Thursday, October 8, 2009

Roller Derby Time

For the record, I'd like you all to know that it's been about two years since I've been wanting to officially see a roller derby bout. I just don't want y'all to think that it's strictly because of the new movie that just came out featuring it. The thing is that every time there has been a local derby bout (that's what they call their games/matches) I have been unable to make it, that is, until a couple weeks ago.

The Salt City Derby Girls is the local roller derby league. They have been going for the last couple months, but I was at home during that time, and a couple weeks back they had their championship bout - Sisters of No Mercy v. Leave It To Cleavers. The bouts are pretty much what you expect - a lot of rough and tumble people getting together to push each around and fight on a roller derby track. The crowd is what you'd expect too: there are a ton of visible tatoos, a lot of trashy dress, funky hairstyles, and the like. What you may have not expected (or maybe you knew this) are a lot of lesbians. Yup. Real life lesbians=not very attractive. That's the reality of it, at least from the roller derby sample that I saw.

I read a review recently from one of the writers I follow and he caught a bout down in Arizona. His roller derby experience seemed quite a departure from my own, as the league seemed to feature a lot more sexuality than the violence that the Utah one features. All the skaters assume nicknames and the AZ were much more sexual, whereas the ones up here were more violent. A friend of mine knew one of the girls at the event and her name is Smack and Deck Her, that kind of thing.

The rules are much more complicated than I'd care to explain, but really you just go to see the girls push each other around and get angry at one another. The teams had silly mascots, and even all the people in attendance provide their own kind of entertainment also. People watchers, this is definitely the place for you.

In case you were wondering, there is an OC derby team that you can learn more about here, and here is the Utah one. And if you haven't heard about the movie, here's the trailer:

No comments: