Shirley Temper and Marcy Killer carry a Cackalacky flag down the Charm City track after CRG's first win of 2007.
photo: xenographics

Baltimore is one of the newest members of the WFTDA and, having completed a full home season and two other interleague games, the ladies of Charm City threw down the gauntlet and challenged the East-Coast powerhouse Carolina Rollergirls to the first bout of the 2007 season. Fresh from a one-sided victory against the newly created Dominion Derby Girls out of Virginia Beach, Charm City was eager to test their mettle against Carolina. I was lucky enough to join them on the trip and help referee the bout. If you weren't able to make the drive up I-95 to see the bout in person, here are some highlights from my perspective ... inside the lines.

There are teams developing everywhere ... and we've seen a huge surge in the number of teams formed along the East Coast. While many of them are still growing and not-quite ready for top-tier competition, the development of these leagues will be huge for the continued growth of the sport. Frankly, having to fly to play a competitive interleague game is expensive ... and a 12-hour drive is a bit much to manage back-and-forth on a single weekend if you want to compete in something as exhausting as a bout between legs of your journey. The future, I think, lies with the ability to sustain regional play, and the Carolina Rollergirls organization is committed to helping develop healthy competition for interleague events.

...so, naturally, when Charm City came knocking with their all-star team, the Mobtown Maulers, Carolina answered.

2007 will see more in this vein as well, featuring the up-and-coming Dominion Derby Girls and the closest mature WFTDA league, the Atlanta Roller Girls, playing games at our own Dorton Arena. Yee-haw y'all!

Alright, that's enough of the feel-good junk ... on to the matter at hand.

Pre-Bout

The Carolina team traveling to Baltimore is not the same team that played and beat Arizona. Noticeably absent are Roxy Rockett, Penelope Bruz, Ms. Fit, Kitty Crowbar, Violet Femme and Maddat-U. In their place is a crop of skaters that, to date, haven't seen much time on the interleague team and at least two complete interleague rookies. I wish I had stats on things like games-played, etc. for each of the players, but I don't. Maybe I'll work on that for the next bout. Anywho, the roster:

For Carolina, this will be a test of their depth. For Baltimore this will be a giant-leap into the world of ranked WFTDA derby action.

Oh yeah, one more thing. After Bumbershoot the Carolina girls decided they weren't going to practice "soft" during the interleague scrimmage practices. They felt like it left them unprepared for the onslaught of violence that top-ranked interleague play brings. They vowed to practice as hard as they play.

Love hurts.

Earlier in the year, that kind of love and practice took out Kama Suture's collarbone, followed by Eris Discordia's just a few weeks later. If love hurts, that's a lot of love. Thursday before the Charm City bout, Roxy and Teflon shared some love, resulting in a bad strain on Teflon Donna's ankle. She could barely walk and came to Charm City on crutches. She tried it out Saturday night and still wasn't sure ... so Tef left the rink and put it back on ice for the rest of the night. Big, purpley and swollen. Nasty.

She skated the bout anyway. I don't think anyone could have stopped her.

Period One

Man, they are big. I'm starting at the front of the pack and the thing that strikes me is, once again, the size difference. I've only ref'ed a handful of interleague games so far and I have to say every team has been bigger than Carolina. Coach Ballbricker is a bonafide amazon. I wonder if she'll have problems with the really small Carolina girls just as some of the really tall Arizona skaters did.

• After the game I talked to some Charm City folks who said they selected their roster using size as a key decision point. You can't teach size but it is only one factor that makes a good derby athlete.

The first jam goes 1-0 in Charm City's favor. The crowd is *really* into the game but there's a bit of something showing on the Carolina skater's and coach's faces. I'm not sure if it is concern, worry or what. The second jam is a Carolina win, but not decisive - the score is still close at 10-8. I'm pretty sure that look is worry.

The track is a bit hard for the Carolina girls to navigate - maybe it's the boundaries (tape over flexible tubing) or maybe the surface. They skated on it the night before and earlier during the day, but there does seem to be a few trouble spots. They also seem to be having problems adjusting to the slower pack speed.

