Last night I went to the Expo Center with Chuck to watch the season opening bouts of the Rose City Rollers. For those of you who don't live in Portland (or do, but don't know what this is) here is a little bit of info about this exciting sport that is becoming more and more popular across the country and is beginning to attract a following and participation in other countries as well. The Rose City Rollers is a women's amateur flat track roller derby organization. This isn't the roller derby of the 1960's and 1970's that comes to mind for many people. That was more akin to "pro" wrestling and movies like Unholy Rollers or Bay City Bomber capitalized on the sensationalism and helped prevent any legitimization that those involved in roller derby at the time may have desired. There is a pretty good article in Wikipedia ("http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_roller_derby) on the history of roller derby if you want to know more.
The first event I went to, about four years ago, unfortunately left me vowing to not go to another one. They oversold the event, had overpriced beer and food, overpriced parking (and wouldn't allow two motorcycles to pay and occupy one space - boo!) and I ended up leaving at halftime. I was impressed with the athleticism, competition, and excitement that the women displayed and was genuinely sorry that I didn't want to go back. Fast forward a year or so. Chuck's girlfriend, Melissa (aka Punchkin), had made one of the teams, Guns n' Rollers, and was actively playing and was steadily improving her skating skills. She quickly became one of the teams more valuable players. During some of our semi-regular weekly poker games, Chuck kept trying to get me to give roller derby a second chance. Since I now knew one of the players, I eventually gave in and went to another bout. By this time, smaller events were also being held at Oaks Park in The Hanger. This made all the difference to me. It was a much smaller venue, much cheaper tickets prices, slightly cheaper beer, and free parking. Since then, I have been going to every Guns n' Rollers game that I could, including scrimmages and bouts against out of town teams from different leagues. They have come a long way. I find it to be huge fun watching these ladies compete. And they are "real" women. No skinny little model types here. Not to say that these women aren't attractive, because many of them are, but they are more "average" American women, rather than what the "ideal" woman is apparently supposed to be. I think that its great that these women, and many other women around the country, are doing this. They are all amateurs and none of them get paid. They do it because its fun and they love the sport. I have no intentions of stopping to go see bouts. I also do it because its fun and I love the sport. Well, that and I like watching attractive ladies doing battle (or just about anything for that matter). Men are pigs.
http://www.rosecityrollers.com/
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