Sunday, February 21, 2010

Phew...as my new NSO goddess Talon says: "Your welcome. now your bout cherry has been popped. funtimes- derby love. "

Where to begin on such a night as this...?

How about with the last thing I remember, which was Friday night trying to get to sleep and thinking how if I can't sleep, no one who is playing tomorrow can sleep...(Turns out, most people slept....some didn't but most did)...I woke up about 7:30am Saturday and proceeded to get the E-stuff done first as usual....Next, I had Husbot call the Inns of Sonora to find out about getting down there asap and start preparing for the day...I started printing the forms but not before being stuck on if they should be printed in color or not and asking the yahoo stats group about it..a debate ensued and I had left the house and lost my wireless connection at the hotel...which brings me back to where I started this sentence, the hotel...Inns of Sonora had no idea what we were saying with the reservation...So I called RevRa..hoping I wasn't going to wake her up at 8:30 and mess up her derby sleep...Ok so we called the wrong hotel...innocent mistake...it was actually Days Inn in Sonora that the reservations were held....which brings me back to my wireless connection...the connection that I did not have in my hotel room....Anyways...I could get it in the lobby and didn't really need it too desperately because of the Sweet-Booger slumber party....but I'm getting ahead of myself.... :)

There I was with three unfilled NSO positions, but thankfully Talon was able to come up and omg..I would have died without her...not to mention Buck N Krazy, All Nate Long, Graves, Tripp Hazard, Doc Sinister (who had the room next to ours with Mrs. Sinister), Hurtz O Good, Split Decision, Refer B, Mermad, Bill Boyd, Cody and Cody's girlfriend (she's kind of denying this girlfriend thing but whatever she was great),  Red Hot Ta Molli, Allison Blansit, Steve Harrigan, Shawa "Pirahna" Cavendar, Amanda Sexton from Atomic Assault, (oh did I mention the score? 162-59 Atomic won...), & Jayleen Bullock the Co-Head NSO...

Got to the room and dropped off my stuff and my husband and went to the arena to help setup. Sheeda Bomb was not only the MVP Pivot of the night, but also kicked ass making the Atomic Assault comfortable in the locker room. Nice decorations.Did some work here and went back to the room to figure out what to wear. 

Next I remember seeing Talon like a desert mirage and me and her getting our stuff together for the 7pm NSO meeting which coincided with the Refs meeting...it was cute when we came downstairs and the refs were just coming out of the Zebra Locker Room (Tripps term), and we met in the middle and marched out to work the bout. During my meeting I giggle now thinking of what I told my first group...Write legibly, Concentrate, Don't have any blank spots and clear any weirdness with the ref BEFORE the next jam starts, hmm what else did I say..let me look at my notes. Ah, a false start is not counted as a new jam, and above all DO NOT CHEER! :) I must have zinged off a thousand questions to Talon, each time my face more and more weighted with concern...(Ugh...the players must have been freaking out!)

Just before we got out on the floor though, I found out that the Jam Timer, the position I chose, is normally a Refs Crew position, and that I was also to START the jams. Well see that is not something I knew, planned for or learned how to do. So THANK THE DERBY STARS that Buck N Krazy was kind enough to start the jams, and as he did he taught me so many new things...Here's the deal with my jam timer position, not in the order I learned these facts: I need two stop watches, one for the 2 minute jam, and one for the 30 seconds that the teams have to line up on the track, When the 30 seconds starts at 20 seconds I am to raise my arm up like one of the hand turn signals for a car without lights, forget which turn now though, and say SKATERS READY, something like that ...and then at 30 seconds put my arm down and then Buck N Krazy, the Head Ref blows the jam starting whistle, but I guess I do that now, gotta clarify that with him. Also part of this position is the team time out timer, one minute. The team time out is different than an official time out, I stop the watches when that happens.

Ok so YES I admitted openly that I owe my team and Atomic Assault 2 minutes. The first jam an Atomic Assault player called off the jam, but then was sent to the penalty box..or so it seemed to me..I guess what happened was that she was sent to the box before she called off the jam and so the jam did not in fact end when I thought it had..there weren't four whistles blown and the jam continued...the Buck N Krazy came over and asked me if it was 2 minutes yet, first I said No, then it dawned on me what happened..THEN the ref blew the whistle and I had in fact blown my first timing... :) so I owe them....

The bout...might be a good time to mention that Atomic Assault has played 6 bouts and the High Country Hellcats  have played zero as of the start of this bout so in my own opinion now..that is not quite fair, but also must have shown the Hellcats that they are strong and can do more than they think because Talon tells me there have been way worse losses at first bouts...one she mentioned was like 100 something to 4.. That made me happy to hear even though I couldn't even tell the score from where I was so I thought they were doing spectacular..not winning I guess, but were playing like winners. 

