Muñecas Muertas skate their way to victory in season opener
By Simon McCormack Eric Williams Muñecas Muertas skaters form a wall to stop San Diego's jammer, Bonnie D.Stroir (26). The score was tight. With three minutes of play left, the board read 75-69. The jammers lined up, elbow-to-elbow: Muñecas Muertas' stalwart Kamikaze Kim and the San Diego Wildfires' Ivanna S. Pankin.
The Muñecas had built an early 35-point lead, but the Wildfires roared back. With the Wildfires breathing down the Muñecas' necks, play became chippy. Kamikaze Kim and Ivanna S. Pankin rolled out, probing for weak spots in the pack. "I remember hitting the floor and I look up and Ivanna's on the floor, too," Kamikaze Kim said amid the postgame chatter in the locker room. "That jam was by far the craziest."
The Muñecas' signature strategy is to slow the pack, pushing opponents out of their comfort zones, and they executed the game plan perfectly in the first period. Wildfires co-captain Bo Toxic said they knew what to expect but still couldn't stop the slo-mo play. "We're not used to having teams play at such a crawl like that," Bo Toxic said. "But we got them to play our game in the second period."
Muñecas blocker Carson B. Demented said her team lost focus and let the Wildfires back into the game. "We started to fall apart," she said. "When we're winning, we start having fun and fucking around."
Still, the Muñecas held off the Wildfires and secured a victory.
Duke City Derby players were forced to go skate-to-skate against a former ally who helped form the bedrock of the Albuquerque league. Dahmernatrix, a blocker for San Diego, used to skate for the Muñecas. "We needed to show Dahmer that we're still a good team without her," Carson B. Demented said.
It took months of distributing flyers and sweating it out in twice-weekly practices to prepare for the Duke City season opener. But despite the anticipation, the several hundred people in the stands were oddly quiet at first.
"I think the crowd wasn't sure what was happening," said Kamikaze Kim. "I think toward the end, they kind of understood the game and got more into it." An explanation of the rules helps, but Kamikaze Kim said it takes a few trips around the track before a first-time fan catches the game's drift.
Buoyed by the excitement of their home-track debut, the Muñecas, Duke City's all-star travel team, hit hard and rolled confidently. Derby fans gradually got engaged in the game.
For the Muñecas' Neko Chase, the season opener offered a chance to test her skills against big-time derby competitors. "Trish the Dish and Ivanna S. Pankin are world-famous roller derby people," she said. "For the record, I took Trish the Dish out."
Tempers can run high during bouts. Muñecas blocker Sabrosa said she was looking forward to the postgame get-together, so players from both teams could cool off. "The after-party is a really important part of roller derby," Sabrosa said. "You take your skates off, take a deep breath and dance."
Disco Brawlers Bash the Bots
After the Muñecas put out the Wildfires, two Duke City Derby teams with a lot to prove took the track. Hailing from Santa Fe, newcomers the Disco Brawlers took on the win-hungry Ho-Bots in a bout packed with speedy jammers and quick scores.
During the second period, everyone in the Santa Ana Star Center held a collective breath as Disco Brawler jammer Meep Meep fell to the ground, writhing in pain. She walked to the locker room and returned to action several minutes later. She twisted her ribcage, but paramedics told her everything seemed intact and nothing was broken. "I was broadsided, and I couldn't breath," Meep Meep said. "When it first happened, I thought I had broken my neck. My whole body spasmed, and it was like being born."
Meep Meep said she plans to return next month with no lingering effects from the injury. When asked if she thought she would have any hesitation, she said, "Oh no. Definitely not."
Brawlers' jammer Tronsexual helped her team cruise to victory despite playing heavy minutes in the previous bout. She said her teammates could have communicated better, but getting the win means they're doing something right. "We have some things to kind of talk about as far as strategy and teamwork and getting new people up to speed," Tronsexual said. "Overall, I think we did well."
Ho-Bots' captain The Vixenator couldn't play because of an injury, but she expects to be back in action for the next bout. "Our girls played super hard, and I'm very proud of them," she said. "We still have to prove ourselves, but this is the best game we've ever played by far."
A bright spot in the loss for the Ho-Bots was the speed and endurance of newbie Brutalitaur. She's only practiced with the team for six months, but the 18-year-old jammer had a huge impact on the game. Brutalitaur kept the Ho-Bots close by racking up points. "She's played field hockey, so she's used to getting hit and pushing herself as far as she can go," The Vixenator said. "She's rookie of the year, in my opinion."
