Usually as I sit there keeping my stats at a roller derby event, I do so with my full concentration. I rarely let things happening around me effect what I do. But last Saturday night as the second half of the Rat City/Bay Area bout unfolded down below me at the KeyArena, I admit that I pretty much forgot to continue the process of my stat keeping. Oh, I still kept the jam-by-jam score. But within the building, there was something much more special unfolding in front of the 5100+ fans in attendance.
Really, it all started during the team introductions. As Bay Area was introduced, each name was greated by a shower of "boos" coming down from the stands. Nothing incredibly hostile, mind you. Just booing in the "we want our team to beat you" type of way. Within most of the roller derby community (perhaps outside of an Oly Rollers bout), this was something that you rarely see in the sport these days. And I actually thought that was pretty cool.
Then during the Rat City introductions, the crowd loudly cheered their team with certain fan favorites like Juliet Bravo, Re-AnimateHer and Valtron getting some special attention from the gallery. With the crowd already energized and the usual bells and whistles that go along with a Rat City bout at the KeyArena, this game already had the feel of a professional sporting event. And the thing hadn't even officially started yet!
The two teams started out relatively evenly in the opening stages of the first half. B.A.D. Girls jammer Astronaughty struck first on the night with a 3-0 run in the opening jam of the game. Then after a scoreless second jam, Rat City jammer Carmen Getsome earned lead jammer and posted 8 points up on the board to give Rat City the lead. However, Getsome found herself being directed to the penalty box during the later stages of that jam and had to sit there during the next jam and watch Bay Area jammer Astronaughty reclaim those 8 points to give the lead back to the B.A.D. Girls. Then while still holding the lead at 17-14 heading into the 7th jam, Astronaughty once again made herself known to the Seattle crowd as she hit the first double-digit jackpot of the night with a 10-0 decision over Primp Daddy.
From that point on, the rest of the first half was dominated by Bay Area. Over the final 12 jams of the half, the B.A.D. Girls were able to claim lead jammer in 8 of those runs and posted points in another 8 of those jams. Meanwhile the Rat City offense struggled almost as much as their defense did as they were able to score points in only 5 of the final 12 jams of the first half. Once the first thirty minutes was complete, Bay Area held a 60-30 lead. And to most in the audience, it felt like it was a lot larger lead than that.
Of course, down by 30 points at halftime the crowd milling around the KeyArena concourse was somewhat subdued. It seemed pretty obvious to most everyone that Bay Area was controlling this game in just about every way possible. Of course when people asked me, I told them what my overall formula for Rat City getting back into the game would be. But the main thing I emphasized was that Rat City HAD to come out strong and set the tone to start the second half.
And boy, did they ever do that.
It started off with Carmen Getsome earning lead jammer and racking a 9-0 decision on the board in the first jam. Then in the second jam, Kamikaze Kim earned herself a 4-0 lead jammer run that catapulted Rat City right back into the game. Ivy Profane earned lead status for Bay Area in the next jam but earned only a single point as Carmen Getsome was closing in fast for a scoring run of her own. Things still seemed to be slowly shifting back over to Bay Area in the fourth jam as Chantilly Mace earned lead jammer during the initial pass. However, after picking up three points, she was sent to the penalty box for an infraction. This gave Kamikaze Kim the time to pick up 9 more points for Rat City, thus closing their deficit down to only 12 points.
I can actually pin-point the time when my usual blocking stat keeping went flying out the window. It happened in the 5th jam of the second half. Carmen Getsome had earned lead jammer status for Rat City which got the crowd pumped up a little more. Then Bay Area jammer Ivy Profane tripped over her own blocker. Which sent the crowd into a frenzy. Carmen only picked up four points for Rat City in that jam, but the crowd in the Key was going nuts at that point.