I saw one of my co workers and her very nice son at the bout, another lady that I and a lot of people in town know was there..my friend Nick from the library and hmm....I think that's all I knew well or saw of people I knew in the crowd...knew by name anyway...that was nice to see them there. I didn't see Mark Truppner from KVML there tho, that worries me. Hope he didn't come and go or something worse. 

First thing after the bout ended and the place was emptying I went to get my first St. Stans beer of the day...I mean I even bought the Hellcats plastic cup and sticker so I could get the 7.00 St. Stans in it...not to mention I bought one of every shirt we were selling in the proshop...(Thanks Regina and Sirena! - And Sirena had to seal with the crowd outside and some people were hassling her..not cool. and neither was our door setup but we'll fix that next bout.) The beer tap was either empty or stopped working so no after bout beer for me until the after-party..which turned out to be held at Steve's Place down the street because Logger's power was out...The same person owns both places so it was like that Seinfeld episode where the lady owns Putamayo and Cinco De Mayo 

Here comes the track rope story....so I went to pick up the track rope behind Coach Quad Queen as she pulled up the tape....as I wound it around my arm I saw Buck N Krazy coming towards me with the other end of the rope wrapping up on his arm (and in much better order than my rope too I might add), and it was like the start or end of a derby romance I could write...how they met with the track rope ends in hand and fell in love (imagine the Disney 101 Dalmations is it? Where the dogs meet in the middle with the spaghetti in their mouth..), it was cute and cracked me up...thanks for that Buck N Krazy..funny.

Steve's was packed and awesome and fun and every other word I'd have to consult a thesaurus to find to describe how much fun that was there! Thanks to the bartenders, Monica and the lady from Loggers who came over because they were overwhelmed busy...

Then it was near last call and now we near the end of the bout and the start of everything else....I had thought that Nicki Spitts and other girls would get rooms but no....it was me and Husbot and a lot of the Atomic Assault...so Booger Dawson, me and H-bot went back to the room and had the best time yacking until like 4am....first we raided a gas station snack shop and me n Booger bought Husbot a cool hat... We took all the food and as I said..yacked the night away...great time...We went to sleep and of course had to be back at the arena by 9am to clean up, or we would not be participating in the next event. I guess the people who didn't show up to clean up know who they are....

We got up cleaned the arena, some of us went to breakfast, (Sheeda Bomb, AMMO, Mighty AFROdite and AMMO's family and Hurtz O Good, a way cool ref. Then we went to unload Mighty's truck full of chairs at the Sheriff's Posse (thank you to them) and we were all done by about 2pm I guess it was...

I'm sure I'm forgetting all the fun parts...oh like Booger this morning, autographing the trashy novel we brought to read in bed last night...but we couldn't stopped talking about the day, and the last year and everything else under the sun....

I'm done, but suppose I'll just apologize for rolling over so many times while sleeping with Booger Gerle...She had some serious track rash on her shoulder and oh man, her hip again...so sorry to her if I woke her up...As I mentioned this morning at breakfast, now that I've slept with Booger I guess she has to be my derby wife... ;) *HEH*!

XOXOX
-Sweet Alyce...a not so sad anymore retired derby girl turned NSO....


Don't forget to check out the pictures, taken by a lot of people, Russell Reno Limprecht, Jasper Boyd and Pierce Jensen (aka husbot) on facebook and the videos on the MDG youtube channel..





P.S. I realized another reason that makes me know that I made the correct decision about not playing roller derby for now, I needed to use Talon and the next time, Mermad's arms to get off my knee when we took a knee for downed skaters... :( *ouch*

Friday, February 19, 2010

Top ten roller derby nicknames in the U.S.A.

...
10. Demonica Lewinsky
, DC Rollergirls
9. Erin Dropabitch, River City Rollergirls
8. Teeny Mussolini, Dockyard Derby Dames
7. Gloria Hole, Brewcity Bruisers
6. Mazel Tov Cocktail, Blue Ridge Rollergirls
5. Joan Cougar Mentstrualcramp, Big Easy Rollergirls
4. Leave it to Cleavage, Sonoma County Roller Derby
3. Risky Bitchness, Syndicate Roller Girls
2. Slaybia Majora, Rose City Rollers

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Vegan Derby Skates!!

Vegan Derby Girl

I recently decided to go for it and join the local roller derby league, and I had no idea what I was in for when I did!

If you know me, you know that I try to incorporate my crafty nature into everything I do, so lets just say...keep your eyes open for some awesome derby related crafts in the near future!

So what do you do if you are vegan AND you want to be a kick butt derby dame? Well, you buy vegan roller skates, of course!





