Roller Derby

Ever since Ellen Page starred in Whip It I've wanted to see a local roller derby bout. Last week a Groupon popped up for the River City Rollergirls' season opener at the Richmond Convention Center. We decided to get a refresher on roller derby rules by watching Whip It again (because movies translate directly to reality, right?) but it actually helped a lot in figuring out how to identify the blockers/ pivots/ jammers, exactly what a jam is, and ways teams can score points. (You can read about it here.)

Poe's Punishers (one of the Richmond teams) slammed the Charlottesville Derby Dames with a final score of 186-100. Even though Ellen Page and Kristen Wiig weren't on the track, it was still really exciting the see the heavily tattooed gals in fishnets ramming into each other on old school roller skates. They even have clever don't-mess-with-me names like Traumagotchi, KGBeast, and Rude McSlamahan.