First Gotham bout... I got MVP

May 22, 2010

I totally stole this article from Gothams website Gothamgirlsrollerderby.com

NEW YORK, May 22 – For 30 minutes, Saturday’s Gotham Girls Roller Derby bout between the Manhattan Mayhem and the Queens of Pain was a near carbon copy of the first half of their last meeting nearly a year ago. But while in 2009 Manhattan parlayed a dominant second half into a lopsided victory, this one wasn’t truly decided until the final jam, as Manhattan pulled away for a electrifying 94-84 victory for a sold-out crowd at Hunter College.

The win, Manhattan’s first of the 2010 season, is also their second in a row over the three-time GGRD champions, who are winless in four league bouts since winning their last title in 2008.

Suzy Hotrod, the 2009 league MVP, led all scorers with 48 points; Manhattan’s Em Dash led the Mayhem with 37 points. Earning game MVP honors were Manhattan’s debuting transfer Swede Hurt and Queens’ Donna Matrix.

Eager to get back in the win column while evening the score with last year’s conquerors, Queens came out fast at the opening whistle, jumping to a commanding 28-7 lead, with half of those points put on the board by Suzy Hotrod. But behind a patient attack and rock-solid defense, along with some costly Queens penalties, Manhattan clawed its way back into the bout, and a 24-0 run in the final three jams deadlocked matters by halftime.

With the outcome of the bout to be decided by the final 30 minutes, Manhattan dug into its bag of tricks in the second period, with reliable standbys Em Dash, Sweet Sherry Pie and Fisti Cuffs teaming up with talented rookie Anne Frankenstein to score the first 15 points of the half. Unlike last year’s bout though, this one was far from over, and with Hyper Lynx, Ana Bollocks, and Donna Matrix keeping things close, it set the stage for Suzy Hotrod to give Queens the lead 74-72 in the 30^th jam, which came with less than 10 minutes to go.

The lead was short-lived, as a 9-0 jam from Anne Frankenstein put Manhattan back in front, and while the Mayhem wouldn’t relinquish their advantage thanks to stellar blocking and big hits from Fisticuffs, Swede Hurt, and GalXC, Queens stayed within striking range, putting the bout on the line in the final jam.

It was the perfect way to end the crowd-pleasing matchup, but as Suzy Hotrod broke loose from the pack as the lead jammer with her team trailing 89-84, she was whistled for a major forearm penalty (one of 87 Queens penalties, to 57 for Manhattan) and sent to the box. Manhattan’s Em Dash took advantage and finished the bout with a five point jam that secured the 10-point win.

Manhattan, a finalist for last year’s GGRD title, joins defending champions the Bronx Gridlock atop the GGRD standings with identical 1-0 records. The two will meet in the league’s next home bout at Hunter College on June 12^th.

This full Manhattan-Queens bout, along with skater profiles, replays, and commentary, will air on NYC live (Channel 25) on Wednesday night, June 2, at 11:30pm.

- Thomas Gerbasi

Period 1 Period 2 Total

Queens 46 38 84

Manhattan 46 48 94

Queens MVP: Donna Matrix

Manhattan MVP: Swede Hurt

Leading Queens Scorers:

Suzy Hotrod: 48 points (15 jams)

Hyper Lynx: 18 points (10 jams)

Puss 'n' Glutes: 12 points (6 jams)

Leading Queens Blockers:

Donna Matrix: 22 jams (-4 +/-)

Ana Bollocks: 18 jams (-12 +/-)

Haulin' Cass: 16 jams (-6 +/-)

Leading Manhattan Scorers:

Em Dash: 37 points (17 jams)

Anne Frankenstein: 22 points (7 jams)

Fisti Cuffs: 19 points (5 jams + 1 star pass)

Leading Manhattan Blockers:

Sweet Sherry Pie: 24 jams (-15 +/-)

Miss American Thighs: 20 jams (+25 +/-)

Swede Hurt: 17 jams (+4 +/-)

Manhattan penalties:

Minors: 49. Majors: 8. Box Trips: 15

Queens penalties:

Minors: 65. Majors: 22. Box Trips: 35

Queens vs. Mayhem

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Some legit pictures from Jules...