If you are just looking to go to an open skate here and there, or dont want to be left out when your friends go and rent those nasty leather skates...these skates would be a great option! They are also VERY affordable.


If you are looking to do roller derby and represent animals and vegans by rejececting the typical leather shoes, Riedell now makes a vegan roller derby skate! I researched online and these skates are pretty new to the market, but all of the reviews I have read have been excellent. They arent much more than most Riedell non-vegan skates, and a local skate shop gives a 10% discount to all roller derby people! It has been about 3 weeks now since I special ordered my vegan skates, a first for the shop I went to, and I am so excited that they will be in early next week! I got the exact ones in the photo, but I opted to upgrade to a metal plate instead of the nylon as I am a bigger woman.

Whether you plan to just go skate with friends, or you want to kick some butt on the track playing roller derby...you dont have to compromise your beliefs or sit it out becuase these days we have options! I have also started a blog and facebook fan page where I will chronicle my journey from uncoordinated bike riding vegan to vegan derby girl! Not interested in roller derby? That's cool, I will also be posting workout tips, pre workout recipes and general healthy living blog posts as well!

Go Vegan, Thrash The Derby Track With Your Veggie Powered Skates!

Posted by: Heather from

Monday, February 15, 2010

Training Links

 
Yoga for skaters - http://bit.ly/9bDuAa
Off Skates training for skaters - http://bit.ly/9vxENz
Land Training for skaters - http://bit.ly/RDC5C
Dryland exercises for skaters - http://bit.ly/6YpNVy
Getting in shape for next season - http://bit.ly/7ir7J7
Cross-training with bad knees - http://bit.ly/6Pm7il
Get comfortable on your skates - http://bit.ly/cI4f6F
Eating to maximize your workout - http://bit.ly/cmARuD
Basic Line drill - http://bit.ly/bUhcmV
Sarto Start - http://bit.ly/6Ujb0R
Get low - http://bit.ly/9wBFzT
No.. really - http://bit.ly/81LCue
I'm serious - http://bit.ly/3rFJFk
Round or Straight Back - http://bit.ly/aQ3pHB
Eww cramps - http://bit.ly/93K3B1
Game day food - http://bit.ly/bLg0Hn
Skating hangover - http://bit.ly/2QzW53

Friday, February 12, 2010

Val Capone....Married to Derby...

[Val Capone is awesome...also a great announcer during bouts too....Here Geek To Me interviews Val for Chicago Now she talks about what it takes to be a bad ass roller derby girl...

Last night at practice I tried out the NSO situation...I can't remember the last time I felt this sort of sadness...being off-skate stinks like rubber on rye bread.]

The Geek and the Roller Girl
user-pic

Last week I shared my talks with former roller derby girl Tequila Mockingbird and returning roller girl Kola Loka.  Now I present to you my video interviews with Windy City Rollers fan-favorite Val Capone.  We recorded them during the WCR opener last weekend.  Enjoy!



Val Capone talks about being a Star Wars Nerd after the jump!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Evil Alice of the Bad Apples - Sacramento, CA 1st Bout Dec. 09 @ Red Red


[Thanks to Evil's mom for sending me this link!]




Sweet Alyce. Web Mistress, Co-Head Non Skating Official, PR Contact, Display Case Maker


Ok...I guess I can live with this decision for now...Coach Quad Queen was very nice in saying that anytime I want to skate a scrimmage or what not that I am welcome to come back to skating...Made my heart feel better...

At least I don't have to use this blog as a way to track my attendance anymore....so now I can just yack and yack at will...which is what I'll do...My blog will still be about derby...just different than it was before...More derby art...photos I take of my league...the challenges of being an NSO for the five home bouts this coming year....etc...

I came across this blog post yesterday that made me so nostalgic. Reminded me of the day I discovered roller derby....











*

This person, (Jonny Stranger),  interviewed Catalac from TXRD Hellcat's team. I remember her from the Roller Girls DVD series. I wish the interviewer would have asked her about her injuries over the years...I'm curious...She's been playing since 2001....that's hopeful.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Two Helmet Bows Down. :(


Hi Mountain Derby Girls and Boys,

It’s with a heavy heart (and helmet bows), that I have to let you all know that I have decided to retire from roller derby, if you can even call it that since I never played the scrimmage or a bout since Nov. 17th when I was injured.

My husband found out he will need to have both of his hips replaced this coming year. It is one reason why I can’t afford to get hurt again right now.


...Redacted...


Thanks to all again for one of the best and most challenging years of my life.

XOXO
-Sweet Alyce 3.14
Retired.

 I just love this photo because I had no idea that Twisted Trixie kissed my helmet until I saw the photo later that night...plus it's the last pic in my skates, and the last one with long hair....