Brutalitaur said she's not ready to hoist that trophy just yet. "There are a lot of good newbies coming in," she said. "I've just found a sport that's good for me."
The Rules of Roller Derby
The short and sweet version:
There are always two teams on the track at once, no more and no less.
Each team can have no more than five skaters on the track at one time.
Each team is made up of one pivot, three blockers and one jammer:
Pivot-Designated by a striped helmet cover. Skates in the front of the pack, controls pack speed and serves as a last line of defense against the opposing jammer. Can become jammer if jammer passes the helmet cover to her.
Blockers-Work together to help the jammer through the pack while stopping the opposing jammer. This includes moving opposing blockers out of the way.
Jammer-Designated by a helmet cover with a large star on both sides. The point-scoring player. Starts 20 feet behind the rear of the pack. Has to skate through the entire pack one time and lap the pack before she can begin to score points. Receives one point for each skater on the opposite team that she passes legally.
Wildfires and Muñecas players jostle for position at the starting line. Muñecas jammer Muffin (yellow helmet) pulls herself forward using teammate Miss E. Vil, while the Wildfires' pivot offers an assist to jammer Kiki D'iazz. Muffin, jammer for Muñecas Muertas, pulls herself through the pack using a teammate's shorts. Muñecas blocker Death Ro (left) and Wildfires pivot Ivanna S. Pankin growl at each other at the starting line. The aftermath of a collision between Muñecas blocker Amanda Jammitinya (in green) and Wildfires jammer Steely Jan. Kamikaze Kim jams for the Muñecas Muertas. An impression of pack players. Post-game congratulations for the Muñecas on their 77-71 win. Miss E. Vil tightens her bearings on the bench. Disco Brawler pivot Meep Meep (right) lays a hit on Ho-Bot jammer Punchkin Pie. Meep Meep, pivot for the Santa Fe Disco Brawlers, screams in pain after taking a hit from Ho-Bots blocker R2BeatU. Ho-Bot jammer Brutalitaur (left) is taken out by Disco Brawler blocker Savage Scout.
Journal West April 25th, 2009
Roller Derby Set To Roll at Center
By James Yodice Journal Staff Writer The Santa Ana Star Center tonight welcomes another bruising contact sport to Rio Rancho. Women's roller derby, in the form of the Duke City Derby, a league of teams from around the state, is set to appear at the Star Center with two games. The opener is a composite all-star squad called the Munecas Muertas, taking on the visiting San Diego Derby Dolls, at 6 p.m. At about 7:45, two New Mexico entries, the Disco Brawlers and the Hobots, square off. Trina Ortegon, who has served as a venue coordinator for Duke City Derby which has never before had an arena this size to compete in, said roller derby is a full-contact sport. The games are divided into two, 30-minute halves, and there is a halftime. Each side consists of five players. And, as with hockey, there are penalties, and a penalty box. Some of the infractions you may see called include elbowing and tripping. The Munecas Muertas includes top players from the other New Mexico squads, so some women will appear in both games of today's doubleheader. Tickets begin at $10, and can be obtained at gettix.net, or at the Star Center box office. Kids under 12 are admitted free. The Munecas Muertas, which is an all-star traveling squad, will have five other regularly-scheduled games over the next four months. They are home May 16, June 6, June 20, July 25 and Aug. 15. There is a season-ending championship round Sept. 19. Ortegon said almost 200 advance tickets had been sold, and she's hoping for a crowd between 1,000 and 1,200 today.
Rio Rancho Observer. April 24, 2009
Duke City Derby debuts at Star Center
By Gary Herron sports editor Published on Friday, April 24, 2009 2:10 PM MDT
Such is the life for Kristin Seale of Enchanted Hills.
No, that's not a typo, nor is it his real name.
Mercy Less, whose real name is Kristin Hendricks Seale, is heavily involved in roller derby and now lives in Rio Rancho with her husband, "Hurt Reynolds."
"He" is Chris Seale, a Seattle native who was introduced into the sport of roller derby four or five years ago. That involvement grew into a passion for the sport, and it was at a derby convention - "Derby Com" - in Las Vegas, Nev., that he met Kristen Hendricks of Baltimore, a participant in the sport who went by the name "Mercy Less" on the track.