After a few more jams, Carolina has established a pretty commanding lead and carry it into the end of the period. There are some lineups that aren't working quite so well but the Carolina jammers seem to be alternating even-point jams with ones that have a +8 differential in their favor. The score continues to climb steadily in their favor. Joy Collision is jamming about every other jam. She's the real deal ... a potential marquee player similar to Dolly Rocket from Providence.

• Highlight jam 1: The first jam, 1-0 for Charm City. The crowd, if they weren't committed to the game before, are fully invested now seeing their Mobtown Maulers taste first blood.
• Highlight jam 2: The Carolina blockers have the Charm City blockers completely occupied and they don't even see Teflon Donna who zips through the pack unmolested and on her way to an eight or nine points to zero jam. As she clears the pack she makes a little "shame on you" gesture that really gets the fans fired up.

Carolina 62, Charm City 22

The scariest moment of the period came when I realized Eva Lye was skating around holding her shoulder. I didn't see the hit or fall, but she was clearly in pain. She loves the game ... and we've already established that love hurts. She tried to skate the next jam but that's hard to do with a dislocated shoulder. I'm a bonafide sports-junkie and can get emotionally invested in feats of athleticism and determination. Watching Eva try to finish with the hurt shoulder was gut-wrenching. Watching Evil Ed watching Eva Lye was heart-rending. Inspiring, sad and uplifting all at the same time.

• News on Monday is that it isn't a break but she's off contact for 4-6 weeks. Not the best, but certainly not the worst

Before the game I assured the Charm City refs that, even though we thought we were on the same page, something was bound to happen because we're used to doing things differently. The pre-game discussions had us thinking we were similar, but I knew there had to be some sort of catch. Towards the end of the period I called Rosie the Rioter for cutting the track and gave the hand-signal we use. She interpreted the hand-signal as an indication it was a major penalty and went and sat in the box ... 'cause Charm City DOESN'T USE hand signals. Ooops! We corrected the situation pretty reasonably ... and in the future we'll be sure to discuss hand signals and confirm their use before a mixed-ref bout.

Period Two

I've rotated to the rear-pack position and the Charm City girls look just as big from this vantage. It seems like the Maulers have adjusted their strategies a bit too. Maybe they were taken aback during the first period by the amount of hits being delivered by the smaller Carolina girls because now the Charm City girls are laying down a bit of punishment themselves. Whatever it is, there seems to be a lot more defense from both teams. Charm City is doing it at the rear of the pack leaving Carolina to the front.

Carolina seems to be picking up a few 20' penalties at the front of the pack as their pivots are chasing down the Charm City jammers and not letting them escape the pack easily.

• Highlight jam: Carolina jammer is stuck in the pack, Charm City jammer breaks free, gaining lead jammer. Marcy Killer (pivot for Carolina) chases the jammer down and puts her into the crowd. It was beyond 20' and she was given a major penalty, but in the meantime the Charm City jammer now had to get all the way through the pack again. Definitely a penalty, but it affected the point differential on that jam in a major way.

Charm City is better about when they call off the jam as well, leading to a good five or so jams where Carolina scores no points. They seem to be getting lead jammer more this period too, and maybe that's the root of it. Carolina still wins the period but the points for each team are MUCH closer - 30 points for Carolina to 24 for Charm City.

Carolina 92, Charm City 46

Period Three

This period I'm stationed at the rear of the pack again and helping out in the middle. The building is so loud that the ref who's been pulling skaters with four minors can barely talk (he's been screaming over the crowd) - so I start helping with that.

If the Mobtown Maulers can keep this trend working, we actually have a game. It won't be easy, but there's the potential for a bit of a comeback. The announcers know this too and are discussing it - the crowd is cheering before the period even starts. Suz N Wins, guest announcer from Carolina, promises the Carolina Rollergirls will be showing a bit of Southern hospitality during the period.

The clock starts and Teflon Donna posts a 9-0 jam. The teams trade a few jams for even points and then Eris Discordia busts out a 10-point to zilch effort. This seems to quiet the crowd, but not for long as Charm City is winning lead jam A LOT. Carolina seems more intent on getting out of the pack first and scoring points; perhaps they are thinking that Charm City can't afford to call it off if they get lead because they are behind so far.

