Rollerblog: Rat City Rollergirls on the road
Seattle Times reporter Jack Broom and photographer Ken Lambert are traveling with Seattle's own Rat City Rollergirls to Tucson, Ariz., this weekend for the first national "2006 Dust Devil" competition.
POSTED 10:05 PM Sunday
Lonestar stars
Two words: Texas Rollergirls. The skaters from Austin dominated the championship bout of the 2006 Dust Devil Sunday night, defeating Tucson Roller Derby 129 to 96.
Long before Texas skater Bloody Mary blew kisses to the crowd in the third and final period, the outcome was certain.
Seattle's Rat City Rollergirls, eliminated Saturday in the third round of competition, were among those cheering on the Texas team.
It was a matter of family. Rat City's Bonnie Collide, aka Sarah Jose, has a sister on the Austin team, Manda Clair, skating under the name Derringer.
And for Seattle Times photographer Ken Lambert's photo retrospective of the Rat City Rollergirls' participation in the event, see the Northwest Life section of Tuesday's Seattle Times.
POSTED 4:30 PM Sunday
Two left in Tucson
The Dust Devil 2006 has come down to this: A showdown in the desert between two teams a lot of roller-watchers regarded at the favorites going in, the hometown Tucson Roller Derby and the Texas Rollergirls of Austin.
If you're not one of the 1,100 fans jammed into the Bladeworld Indoor Sports Center on this 80-degree Arizona day, watch this space tonight for the winner.
POSTED 11:35 AM Sunday
Life goes on
After their narrow defeat at the hands of Arizona Roller Derby, Seattle's Rat City Rollergirls eased the pain by hopping in a caravan of taxi cabs and heading for the outdoor bar of the 1919-vintage Hotel Congress in downtown Tucson.
The beer flowed well past midnight, and for me the most shocking moment came when . . . Oops. Sorry. What happens in Tucson stays in Tucson.
Today, the Rat City team will be in the stands as the final four teams — Arizona, Tucson, Minnesota and Texas — battle it out for rink supremacy.
POSTED 8:25 PM Saturday
They don't get much closer
After 60 minutes of bruising roller action, countless war whoops from the crowd and lead that shifted back and forth like the desert wind, the numbers on the scoreboard finally refused to change, no matter how much Seattle fans wanted them to: Arizona Roller Derby 95, Rat City Rollergirls 93.
Despite Burnett Down's long strides, Femme Fatale's bursts of speeds, Miss Fortune's adroit moves through the pack and D-Bomb's nearly absolute refusal to get knocked off her feet, Seattle's entry in this 20-team tournament Saturday night fell just short of advancing into the final four.
The skaters from Phoenix pulled to victory in the final minutes behind the leadership and maneuvering of their scrappy captain, Sheriff Shutyerpaio, and the swift-skating of Denise Lightning.
Yes, a couple of tears were shed in the Rat City locker room afterward. Even tough girls get the blues. But the talk soon turned to next season, next bouts, next chances.
Finally co-captain Darth Skater, who missed Saturday's action nursing a sore knee, identified the silver lining: "OK you guys," she said. "Now you can all get a beer."
Among those offering encouragement after the loss was Marc Stern, coach of the Windy City Rollers team here from Chicago.
Stern, a roller-derby pro in the 1980s and '90s, met the Rat City skaters as they left their locker room. "You guys should hold your heads up high," he said. "What you've accomplished in just two years is amazing. You skated the game the way it was meant to be played."
POSTED 3:40 PM Saturday
It can't handle the truth
If you had walked in at the end of the Rat City Rollergirl's match this morning, the scoreboard might have been an unpleasant shock. It showed the Seattle-based team with 8 points and the Sin City Rollergirls with 67.
In fact, Rat City actually won the hour-long bout 208-67, its massive point total outstripping the ability of the lighted scoreboard, which couldn't post any number above 199.
The win advances Rat City into the final eight of the 20-team field, setting up an evening match against Arizona Roller Derby of Phoenix.
That won't be any walk in the oasis. Not only is Arizona one of the most experienced teams here, its skaters will be fresh. By winning its division Friday, Arizona became one of four teams allowed to bypass this morning's competition.
