Monday, April 20, 2009

Circle City Socialites v Demolition City Recap


Last Saturday night found Indy's own Socialites battling Evansvilles Demolition City B-Team at Ellenberger Rink. When I first arrived I saw Diane Beatin, DJ Sarah and Mother Russia. Some other familiar faces included Psychedelic Sandy and Announcer Peyton Slamming. When I saw the beautiful Meana Garcia I was a bit surprised to find out that she wouldnt be skating, so that was a bit disappointing. A small but very enthusiastic crowd enjoyed a very fun night of Roller Derby action. CCS jumped out to an early lead with the illustrious Fly Jamming like her usual quick and spritely self. That Rollergirl is fast! I love watching Fly Jam, she's incredibly skilled on her Reidells and gets the crowd cheering every time out. The BIG surprise though was the debut of Poker Face. What a talent!! To say that I was stunned by her abilities would be a vast understatement. Apparently only with the Socialites for several weeks, with no Derby experience at all, she was amazing. Speed, power, balance, moves, anticipation of blocks, everything you could want to see in a rookie Jammer was there in abundance. Where in the hell is this skater from??! Well...she is a Rink Rat and was in skates before she could WALK. Literally. Another former speed skater, Poker Face is the real deal. I cant wait to see how she develops. It was obvious that she was a little nervous early on but success lead to confidence and the crowd instantly fell in love with her. Her parents were speed skaters and so the good genetics are there too. Poker Face...you are GREAT! With Fly and Poker Face on board for CCS the Jammer pool is being shored up quickly. Apparently Poker is a friend of NRG's Power Jamming Shadi "the Superhero" Layne.

Megan Enemies was totally solid and reliable at Pivot, her natural position. She's a very good leader out on the rink, shouting out instructions to her Blockers and she has a strong pack awareness. It was also nice to see Hellin Hazard getting her first bout experience at Blocker. Hellin, along with Sally Scissorhands, tried very hard to get a league started in the Columbus area but were disappointed with the struggle to get enough comitted and interested skaters to realistically form a team. You may remember their league name...Terrorz of Tiny Townz. She has a good future as a Blocker if she continues to improve and continues to make the long hour and a half commute to CCS practices. She has the power of intimidation on her side I can tell ya. She's an imposing figure out there on the track. Roll-R-Damage (formerly Dred Ruby) was CCS's hardest hitter all night, when she didnt find herself in the penalty box! It seemed that the Refs had a big 'ole bullseye on her the whole night. Speaking of Refs, I have to say that despite sending Roll to the box consistently all night, plenty of fouls were missed and several glaring errors were made. It seems that ref inexperience may have come into play, especially with some Refs having other bouts to attend. Oh well. The most confusing call, of several, was a stoppage of a Jam because of too many skaters on the track. As the skaters rounded turn 1 the whistle blew and everyone was looking around dumbfounded. Then the Ref changed his mind and decided that there WEREN'T too many skaters on the track! Uhhhh...okay. Sheeeesh.

As for Demo City, the charismatic GiGi L'Gore and Bangs McCoy were consistently racking up points and Jamming their asses off. GiGi in particular seemed the true star of Demo's B-Team and I suspect that she may get a call up soon for the A-Team. Uma Platta also had a few good, solid Jams and seems to be a developing talent at the position. G.I. Barbie was very noticeable as Jammer too, and its hard to miss her out on the track as she's a very tall and statuesque skater. Sugar Pie Honey Punch was knocking skaters around all night at Blocker and I believe she has had a stint with the A-Team. Sugar Pie is cool!

At half time I ran into Rock Scar who was sporting her "Dill-hat" that she had picked up at Boot City on the way up to Indy. To my surprise she had a cameraman and a mike and started to interview me for her upcoming Derby TV show! Although I was caught a bit off guard I gave a quick review of the action and my thoughts on the bout to that point. I was very sad to hear that Rock Scars brutal broken leg injury has forced her to retire from Roller Derby. Bummer! I'm glad that she's still in a support role with her team tho and the Derby TV show seems a great fit for her since she seems very comfortable with a mike in her hand. The show should be on a local Evansville channel soon. Good luck to you Rock! You are a total sweetheart! I was kinda bummed that there weren't any tees for sale with the actual DCRD logo. I really like that logo! At any rate I bought a tee in mens XL that said "I love DCRD... and love hurts!".

In the second half DCRD's bout experience started to show and they started to pull away from CCS. But the Soc's never gave up and kept playing their hearts out...a testament to Coach Roller Dex and Bench Coach Screama Donna. The final score was 135-73. The future looks bright indeed for CCS as they have shown considerable improvement from the first time I saw them at Ellenberger. Their conditioning in particular has improved and they are starting to gel as a team. The next 2 bouts will be way up in Noblesville at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds. On June 20th they will host Stateline DD from Rockford, IL and then on August 8th they will be going up against Radioactive City from Paducah,KY. BTW, I really like those CCS jerseys...nice!

The afterparty at Zanies Too was fun, although trying to procure alcohol was a test of yer patience. And I have to say that I have begun to dread live bands playing at these afterparties. Nothing against the bands of course but its a royal bitch trying to carry on a freaking conversation...I get tired of yelling and straining to hear. I had a blast hanging out with Roll-R and her man Josiah. Josiah is a great guy and I always have a good time talking to him. I also got the chance to talk with Coach/Ref Roller Dex, one of the truly Derby committed guys out there. Dont ever doubt this guy's pure love of Roller Derby! Also hung with Rock Scar and her sister and Peyton too of course. BTW-Peyton did a great job as announcer and was smooth and professional behind the mic. She had one of her lucky ugly dolls with her at the announcers table and I think it worked very well! I wish my pix would have turned out better but the light was just too dim for my lame ass camera. I DID get a pic of me with the gorgeous Meana Garcia tho so I was happy!! Meana, I want to see you in skates at that Stateline bout tho okay?? I'm serious!

All in all I had a f'n GREAT time with the Soc's and I implore all of you Indy Derby fans to make the drive up to Noblesville to support this team. Its a blast.

3 comments:

  1. Dave - thanks as always for your great analysis. It was a blast serving as bench coach for this one - how far we've come in just a few short weeks! I hope you'll make the trek up to Noblesville for our next two home bouts.

    :)
    Screama Donna

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  2. Great rundown Dave! Glad you could make it out! Thanks for an all encompassing post bout post (as always).

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  3. Thanks for the run-down, Dave! And hey, no bands at the after parties in Hamilton Co - sweet chick DJ action and really good local brews! Btw, it's only a 20 min drive from Indy - not so far. :) Glad you're planning on making the drive!

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