It got even crazier in the 6th jam when Re-AnimateHer broke out of the pack first, but without lead jammer status (prompting the teeneaged boy sitting behind me to proclaim "I want to marry Re-AnimateHer"). But after Mater completed her second scoring pass that gave Rat City their first lead since early in the first half, she attempted to call the jam off. Oops! The jam ref didn't fall for it and gave her a minor. Unfortunatley, this was also the Rat City jammers fourth minor, which led to a trip to the sin bin. So in theory, this gave Bay Area jammer Chantilly Mace the chance to finally break out of the pack (the Rat City defense had held her in since the start of the jam) and maybe make some points up. However, it didn't turn out the way Bay Area wanted to as Mace was sent packing to the pokey not too long after Mater sat down. Still, once the jam was over with, Rat City had reclaimed the lead at 65-64 to the roaring approval of the 5100+ in attendance.
Carmen Getsome extended the Rat City lead a little bit with a 3-0 decision in the 7th jam. Then in the 8th jam, Ivy Profane was able to earn lead jammer status during her initial pass. However, Rat City blocker X-Khan was able to reel-in the Bay Area jammer before she exited the engagement zone and kept her from hitting the open track for a scoring pass. Once Re-AnimateHer was able to break free from the pack for Rat City, Ivy called the jam off, thus letting Rat City dodge one big bullet.
Once again, Carmen Getsome earned lead status in the 9th jam and was able to make a pair of scoring passes. However, during her second scoring pass, she was asked to leave the track and spend some time in the penalty box by a referee. Even though she picked up an 8-4 decision in that jam, Carmen had to sit in the sin bin during the early stages of the next jam and hope her defense could come through.
Well, Carmen Getsome's hope became a reality. During her initial pass, Rat City blocker Juliet Bravo was able to coax Bay Area jammer Chantilly Mace into taking a penalty. This allowed Getsome to exit the penalty box and earn lead jammer. Although the jam ended in a 0-0 draw, Rat City once again played the role of Houdini almost to perfection.
However, it was at this point that Bay Area once again took control of the game. Seemingly unfazed by the rambunctious Rat City crowd, Ivy Profane and Astronaughty went on a 21-0 scoring binge over the next three jams that gave Bay Area the lead once again. But instead of feeling down, the KeyArena crowd began encouraging their hometown heroins with chants of "Rat - City - Rat - City" over and over again.
And it seemed to work. Getsome got things going in a positive manner for Rat City by claiming a slim 2-1 decision in the 14th jam of the second half. Then in the 15th jam, Juliet Bravo took the jammers panty and slapped it on her lid for Rat City. During the initial pass, Bravo was able to earn lead status while blockers Wile E. Peyote, Sirius Mischief, X-Khan and sHedonist did an outstanding job of keeping Bay Area jammer Astronaughty within the pack. While that was happening, Bravo was able to pick up 6 points on a pair of scoring passes and pulled Rat City back to within 6 points.
But if there is one thing you can say about Bay Area, it's the fact that they never seemed to panic throughout all of this. While on this wild roller coaster of a second half, the girls in gold simply continued on the path that got them there in the first place. Using a solid four jammer rotation (although it was mostly three jammers with a fourth one tossed in now and then to give the main three a little longer break) and a pair of solid blocking packs, Bay Area simply kept plugging away by seemingly staying in their own little comfort zone. And this all seemed to pay off for them in the 16th and 17th jams of the second half when usual suspects Ivy Profane and Astronaughty pushed Bay Area a little further away from Rat City by going on a two jam 8-3 scoring run that put them up by 11 points with time running out on the clock.
The KeyArena crowd hadn't given up on Rat City yet. And Rat City hadn't given up on the game yet, either. After a 0-0 draw in the 18th jam, Juliet Bravo once again donned the jammers cap for Rat City in the 19th run. And during the initial pass, Bay Area jammer Ivy Profane couldn't find a way around Rat City blocker Valtron. While that was happening, Bravo was able to earn lead jammer status and quickly dialed-in a 5-0 grand slam scoring run that pulled RCRG back to within 6 points with barely enough time on the clock to run one more jam.
With the crowd on it's feet doing everything they could to enable Rat City to a win, Re-AnimateHer took to the jammers line one more time against the deadly Astronaughty. Two skaters entered the rear of the pack. But on the other side of the pack, it was Astronaughty who had broke out first and earned lead jammer. With Mater still trying to find her way out of the pack, the Bay Area jammer picked up a grand slam before calling the jam off with no time left on the clock. When it was all said and done, Bay Area had claimed a HUGE 103-92 win on the road.