The two married a few years later - "Death Row, a skater with the Munecas, married us in Old Town," she said - and moved in the fall of 2007 to Rio Rancho, where they're self-professed computer geeks.
In fact, "Hurt" runs the Derby News Network (derbynewsnetwork.com) and "Mercy," 36, retired from the sport because of knee injuries, stays busy running a blog during game night. Her two daughters have already said they want to follow in their mother's skate tracks.
So the couple was at Santa Ana Star Center tonight for the debut of Duke City Derby.
The Disco Brawlers face the Hobots in the first "bout," or match, while the highly regarded (No. 13 in the latest power rankings) Munecas Muertas of Albuquerque met the San Diego Derby Dolls.
Mercy Less said earlier in the week she was hopeful of attracting 1,000 people to see the inaugural bouts in Rio Rancho.
"We'll get new people from this area, but lots of old faces. The fans of this league tend to be hard-core," she explained, proclaiming the sport as a good entertainment value for the whole family.
The derby participants may look tough - their outfits and multitude of tattoos, not to mention their names, like "Cinder Block" and "Kamikaze Kim" - but they're really sweethearts, Mercy Less said.
They come from all walks of life. At last Wednesday's "demo" for the media, there were teachers, truck drivers, a cop, an architect, a store owner, waitresses, students, stay-at-home moms and even a family mediator.
Rival teams will trash talk on the track, she said and "the track thing will get pretty heated.
"We can spend a couple hours beating the crap out of each other, then we all go to the after-party," she explained. "Everyone's a friend. It doesn't mean there aren't heated rivalries."
She knows the sport is still in its infancy in the area, but saw it grow during her days as a founder of a league in Baltimore, and later as a committee member on the national organization for the sport.
"I played three years there," she said, and learned from out-of-state tournaments that the sport was not only growing but taking in a lot of great skaters in the Duke City. "I was impressed from afar."
The Star Center, she said, is a great venue. Previously, Duke City Derby's venues were of the dance hall variety - much smaller, with limited spectator capacity.
It won't be easy for Mercy Less to watch the action this season, but she knows knees are pretty important to health. She's always been active.
"I like aggressive sports," she said. "I did women's semi-pro boxing."
Earlier, she spent time in a performing arts high school and did some acting from when she was five until she was 25.
"I didn't play sports, except baseball and softball, in elementary school," she said. "I turned to boxing, where I learned I could take and give hits."
She's a full-time student at the University of New Mexico and Central New Mexico Community College, she said, aiming at being a certified midwife and, she thinks, working for Indian Health Services in the future.
Mercy Less said she still has an aching right shoulder from too many years as a camerawoman; she also spent time as a producer for film and TV documentary news projects.
"After my second daughter, I decided I wanted a change of pace," she said, thus opting for roller derby and heading back to college.
The whole family will be spending time at the Star Center when the Duke City Derby's in town, you can bet on that.
"I think what draws people isn't the sensational aspect - girls and contact, short skirts. It's a game with rules that takes serious skills. These girls are athletes. Our fans stay as lifelong fans," she said.
"You'll see a lot more action in two hours than you will see in any other sport, at a quarter of the ticket price."
"The Star Center's going green and we're not just talking ‘Earth green,' " says venue coordinator Trina Ortegon of the New Mexico Sports Authority, "but Munecas green and money green."
"This is the venue this league deserves," added Mercy Less.
Future Duke City Derby dates at the Star Center are May 16, June 6 and 20, July 25, Aug. 15, and three season championships, slated for Sept. 19. Prices start at just $7.50. For more information, visit dukecityderby.com.
Plans are in the works to start a junior derby, for girls up to age 17.
Alibi. April 16, 2009
Y'all Ready for This?
Rivalries and roster shakeups foreshadow a dramatic season
By Simon McCormack Alex Williams The Ho-Bots practice on the Wells Park basketball court in preparation for the 2009 season. From left: Rosie the Ho-Bot, Botulism, Bebe Bot, Brutalitaur and Punchkin Pie. "Hit harder!" The Vixenator demands as her fellow Ho-Bots circle her at the Wells Park Community Center basketball court. "Don't rely on your elbows. Rely on your shoulders and your legs."
Duke City Derby skaters say practices like this one, which take place once or twice a week, are what will make this year's season different from the others.
