore my chunky heeled shoes so I was taller!)

So I checked out the 1st quarter, then spent most of the 2nd quarter doing my own thing. My only mistake was leaving my camera with my hubby....in case something happened on the track while I wondered off. Big mistake...HUGE! While I was gone, Jenacide got injured RIGHT IN FRONT OF WHERE WE WERE STANDING. I have no idea what happened or how it happened. All I know is that she was treated by paramedics & helped off the track, not to be seen for the rest of the bout. And of course hubby got *NO* pics of this entire scene that was happening right in front of him.

Hubby thought Jenacide either severly sprained or broke her ankle. A check at the Lonestar Rollergirls Message Board last night confirmed that Jena fractured her leg. Much love to Jenacide. I hope she gets better soon.

Meanwhile, as all this was going on, I'm smoking a ciggie & hitting the Ladies (bathroom that is). BTW, on my way out to the smoking section, I saw Chola's Dad. He walked by so fast that it took me a minute to place him. Now, if you're counting, this is my 2nd lost photo op. I have GOT to get better at this. I'm usually a bit shy around people I don't know. I need to learn to just ask for a pic. The worse they can say is No. Big deal. But it would be awesome to have these pics I missed out on to share in my blog. Agggghhhhh.

So then I hit the beer line, where I was standing behind, none other than, CLOWNSNACK! She was waiting in line, with the rest of us slobs, for her beer. Some guy chats her up, & me, being the nosey bitch that I am, overhear him calling her Clownsnack. Guy leaves, she turns my way, so I start talking to her.

1st, Clownsnack was *really* fucking nice. She was totally cool with me, (especially since it was completely friggin obvious I was eavesdropping) & she immediately asked my name & shook my hand. She asked me some random questions, such as if I was going to the Valentine's bout (in which she'll be skating). I am. She also asked if I had been to their new venue before. (FYI, the Thunderdome moved from central Austin to the Crocket Center, which is more North & thus more convenient to me. Wahoo!) I hadn't. So she goes on to explain how much more she digs the new place. She also mentions that they're talking about making the venue "bigger" by pushing back the wall.

If you don't know, the Crocket Center is a big warehouse type building, which they currently have cut in half by a wall in order to hold 2 functions at once. (On Sunday, the other half the center had a flea market going on.) I suspect the Lonestar Rollergirls side brings more $$$ in than anything the other side could offer.

So what does it mean that they are trying to expand the Thunderdome area? (Keep in mind that this is only the 2nd bout held in the new venue thus far & already they are talking expansion.) The 1st thing I could think of was that perhaps A&E was coming back to film in 2006. If they plan on filming again this year, they are definitely going to need more space. The crowd was sort of a madhouse & I suspect it might appear badly on film. And they probably need more power....but I'll get to that issue later. Also, they MUST be making some bank & needing more room. (The Lonestar's hold 2 bouts per month at $15 per head....and they are literally turning people away in droves.) The impression I'm getting is that the demand is growing faster than management can supply. But that's just my humble opinion.

But back to Clownsnack. She was really friendly & totally sweet. Not to mention very cute. TV just doesn't do her justice. She had her short hair in low pigtails with a beanie hat on. She looked like she was trying to be slightly incognito, but it wasn't working out. With her little pixie nose & hazel eyes, she looked down right elven. Anyway, I totally dug her. She was cool.

Of course half way through this conversation, I start digging through my purse for my camera. I'm totally ready to finally ask someone to pose for a photo with me...if only I can find my friggin' camera. Where is the damn thing? With my damn hubby where I left it!!!!!!!

While he's watching the game, (not taking a single picture I might add), I'm standing there talking to Clownsnack & kicking myself the entire time for abandoning my camera. So if you're keeping count, that's THREE perfectly good yet missed photo ops. AHHHHHHHH! After I got my beers, I found my hubby & whined, but with only a bare minimum of pouting. :o)

During the half, the band Maneja Beto played a mix of covers & some pretty kickin' original songs. The Putas were well ahead by this point, by at least a good 20+ points.

