The Portland Expo was packed this past Saturday as Maine Roller Derby's Calamity Janes took on Northeast Ohio's Rock n' Rollergirls. If you haven't been to see one of this high-energy games yet, you really need to check it out. The action is intense and the Maine skaters, now in their third season, really know how to hold their own. Here the home team gets pscyhed up before the bout. Don't you love their uniforms?

With the music blaring, the Calamity Janes took a few warm-up laps. The skaters all have fun derby names, such as Vexacious D, Roxxy Retribution, Terror Byte and Shirley B. Slammin'. Because the Maine affiliate of the Women's Flat Track Roller Derby League has attracted so much talent, it now boasts an A team (Port Authorities), a B team (the Janes) and a group of newbies affectionately called Fresh Meat.

I'm pretty hopeless when it comes to explaining sporting rules, but with help from the very informative bout program, I'll give it a shot. At the start of play a pack of eight blockers (equally split between the two teams) lines up with a pair of pivots at the front. A first whistle means this group starts skating. When the last blocker crosses the start line (officially known as a pivot line), a second whistle blows and the two jammers start skating.

The goal of these two jammers (again from opposing teams) is to make it through and past the blockers. The jammer who makes it to the front then becomes the lead jammer. After the jammers make it around one time, the lead jammer then starts scoring points for her team.

In addition to lots of hard hitting action on the track, I always take advantage of the yummy beverages to be had in the beer garden. These included Gritty's, PBR and gin and tonics. Here the beer garden crowd vies for free PBR T-shirts being tossed into the stands.

We never have trouble getting friends to come out for Maine Roller Derby. Here are some friends enjoying the action from the beer garden: Angie, Adam, Lisa and Dan. (My brother-in-law tells me that if you zoom in on this photo, you can see him making a crazy face from the stands behind Adam's head.)

Even though the final scoreboard reads 116 to 25, the MRD website reports that the Janes actually scored 121 points. Either way, it was a landslide victory for the home team.

After a tasty dinner at Sapporo, a group of us followed the derby girls to the after party at Bubba's Sulky Lounge, where our derby tickets got us in for free. Here we grooved the night away on the lighted dance floor to the sounds of the '80s and '90s. The beers were cold and cheap, and we were thrilled to dance along side these roller derby stars.

Catch the next home bout May 23 when the Port Authorities take on the Dutchland Derby Rollers. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door and kids are $5/$7. You can buy them online at Brown Paper Tickets.