On April 25, the Santa Fe Disco Brawlers roll out against the Ho-Bots in the season opener. The bout is two years in the making. Without a place to play, the entire 2008 home season was nixed. While they waited for a battleground, teams armed themselves with new skills and fresh meat.
The veterans are teachers as well as teammates to newbies who've spent these limbo months learning the game. The result? By the time the derby found a home at the 7,000-seat Santa Ana Star Casino, squads were sporting the most talented rosters in the four-year history of the league.
"You're going to see lots of girls on their asses."
Ho-Bots Captain The Vixenator
"The game is so much faster now," The Vixenator says. "It's incredibly crafted, and the hits are way harder than they ever have been in the past. You're going to see lots of girls on their asses."
The Santa Fe Disco Brawlers will make their DCD debut in the 2009 season, but before there were four teams, an caustic rivalry sprung between the two derby underdogs.
[click to enlarge]The DoomsDames are the undisputed league champions. In all previous seasons, they walked away with the first-place trophy. The two other teams, the Ho-Bots and the Derby Intelligence Agency, developed a urgent need to beat each other. The DoomsDames were at the top, but no squad wanted to end up with the label of "league's worst." The resulting animosity made for brutal bouts.
They've had two years to cool off, but league founder Nan Morningstar expects the squads will be at each other's throats in no time. "I have a feeling that's going to start right back up on its own," Morningstar says. "Maybe even more than winning the championship, they just want to beat each other."
"We're all just extremely nice girls."
Derby Intelligence Agency Captain Carson B. Demented
The Vixenator, captain of the Ho-Bots, says both teams have catty players whose personalities don't mesh well. "D.I.A. tends to have a lot of drama, and the Ho-Bots also have a lot of drama," she says. "When you put two dramatic teams together, we get very competitive."
Derby Intelligence Agency Captain Carson B. Demented says she doesn't know where all the talk of tension comes from. "I know that they've lost to us a lot," she notes with a hint of malice. "Then they beat us one time by one point, and that was not fun. We're all just extremely nice girls."
Every game at the Santa Ana Star Casino will include two bouts: one league game between two of the four teams in Duke City Derby, and one all-star game. Albuquerque's all-star team, the Muñecas Muertas, will challenge the best skaters from cities like Dallas, Seattle and San Diego.
Back when DCD had no place to call home, the Muñecas only had the option of competing in away matches. They will finally have a home-track advantage in 2009.
The Muñecas earned a spot in last year's Women's Flat Track Derby Association Championships by beating the defending national champions Kansas City Roller Warriors. At the Championships, the Muñecas (now ranked 13th overall, according to derbynewsnetwork.com) suffered a lopsided defeat to the Gotham Girls from New York.
The Vixenator, who also plays on the Muñecas, says the defeat taught them a lot about chemistry. "We totally underestimated Gotham," she says. "It was an awesome learning experience to play with Gotham because it showed how well a team can work together and how much they can win if they do."
Derby Intelligence Agency
In the first two seasons, these skaters fell to the DoomsDames in the league championship. In 2007, the team didn't make it that far, losing by one point to the Ho-Bots in the semifinals. This year, D.I.A.'s acquired some new players, including Muñecas captain Kamikaze Kim.
Team Captain Carson B. Demented says her squad continues to work on bringing new players up to speed. "We have always remembered to keep it fun, new and interesting and not take it so seriously," she says. "I plan on D.I.A. being No. 1 and having an undefeated season."
Santa Fe Disco Brawlers
This is the league's wild card. The team is made of skaters who used to play for other squads. DCD founder Morningstar says she doesn't know what to make of the Brawlers. "They are the least experienced as far as playing together," Morningstar says. "But they have some experienced players."
Team Captain Killer Queen says they will rely on their depth and the camaraderie established over long trips to Albuquerque for biweekly practices. "We get along really well because we travel together," she says. "We talk to each other for two hours, two to three times a week."
DoomsDames
The defending champions come into this year's season with a lot of ground to make up. They've lost several of their skaters to other clubs and must make do with a team of mostly rookies. There are still three skaters on the squad who don't know what it's like not to be league champions. That pride and experience could go a long way toward compensating for the weaknesses of newer players.
