Heh-heh. Heh-heh.

Oh yeah. So, there was a roller derby event last weekend - I'm not kidding when I tell you that this was absolutely the coolest thing ever. Three hours of full-tilt skating, and wipe-outs, and screaming and yelling - it was a right blast. I know that the D-VAS defeated the Smoke City Betties, but I can't for the life of me recall the score, nor can I find it anywhere. I suppose I could just ask H, but that somehow seems too easy. In the above picture, she's more or less dead center about to start a round. I haven't used this camera for much more than taking pictures of the cats around the house, so I wasn't prepared for the complete inability to take action shots that are decipherable. I was hoping for some action shots, but what I kept getting was blurred all to hell. Next time I'll probably bring along the Pentax and do it the old-fashioned way.
Andrew from work came with me, and he's posted a couple of video clips from the night on You Tube. Have a look:


I'm hoping to organize a bit of a posse for the next event - July 14th at George Bell Arena, I believe between the Chicks Ahoy! and the Bay Street Bruisers. Tickets again appear to be $10 in advance - through Soundscapes or Rotate This. Other venues for tickets are on the Derby home site - there's also links to all 6 teams, so you can have a look and decide if one squad is more deserving of your support than another. Or let me know, and maybe Penny Whistler can hook you up. (No word on the intermission entertainment - this time around it was the Pillow Fight League, which is exactly what you think it is.)

I think as time goes on, you'll see more animosity creep in to the matches, as at this point I think many of them are still pretty friendly and haven't made their enemies yet. Don't get me wrong, there's definitely a competitiveness there and passions and tempers flare a bit. But you're not going to get the flat-out fist fights that no doubt 50% of the male audience is there to see - so if that's you, don't get your hopes up. And, as with Nascar, the main reason for some people to watch roller derby is for the accidents and injuries. Nothing too serious happened last week - I think one woman sprained an ankle.

I'm digging the rockabilly aesthetic with derby, and I'm still digging the Detroit Cobras.

Detroit Cobras - Bad Girl

You do know how to whistle, don't ya?

Well, to my continual amazement and glee, H has followed through on her intention to get involved with roller derby. The skates she got don't look as I has hoped (see here) but they're pretty rockin' all the same. Toronto Roller Derby kicks off the summer 2007 season this coming weekend, and H has joined up as a referee for this season - I'm told that the referees pages will get put up eventually. It seems like this has come together pretty quickly, and given that it appears there was tremendous interest in the first place, I'm surprised it wasn't established sooner. By an odd coincidence, the rink the league secured is in my parents' neighborhood. Pretty much any kid I knew growing up who played minor hockey played out of George Bell Arena, not to be confused with this other George Bell:


One of the best outfielders The Toronto Blue Jays had in the 80's, George Bell is perhaps best remembered as:

a) the first (and so far only) Jay to be AL MVP

b) telling reporters that Jays fans could kiss his big, purple ass.

I can't say that I recall why he said this, but we do have a tradition of athletes in this city telling people to kiss their asses. Todd Stottlemyre - another Blue Jay, natch - once told the mayor of Philadelphia to kiss his ass in front of 50,000 people, at a victory rally after the 1993 World Series. I have no doubt whatsoever that the advent of roller derby will lead to additional requests for ass-kissing, although I suspect that the press coverage will be less significant. And I really have no idea about the George Bell for whom the arena is named, nor do I know anything about the color of his ass, purple or no.

But back to the matter at hand...

H has adopted the derby handle of "Penny Whistler". ('cause referees have whistles, don't cha know.) Seeing as all of my suggestions featured the words Boobs, Knockers, Hoo-Hah, or some combination thereof, it's probably just as well that she went her own way on this one. If next time around she joins a team, maybe I'll run a contest for the naming rights.

Here's a couple of tracks which for different reasons seemed appropriate to mark today's theme. See if you can guess why.

Detroit Cobras Hey Sailor

Bright Eyes Pull My Hair