Three Stars
3. Valtron. Before I got all swept-up in what was happening out on the track and ceased keeping blocking stats, Valtron was leading the Rat City blockers in statistics on my sheet. And even after that happened, she seemed to always be in the thick of things when it came to stuffing the Bay Area jammers while Rat City was on the comeback trail.
2. Demanda Riot. The Bay Area blocker clearly showed the KeyArena crowd why she is still considered one of the very best blockers in the nation. On my incomplete blocking sheet, she was leading the entire game in blocking statistics by a pretty good margin. She was also a huge reason for Bay Area's early climb to the lead during the first half and was also a key contributer to her team's effort to fight back and eventually win the game.
1. Astronaughty. The Rat City defense had an extremely difficult time stopping her jamming exploits all night. She led the game by scoring 46 points in 12 jams, 8 of which she earned lead jammer status. Late in the game, she also was able to force lead jammer Re-AnimateHer to call a jam off by simply breaking out of the pack and hanging with the Rat City jammer. The Bay Area jammer was definitely one of the biggest reasons...if not THE biggest reason...her team went home with the victory on Saturday night.
Key Jam of the Game
I mentioned it in the "Three Stars", and still thinking about it, I would have to go with the 18th jam of the second half. Rat City was still within striking distance and Re-AnimateHer had earned lead jammer. But Astronaughty was able to force the RCRG jammer to call it off with her mere presence out there on the track.
Bad Girl of the Game
See the Rain of Terror/Bruising Altitude recap for the explaination here.
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Well, as I said earlier, I got so caught-up in what all was happening that I unintentionally abandoned my usual blocking stats in this one. This may have been the first time this has ever happened. So I won't post my usual stats on this one in this little area here.
But I will use this space to crow a little bit about what all happened at the KeyArena on Saturday night.
For Rat City, the crowd of just over 5100 people is below average for them (at least for this year). Still, I think it's pretty safe to say that most derby leagues around the world would die for a crowd of 5100 people. But at the same time, this crowd had a much different feel than that of a usual Rat City league bout. Of course during the league bouts, the crowd is generally split into four groups; those who root for the Sockit Wenches, those who root for the Throttle Rockets, those who root for the Derby Liberation Front and those who root for Grave Danger. Simple math says that there are approximately 1500 people or so rooting for any given team at any given time. It creates an atmosphere that is unique in the sports world, for sure.
However, on this night you had 5100 people (at least most of them as I'm sure Bay Area had some fans around the Key, too) all coming together to root for the same team. And they were loud, enthusiastic and passionate about their team. And the bout was being taped for broadcast next month on ROOT Sports here in the Puget Sound area. And all of this is very good. Really, the only thing that would have made it even better for not just Rat City, but all the leagues around here would have been if they had wound up winning the game.
But just like any other sporting event, the perfect outcome can't always happen. And it didn't on Saturday night. But when I was talking to everyone at the afterparty about it, the one thing I said that I REALLY hope shines through on the broadcast is the enthusiasm of the crowd in the KeyArena on Saturday night. Especially in the second half when the range of emotions went from "I hope they don't get beat too badly" to "oh man...they're coming back" to "oh s***, they're ahead" to "oh s***, they're behind again" to "they can still win this thing" to "aww s***, they lost."
That entire bout showed what this sport CAN BE. And what it WILL EVENTUALLY BE. It also proved why when it's a close game that comes down to the very end, there aren't many sports that can rival the excitement roller derby brings you.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the revival of this sport. And while driving home on Saturday night I was wondering to myself if the people who sat down in that bar in Austin, TX that night ever envisioned the sport getting to this point. And I couldn't help but wonder and dream about how much bigger it'll be 10 years from now. If Saturday night was any indicator, I'm thinking the future is looking pretty damn bright for our little sport here.
And I can't wait to live out those next 10 years.....
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