The Ho-Bots
This squad must prove it belongs in the upper echelon of the league. In 2007, the Ho-Bots made it to the finals but lost to the DoomsDames. The Vixenator says the they'll count on their teamwork to earn victories. "We're very spot-on with each other, and we communicate the whole time we're playing," she says. "Our teamwork has always been awesome, and it's just getting better and better." On Saturday, April 25, the Santa Fe Disco Brawlers face off with the Hobots. Muñecas Muertas will battle the San Diego Derby Dolls at the Santa Ana Star Center. Doors open at 5 p.m., and the first bout starts at 6 p.m. Tickets are $10 to $22.50 through gettix.net.Learn the rules of the game here.
Journal West January 07, 2009
Derby Rolls Into Star Center
By James Yodice Journal Staff Writer Rio Rancho's newest sport on skates is low on Canadians, even lower on salary. There is a rink (kind of), but no ice. There are athletes, but no testosterone. Instead, they are athletic trainers and students and schoolteachers and homeless-shelter workers who gloss themselves with colorful aliases like Miss E. Vil, Cinder Block, Muffin and Dahmernatrix. Can you say roller derby? The Santa Ana Star Center has certainly seen its share of interesting sports ventures since the doors swung open 25 months ago, and Tuesday afternoon the portfolio expanded with the addition of a roller derby league. "It's completely different than anything else you're gonna see," Muffin said. (No real names here, only stage alternatives.) "I really think we have something to bring to the community." The Star Center has signed the Duke City Derby, a New Mexico league of all-female teams that will begin playing games in April. The league was founded in 2005. The Derby ostensibly is a collection of five teams, including an all-star - and nationally-ranked - outfit called the Munecas Muertas, most of whom who were introduced Tuesday in full uniform, including a type of skate that one player said cost $700. Some of the women killed time by skating through the halls of the Star Center, the sight of which caught at least one visitor by surprise as she peered inside. "Who are they?" she asked. The Duke City Derby, besides the all-star composite, is made up of three Albuquerque teams and one from Santa Fe. They'll all appear in Rio Rancho about once a month, from April through the Sept. 19 championship round. "It's the most fun in the world," said Dahmernatrix, a former Manzano High and University of New Mexico student. Oh yeah, that name. Well, D-Nat said, she was watching a documentary about the Donner Party, and, well, thought she'd tie her nickname into cannibalism. And there you have it. By the way, Muffin is not only the team's top historian on roller derby, but also Munecas Muertas' "resident badass." Then, there's Miss E. Vil, a very tall California blonde who said she played college basketball at Weber State in Utah. "(When I was done), I was looking for something else, something athletic and challenging," the 26-year-old said. "I found roller derby, and it changed my life." Muffin said roller derby, in its current form, began in Austin, Texas, a few years ago. The Duke City Derby was one of the first leagues to form in the country, and there are now about 300 worldwide. Most fall under the umbrella of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, or WFTDA, the NFL of roller derby. "These girls are basically athletic, a little punk rock," Muffin said. "They didn't identify with any of the existing sports organizations, most of (which) were male-dominated, or required them to abandon their own identities." Now, as for the sport itself, it has, until recently, been a real sport in the way that professional wrestling is a real sport. It is no longer scripted, Muffin said. "For some reason, it was a concept that really resonated with young women," she said. The short version of roller derby is this: five skaters on each team on a flat surface track. One of the five (called the jammer) races the other team's jammer around the track. For every opponent she passes, a point is scored. The other four teammates are blockers; they are trying to impede the progress of the other team's jammer. Sort of like hockey, only the skates have wheels and there are no nets. "You will see some girls flying through the air," Dahmernatrix promised. Which, on the surface, seems rather harsh, because they aren't getting paid. The money made through sponsorship or ticket sales, Muffin said, will go to promote the next event or to travel. "For a lot of young women, it gives them an identity that is truly their own - a physical, competitive identity they can create for themselves," said Muffin, a former social worker. "It's better that nobody gets paid. Because you know when you get on the track, the only reason those other girls are there is because they sacrificed as much as you did." The season opener is April 25. Call the Star Center at 891-7300 for more information on tickets.
Neutral Corner
Neutral Corner, Volume #1
Duke City Derby is in a really exciting period right now. We are beginning to prepare for the Four Corners tournament in Colorado Springs, which will be our first interleague play since the National tournament in November. Additionally, we are rebuilding our Albuquerque home teams, with some veteran skaters we haven't seen in years coming out of the woodwork for a chance to play at the Santa Ana Star Center! We are training a great looking crop of new skaters for the upcoming season (we may see Duke City Derby double in size before the season's over at this rate!) and we are training new refs and support staff to make sure everything goes smoothly and by the book once the season starts.
