I'm talking roller derby of course, all though walking the hills on
Sunday had my ankles plenty sore as I got my activities underway in
Vegas. I am on vacation, although watchings shows as I write reviews
on my other yahoo group. But it hurt to walk yesterday. Thank
goodness for the big bathtub at TI to soak in.

First of all, seeing 4,000 people in an arena to watch roller derby
was really good, and to me as a Texas Rollergirl fan, a little
scarey. When they opened up their round game against Carolina, the
crowd was rocking Key Arena, much to the disadvantage of Carolina.
And then the other factor I feared came into play, figuring out how
the officials were calling the game. Eventually the Seattle would
diminish probably down to about 1,500 by the end of the chapionship
game, but it was still an impressive showing by Seattle fans.

That is why I predicted that the Rat City all-stars would take the
tournament. They didn't, but they came extremely close. In myspace
blog, you may read some comments on the officiating and how some of
the out of town folks became Texas Rollergirls fans.

One of the most unusual jams I have ever scene started late in the
game with Texas up by about 11 points, but Buckshot Betsy had been
put in the box with an accumulations of minors. That left Femme
Fatale out there, the best jammer for Seattle, threatening to score
who knows how many points.

As Ms. Fatale broke through the last blocker at the front of the
pack, somehow she got tangled up with her (sorry Cat or whoever it
was) and pulled her down, sending the one and only jammer to the box
with a major holding penalty. So with no jammers on the track, the
officials called a timeout, conferred and decided there would be two
new jammers, with Bucky and Femme serving out the remainders of their
penalties. I believe Seattle scored another point, but with about
2:00 minutes left Rat City was behind by two points.

There was Femme Fatale jamming the last jam for Seattle, and Dinah
Mite who probably scored the most points for Texas with her
combination of power and speed. I figured, well Rat City doesn't
have a chance. I was wrong! Femme Fatale broke out of the pack and
lapped everyone for five points, but then Dinah Mite followed her out
of the pack, making impossible to score the next five points. Time
ran out and Texas had survived an amazing challenge.

One of the main factors in the game I thought was Texas' pack speed.
As fast as Ms. Fatale was, if one of the blockers would slow her
down, often two of the interior blockers like Bloody Mary,
Barbarella, Rice Rocket, would catch up and get position on her. The
team speed may have been the overall advantage that Texas had in this
tournament. But it looke to me that Seattle was a physically
stronger team than Texas overall. And Madison, who won the
consolation trophy, may have been the physically strongest team on
the track. While they couldn't keep up with Texas, I would love to
see them against Rat City on a neutral track.

Well the clock is ticking in Vegas, and I have really missed being
online. Let me say that I was also very proud of the diminuitive
Eris Discordia of Carolina. Her first jam against Seattle had her
slipping and sliding trying to get her balance on the Rat City
track. But by the final qualifying game against the Bay Area Derby
girls, I believe she may have been high point jammer for her team. I
didn't even see her jam in Austin earlier this season, but she really
got better as she got used to the track. And she was so evasive,
ducking blocks and such, that she looked like the most improved
player as the event went on.

Take care everyone. I'm back in Austin on Thursday.

Phil