A tilted weekend

I spent the past few days in LA with one of my best friends, a Doll she is, a doll that prefers the tilted track over the flat. She has her point, I have mine, I love flat track derby, and I will never leave the flat track for banked track. But as I see it, one thing doesn’t have to cancel out the other, so I do it both. By day I’m Swede Hurt, a flat track girl belonging to Gotham, by night I’m Berglöf, a member of Team Legit. Team Legit are flat track girls that once in a while tie our skates on to hit the bank track and show that flat trackers can go both ways. Legit comes from flat track leagues all-over US to challenge ourselves and have lots of fun together. It is different to skate bank track, it is faster but still everything else applies, the rule set that LA plays with, are almost like WFTDA but the jams are only a minute and the jammer in front is always the lead jammer, so lead jammer might change during a jam. I love to skate on the bank but I love the flat track a little more, maybe because the competition in flat is so much greater. I don’t know, but derby is derby, no matter if it is played on banked or a flat track. And I adore derby, no matter what it is played on, ad long as the rules are safe and sound and the hits are hard and legal.
I don’t mind being bi-track-sual at all… and I have made one of my best friends on the bank. Ah, Krissy Krash, Krazy Kat lady, she feeds me shakes and take me to skate on the beach, and without Team Legit I probably would never have met her.

From NYC and flat track to LA and banked track...

Catching a flight in the morning has never really been my strong side, but just the anxiety of missing the flight make me not able to sleep the night before. So I always get on the flight and pass out. Being in NYC there are usually two ways to get to the airport, either by a cab or by public transportation, last time I took a cab they ended up reversing on the freeway after they missed the airport exit. So ever after that I feel like I should take the safer way, and that would be the E or A train (if I’m going to JFK). So I decided to relay on my little blue dot on my iPhone to guide me to the E train at 4 o’clock in the darkest of Queens. It was raining, the bus didn’t come and I ended up walking for 45min until I found the train. So I guess I am about as horrified by public transportation as taking a cab… This morning it actually went a little smoother, maybe because I now live 2 min from the A train and my flight wasn’t as early as I usually book them.

So I made it to LA, to the other coast with palms, parking lots for highways and the home of the LA Derby Dolls where my troublemaker twin skates. I did trek the country for this reason, not only to see her, but for a very legit reason, to skate with Team Legit, a purple legit force that are climbing up from the flat track to clash with the LA Derby Dolls this weekend. HOW EXCITING… can’t wait to skate banked track. Twin trouble is crazy, she is running a half marathon the morning before the game, I guess that’s what Amazon women (not me) do to warm-up for a game.

Magicla Sea

I look over the Sound, and the smell of Sea reaches my nose, and I dream away, I grew up by a lake and now I reside by the Sea, it’s a sound, but still carries the smell of the open Ocean. I want to plunge in, swim away and maybe dissapear like a magical creature… Water has always been my element, born a Capricorn with a claim to be a unicorn, I have trotted trough the world of possibilities to become a water living creature.

I want to sit by the water and play a harp or a violin, like the mythical creatures of long lost fairy tales, I want to dance on the summer mists of the Sea like a fairy and I want my hair to smell like seaweed as of a mermaid mane. I once danced the nights away, now I mostly sleep them away, wishing I were rocked on a boat, forever and ever.

Growing up my family spent weeks on the water, in a sailing boat, it was small but carried the four of us. I learned to navigate, to be on the open sea with no land and only the sun, glaring in its own Swedish summer heat. I loved those summers, we slept at islands with names and no names, they were small and they were large and we had wind in the sails, from the south and the north.

There were nights when the storms hit us, and the anchors came loose, and when the boat just wouldn’t stop throwing my child body around in the tiny room under noose that I called mine. I remember those summers as the fondest memories of my past, they are trapped in a capsule of time, that I can never relive, because that was then and this is now.

And I am not sure if it makes me happy or sad…

Memories that hurt

Springtime in Seattle and I woke up just to roll over, looking into the greenest eyes in the world, when love hits, it hits hard. It had hit me so hard I was in pain, every nerve in my body was telling me to get out. The greenest eyes smiled at me, kissed me, I smiled back and wrapped my naked arms and legs around the woman that would be my fall. There with arms and legs tangled up in each other I knew I was lost, and mapquest would not be to any help at all.

We did laugh into each others breath... We did climb trees, jump bushes and there was mornings with coffee, rolled up naked bodies and tears. I sat in the bar while she was working, wondering why life was so perfect until we fell apart, until she walked away and I hated her, for a brief moment, just because it could have been all so great.