roller derby recap

So, anyone following my flickr or twitter stream is probably well aware that I’ve been doing a project on the Nashville Roller Girls this last 6 months. It was their last year at the fairgrounds (movin’ on up!) and I wanted to try to document things as they lead up to the next level. Those of you following my flickr stream will be glad to know the weekly inundation of pics should slacken a bit, as the easy part (taking pictures) is over. Now I just have to edit everything down into something coherent. It was hard through this process not to become a pretty die-hard roller derby fan, though. This weekend was their first bout at Municipal Auditorium, and although everyone was sad to leave the fairgrounds, it was clear after this bout that this is a major step in the right direction. If you didn’t go, here’s what you missed:

• An unprecedented 2,384 person crowd – nearly double the maximum capacity of the old fairgrounds location.
• HalfBrass performing the national anthem, as well as an impromptu jam session outside after the bout.
• Lady Fury staying out of the penalty box for (most of) the entire game, delivering an awesome performance.
• Rambo Sambo breaking her own personal record for a 28 point jam. (Most jams have point tallies in the single digits – and most records I know of are in the 30-40 point territory, so this is impressive, to say the least.)
• A kid sponsored by the Make-A-Wish foundation that wants to be a drummer jamming with HalfBrass at half-time
• Jenny “the Jet” Rodriguez killed a guy. (Not really, she was fine – wind knocked out of her from a devastating hit.)
• The BBC (yes, that BBC) showing up to interview the team.
• Oh yeah, and victory: Nashville: 159, Tallahassee: 70

So, if you missed it, well, as Jay-Z said: “I feel bad for you, son.” Make sure you get tickets for the doubleheader on August 7th. Be sure to check the website for info on local vendors that will have tickets or find your favorite rollergirl, so you can avoid getting bent-over by Ticketmaster.

(Sidenote: this post marks the THIRD time I’ve used the “sports” tag on a blog post. As I understand it, there was also some sort of soccer tournament this month? Did anyone hear about that?)