The Thrill of the Spectator
For those unfortunates who missed it, the Port Authorities were victorious once again in their game on September 13th, beating the Montreal New Skidz on the Block 185-59. Check out the recap of the game at Derby News Network for details. Montreal was a great team and very fun to play, and even more fun at the afterparty at Bubba's, instigating many a post-bout challenge, from dance-offs to a rousing game of steamroller (you'd have to be there to believe it).

This coming Saturday, I'm thrilled to get to be a spectator, of sorts, for my favorite team - Maine's "B" team the Calamity Janes. These are my leaguemates and my friends whom I spend every epic three-hour practice with, and much of my non-practice time as well. I'm so excited for their third bout where they'll take on the brand new team from New Hampshire Roller Derby (NHRD). NHRD formed in June 2007 and has been working hard to establish their league and come up to bouting status. They have finally arrived and after a recent mixed-team scrimmage on their own turf and a scrimmage in Providence, RI against the Killah Bees, they're ready for their first official bout. Maine Roller Derby and NHRD have been supportive friends since day one, so it's a thrill to have the two teams finally get to meet on the Expo track.

The Janes are raring to go for this game. Their first two bouts were extremely closely-contested and resulted in the narrowest of heartbreaking losses. Their debut against Providence's Killah Bees came down to double overtime and a final score of 61-63 to the Bees. Their second game, a travel bout against Hudson Valley, was neck-and-neck most of the way through and came down to a three-point loss at 69-66. Needless to say the Janes are more than ready for their first win.

One of the things I love about how our league is structured is that we have the two teams under the Maine Roller Derby umbrella # the Port Authorities and the Calamity Janes # and both teams play in interleague competitions. Some leagues have different structures which include home teams that play against each other in intraleague competition on a regular basis, in addition to a team or two that does interleague bouting. This structure works great for many, but our league is so small that we only have enough people to field two teams, and it would be boring to have two home teams that played each other over and over. Hence we do all-interleague bouts and are united as a whole league. We train with each other at every practice, and whichever team is not playing (plus the skaters who are not yet placed on a team) does all the volunteer work at the bouts, from ticket booth to merch table to scorekeeping and so on.

The scorekeeping table is where I'll be this Saturday, working as a Non-skating Official by running the scoreboard. I'm happy to have this job, though it's also a daunting task. As an Official I am obviously not allowed to stomp and scream and root for my team because Officials are unbiased in their working capacity and must represent that in their dress and demeanor. And of course I truly am unbiased when it comes to accurately reporting the score on the scoreboard. But I usually lose half my voice cheering when I'm watching a bout, so I fear my head may explode from the repressed excitement. At least I'll be able to get some of the pent-up energy out before the game and at half-time when one of my favorite bands, Miss Fairchild, will be entertaining us all with their cannot-keep-from-dancing funk-soul-pop brilliance.

In case you've forgotten, here are the details so you can come and do my cheering for me:

Saturday, September 27th at the Portland Expo
5pm doors and Miss Fairchild plays
6pm the bout starts
Advance tix www.mainerollerderby .com or Bull Moose Music
Donate non-perishable food items at the door to benefit the People's Regional Opportunity Program and receive $2 off adult ticket price.
The afterparty will rage on at the Big Easy, with MORE of Miss Fairchild (free w/ MRD ticket stub, $5 otherwise).