Then the 2nd half started. The Holy Rollers did what they could against the Putas, but the Putas nearly shut them out of the bout. I was completely blown away by Smarty Pants. She is one skater that, in the TV show, I think is totally under rated. She's an awesome jammer. On the Puta side, Chingona was a stand out as jammer. However, Chola really stole the show.

At some point in the 3rd quarter I believe, the power completely shut off. The building lights were working, but the DJ booth, scoreboard, announcer's booth, & all the extra lights/fans/etc completely went dark. But the bout kept going, regardless. There were about 3 jams done in near darkness. But after they fixed a fuse or flipped a breaker, everything came back on & resumed.

The Putas just did a number on the Rollers. And even though the Rollers were down, they still fought hard for it. There were a lot of crashes, penalties & points scored. From what I could see, Chola (Goddess Bless her) put down a number of Rollers. She jammed a considerable amount of times & got called out for a number of questionable moves. I saw her bring down at least 2 Rollers, one of which was great because it was so obvious & she shrugged her shoulders & was like, "What? What did I do?" I think she got the penalty wheel for that one.

See, you gotta understand. I had a few beers & was stuck in a floor crowd. It's not like I could take notes. Some of the pics I took of the action, to help the memory, were just black....especially stuff that didn't happen in front of me. Roller Derby is fast & hard. The only real time-outs & breaks are taken for 1) penalties & 2) major injuries. And as a fan, you don't want either to happen, especially the later. So it's a bit hard to recall the play-by-play action. Even with the announcers doing their play-by-play shit, from where I was standing, it was hard to even hear them over the crowd.

So unfortunately, I can't offer a detailed report of the action. (Although, I am looking into buying a tiny tape recorder to help with this for future bouts.) This was the 1st bout I was covering for the blog, so obviously my sports reporting skills need some work. But I am happy to report that yours truly has already ordered tickets for the next bout, which I'm expecting any day now in the mail. So this time, I'm going to have my ticket-in-hand & hopefully sail through the line. I'm also going to show up as early as possible so I can get a good spot in line. I'm determined to get a decent seat.

The penalties I did see, from a distance, were Cha-Cha having a pillow fight, that got ugly, & Chola have a long jump. The Putas always won when the vote of winner was up to the audience. It hurt the Holy Rollers because every time they lost the crowd vote, especially with the last penalty long jump vote, they lost a point. The final score would have been 83-40, except the Rollers lost the crowd vote for skating long jump. So the final score was 83 to 39.

It was a good victory for the Putas. If you've watched the A&E show, then you know how much it hurt the Putas when they lost to the Rollers & got shut out of the championship bout.

The Texas Rollergirls Rock!

I'd like to thank the Texas Rollergirls for being so kind to me & surprisingly supportive of my blog. (I have to admit I was wondering if actual rollergirls would react warmly to it or if they'd get restraining orders....lol.) I never realized that after one simple phone call to the radio that within 2 days I'd have 4 different rollergirls personally emailing me or commenting on the blog. (I'll have to cuss on the radio more often.) 2 rollergirls have actually encouraged me to put some skates on & try out.

(Excuse me while I change my panties.)

And they've all just been super cool. I've gotten a super secret tip about a super secret thing, (which I'm bursting at the seams to blog about but promised NOT to until it is officially announced....and I'm a woman of my word, thank you very much). I also got an ok from one of the ladies to do an informal interview for the blog. YEEESSSSS! I'm hoping that this will be the start of a new monthly blog feature... "20 Questions with a Rollergirl". How cool would that be!

And I think one of the rollergirls has shared my blog address with others in the league cause literally my web hits have DOUBLED overnight. (It's the little blog that could, ya'll.) I mean seriously...check this out. (Click on the chart for larger view.)
So this is just a HUGE THANK YOU to all the Texas Rollergirls, especially Melicious, Dirty Deeds, Apocalippz, & Cheap Trixie. You've all just totally made my year. I'll definitely be seeing you all March 5th.