Looking ahead, Four Corners is going to be a challenge for us. By making Nationals this year, we affixed a big target to our back for all the Southwestern teams to aim at. The majority of games that we have scheduled against opponents in our Region this year will take place at this tournament, so our seeding for the fall's Regional tournament will depend heavily on how we play at Four Corners. We are expecting that every team we play will want to knock us off and try to get their bid to the Regional tournament at our expense, so we aren't taking anyone lightly.
Beyond that, our season opener is looking to be a doozy. We start the April 25th night with our Munecas Muertas hosting the OC Roller Girls Travel Team, the first WFTDA sanctioned interleague bout we've ever been able to host, now that we can lay a regulation track at our awesome new venue, that Santa Ana Star Center! I don't know much about the OC Roller Girls, to be honest: they've recently been accepted into WFTDA (the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, our sanctioning organization) and I've never seen them play. By looking at their website (ocrollergirls.com) I see that they're about 30 skaters strong, divided into 3 home teams and one travel team. Hmmm, sounds awfully familiar - that's about how big we were and divided the same way last year. Now, 30 skaters is a small league by comparison to many of the powerhouse leagues in WFTDA, but your own Duke City Derby Munecas Muertas beat several bigger, more established leagues in the Regional Tournament last fall, so we know first-hand what a small, focused group of skaters can accomplish. So we're excited to host OC Roller Girls, and hope to send them home bruised, defeated and happy.
The second game of the night is our regular season opener. The regular season is contested by Duke City Derby's four home teams, which play each other for the regular season championship. Our regular season bouts are lots of fun and usually extremely intense, as all four teams want badly to get into the Championship game. The seeds for the Championship game are determined by first, record (wins and losses), and should two teams have the same record, we break the ties with season point differential (number of points scored during the season minus number of points scored against). In all previous seasons, we have had two teams tied for second place, and have had to resort to point differential to determine who plays in the Championship game. So every point counts for every team, and no matter what the score, every team wants to win the next jam and increase their chances of playing in the Championship. The April 25th game features the new Santa Fe Disco Brawlers taking on the Ho-Bots. These teams feature the most veteran returning lineups of the 4 squads, and we should see a great mixture of new and old faces on the track for this bout. It's going to be extremely difficult to predict winners for regular season games this year: much will depend on what happens in the Munecas Muertas game that precedes each match. The top veteran players for each regular season team will enter their team's game having just played for the Muertas, and it's impossible to know how hurt or tired they will be when their second game of the night starts. We're expecting all the regular season teams to rely heavily on their benches, and our newer skaters will get ample playing time. We won't know the final rosters for these teams until shortly before the regular season starts, so no analysis from me today as to who has the upper hand.
We at Duke City Derby are chomping at the bit to get playing at the Santa Ana Star Center this year, and finally give our loyal fans and our new fans the games and presentation that they deserve. It's gonna be a crazy, wonderful, exhausting year, and we want to make y'all stand up and scream every step of the way. Stay tuned, and I'll keep you up to date with all the DCD happenings as the year passes.
See you at the games!
Fair Game
Head Referee, Duke City Derby
Neutral Corner, Volume #2
Circumstances surrounding the upcoming season for Duke City Derby have continued to change and evolve since the last update, and I'm back to keep you abreast of all the news. First, Duke City's Munecas Muertas traveled to Colorado Springs in February to play the Four Corners Tournament, and four of our refs, myself included, made the trip with them. Tournament was eye opening for me - I hadn't been to a WFTDA tournament since the 2007 Dust Devil in Tucson, AZ, which was the Regional Tournament for that year. In 2007 I watched AZRD (Arizona Roller Derby, out of Phoenix, and the second flat track league ever established) and TRD (Tucson Roller Derby, the third league ever established) both play games to advance to the National Tournament. AZRD lost a very close game to KCRW (the Kansas City Roller Warriors, who went on to win the National Championship that year) and failed to make the National Tournament, and Tucson beat Duke City handily to earn their bid to Nationals. So I was kinda stunned at Four Corners to be watching TRD play AZRD in the first day's consolation bout to not leave the tournament ranked last, and to watch both teams be eliminated before Duke City played its first bout was surreal. We have come a very long way in the last year and a half, and both of those leagues have lost many players, and, in AZRD's case, their venue in the intervening time. Tucson did win the game, by the by, and we'll be seeing them at the Santa Ana Star Center on July 25.