Even with the score as lopsided as it is, the crowd is still into it; every time the Maulers gain lead jam they erupt with cheers. It seems like Charm City is getting lead jam twice as often as Carolina. It may keep the fans involved, but ultimately doesn't change the outcome. Carolina's adjustments this period are working better than Charm City's and as the clock ticks and the crowd counts down it isn't enough to overcome the sustained pressure and Carolina wins by a near two-to-one score.

• Highlight Jam - Last jam of the game starts, Carolina has their jammer in the box. As I skate by I see it is Charla Maim ready to bust out of the box for her first-ever interleague jam. Congrats on the milestone Charla!

Carolina 140, Charm City 72

Stats & Summary

You guys know I like stats. Some crunchy bits for breakfast today ...

• Shirley Temper has played in every public Carolina Rollergirls event ... EVER. If you're counting I think that's 26 bouts. I AM IRON WOMAN.
• Jammer Points: Teflon Donna led Carolina with 42 points on 9 jams, shadowed by Eris Discordia with 41 points in 7 jams. Joy Collision was the most productive for the Mobtown Maulers with 24 points on 8 jams; Lady Quebeaum was second with 19 on 9. Eris had two 10 point jams, Princess America had one. Joy Collision with 7 on the second jam of the evening was the largest score for the Maulers.
• Lead Jammer: Charm City ruled this stat - Pistol Whip was lead jammer on 6 of 7 jams (85%) for the Maulers, followed by Joy Collision with 5 of 8 (62%). Carolina's best were again Eris at 4 of 7 (57%) and Tef with 5 of 9 (55%).
• Ms. Naughty for the match goes to Coach Ballbricker from Charm City who accumulated 12 minors on her way to a period-ejection. Still they averaged only 4.5 penalties a piece where as Carolina was at 5.5.
• Ms. Nice goes to Krewesader Kate from Carolina who has no penalties. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Empty set.
• This was the first interleague game for Krewesader Kate and Charla Maim for Carolina.
• Returning skaters Faye Tallity and Zella Lugosi were skating with the team again. Faye was hurt earlier in 2006 and Zella gave birth to a baby Lugosi and just returned skating. Rumor has it she was skating within hours after she delivered, but I think it was at least a day.

Another benefit to regional games are the amount of fans that can make it. There were skaters from probably a half-dozen or more leagues in attendance (Philly, Richmond, Dominion ... forget where else). There was also a pretty significant posse of Carolina fans who made the drive. Another 10 or so Carolina skaters were there and probably 20 or so staff, friends, family and relatives. Fairy Brutal, Kitty Crowbar, DVS, Violet Femme, SINCere, Kama Suture I know were there ... DJEsotic & Mr. Temper were there running the video cameras, Evil Ed was snapping stills, Suz N. Wins was a guest announcer and Mort Tallity, Mary Pop-them, Tally-Ho and a bevy of others were in the crowd cheering on the ladies in black and red. Sam (who owns the Skate Ranch where the Carolina Rollergirls practice) was also there. He grew up in Baltimore and was in town visiting relatives. Not only did he make it to the bout but he also helped provide transportation for the team. Big thanks to Sam!

The ref team at Charm City was incredibly easy to work with ... they were the closest to the kind of operational model we use. Yes, there is some debate over some of the calls - there always is. Calls were missed, skaters and refs measure 20' differently, it happens. All in all though the feedback I've seen is that both teams had a blast and that the refereeing was seamless, understood by both teams (except my hand signals) and seemed fair all around. Any game where we call a bunch of penalties and the teams don't think there were any huge problems must mean we were doing something right. I guess that's my only regret of the match ... regional play is great and allows you to drive up and back for a game. We didn't get to hang around too long for an after-event and I'd loved to have spent some more time with the refs. They rock the stripes mightily.

That's that. Don't forget to floss, wear clean underwear when you travel, buy your tickets early ... and when in doubt ask yourself one simple question: What would Kitty Crowbar do?

voodoo

Discuss this on our message boards: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/NCrollergirls/

Don't miss the next bout!