As for the Munecas Muertas, we played our first game on Sunday morning against the Denver Roller Dolls' Mile High Club. Denver was not highly ranked or regarded coming into the tournament, but they played a very strong game against Tucson on Saturday, and they were hitting on all cylinders by the time the Munecas Muertas ran into them. Denver jumped out to a strong early lead, and Duke City picked away at it for the remainder of the game, but we were unable to catch a very, very impressive Denver team. Denver ultimately beat us by about 40 points, and won the tournament later that day by beating host Pikes Peak by closer to 100 points, and sent shockwaves through the derby world with their exceptional team play. Meanwhile, the Munecas Muertas played a distracted Rocky Mountain Rollergirls' Fight Club a mere 30 minutes after the Rocky Mountain girls were beaten for the first time by rival Pikes Peak. We beat up on Rocky Mountain pretty badly, with all four of our primary jammers notching at least a 15 point jam apiece over the course of the game. Those jammers, by the way, were Kamikaze Kim from DIA, who had a 25 point jam, Tronsexual from the Santa Fe Disco Brawlers with a 24 point jam, and I think both Meep Meep (Disco Brawlers) and Muffin (DIA) had 16 point jams in the bout. Rocky Mountain, it must be said, was tired and not mentally in this game, and I think they would play better if we ran into them again. So Duke City left the tournament with a 3rd place finish, a likely drop in the National rankings, and a better idea of what changes we'll need to make to stay competitive as the year passes. The skaters had fun, the refs got good experience, and a good time was had by all.
With tournament behind us, our focus shifts largely toward our first regular season game at the Santa Ana Star Center, and the drama that is Roller Derby has already begun. We received word that the Orange County Rollergirls would not be able to come out for the season opener after all, and were able to book the San Diego Derby Dolls in their place. I never heard the official reason why Orange County couldn't make the trip, so I'll start the rumor here and now that they were scared to take the beating they knew was waiting for them in the Land of Entrapment. San Diego is another story. SDDD boasts several well known players, namely Ivanna Spankin and Trish the Dish (original founders of AZRD, and owners of Sin City Skates, which provides equipment to derby girls worldwide.) They also recently acquired Dahmernatrix from us, and we're extremely happy that we'll get to see her again so soon after she moved to the coast, and that she gets to skate at the Star Center. Dahmernatrix was the first girl DCD ever asked to join, and she's been a leading force in the development of this league from day one. She almost postponed her move to California to play this upcoming season, so it puts a smile on everyone's face that she gets to experience our new home with us, in the first game we'll ever play in the Star Center. We wish her all the best and a great career with San Diego, just as soon as she and her teammates are on the plane home ;)
As for the two home teams on the bill, I don't have any huge news to report. The Santa Fe Disco Brawlers are making preparations in a secret underground bunker or something - I only see about 5 of them at scrimmage, but I know they have a bunch of skaters they are hoarding in Santa Fe, and I know they've got at least a very strong starting 4 blockers in Killer Queen, Savage Scout, Elviramental and Alida Boutit and have at least 2 dangerous jammers in Meep Meep and Tronsexual. As for the rest of that team, I guess we'll all find out on April 25th. As for the Ho-Bots, they have drafted a new jammer who should be ready to put points on the board in April called Brutalitar (the Dinosarr), and have picked up a couple more new skaters who are working hard to be ready to contribute against Santa Fe. The Ho-Bot veterans are very deep and talented, but they will go into this game short-handed, as I understand it. The Vixenator is not expected to be able to play in April as she recovers from knee surgery, and Katillac Koffin is going to miss the game as well, which will short them a jammer, a big loss. However, they will be fielding veterans R2 Beat U, Ms. E.Vil, Punchkin Pie, Botulism, Shiny Dancer, Booger and Anita Lien Yo, so they aren't going into this game without weapons. Should be a rumble, as almost all of our regular season games are, with the Ho-Bots' veteran defense trying to contain the Disco Brawlers' jammers, and the Ho-Bots' jammers looking to counterpunch when they can. Can't wait to see it on the track, and looking forward to hearing all of you cheering them on.