POSTED 3:40 PM Saturday
Rat fever rocks the rink
No team, with the possible exception of the hometown Tucson Roller Derby, is packing more and louder fans into the Bladeword arena than Seattle's Rat City Rollergirls.
Dozens of friends, relatives and Rat City skaters who aren't on the traveling team have been cheering and chanting for their heroines, forming roller derby's equivalent of the Seahawks' "12th man." And they're not just coming from Seattle. Scott Voorhees, father of Rat City's "Astro Glide," made the 500-mile drive from his home in Santa Fe, N.M., along with his son, Dmitri, 9.
Before this morning's bout, Dmitri used a fat marking pen to make a "Go Rat Girls" sign and voiced his admiration for his sister's avocation. "I hope boys start to do it," he said. "It's the coolest sport in my entire life."
POSTED 3:40 PM Saturday
But what does she do for fun?
Rink announcer "Roxi Contin," lives in Tuscon, but knows some of the "Sin City" skaters and offered her insights over the microphone this morning.
"Pirate is a really sweet girl," Contin said of one skater. "The last time I saw her in Las Vegas she was feeding live mice to her snakes."
POSTED 11:59 PM Friday
First hurdle cleared
The Rat City Rollergirls carved up most of their competition Friday night, convincingly advancing into weekend action.
They beat Providence 52-19, dusted Portland's Rose City Rollers 56-7 and toppled the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls of Denver 45-6.
The only blemish on their record came in hard-fought 22-11 loss to the hometown Tucson Roller Derby.
When Friday's number-crunching was finished, Rat City was in fifth place of the 20-team field. But the skaters said they had no time for partying, heading back to their hotel for a pizza and strategy session. Next up: a 10 a.m. Saturday bout against the Sin City Rollergirls of Las Vegas.
POSTED 11:59 PM Friday
Sharing the credit
We caught up with "Drew Blood," Rat City's top scorer, immediately after the evening's round and she was quick to deflect the credit for the smooth passes she skated around opponents.
"Everything is coming right into place now. Everyone knows their job and they do it," she said. "The blockers really parted the waters for me."
POSTED 11:59 PM Friday
The contact is real
Yes, they wear pads and helmets, but bumps and bruises and occasionally more serious injuries are part of the game.
At the end of Rat City's match against Tucson, a Tucson skater went down hard and was taken off the court on a banquet table used as a backboard. Teri McGill, who skates under the name "Tombstone Teri," gave a thumbs-up sign as she was carried away.
Teammates said McGill was taken to a local hospital to be checked for possible whiplash.
POSTED 11:59 PM Friday
I saw that name first
OK, ladies, which is more annoying? To show up at a cocktail party and find another woman in the same dress, or to arrive at a roller derby extravaganza and find another skater with practically the same name?
Imagine the tension: The Carolina Rollergirls have a "Shirley Temper," while Gotham Girls Roller Derby has its "Surly Temple."
Maybe they can settle the matter this weekend. Both squads advanced through Friday's competition.
POSTED 2:51 PM Friday
Warming to the task
Hello, Seattle: If the chill is getting to you up there, take comfort in the fact that your Rat City Rollergirls have been out on their hotel pool deck for a 2 p.m. stretch-and-strategy session in 76-degree sunshine, getting psyched up for their first bout, set for 8 p.m.
We dropped in on them long enough to hear "Astro Glide," aka Kailey Burgess, say what she thinks separates the Rat City players from some less-experienced skaters here. "A lot of girls just hit someone once and back off. But we'll hit and hit and hit and keeping going."
Or as team manager "Tash-ya 'Round," aka Tasha Sawabini put it, "Put the other team on the ground."
In the round-robin format used here, the 20 teams in the tournament are split into four five-team pools, with the top three teams from each pool advancing to the weekend. So by the end of the evening, a dozen teams will be left standing and eight will be packing their skates for the ride home.
POSTED 12:24 PM Friday
But is it my size?
No out-of-town trip is complete without snagging a few souvenirs, but where do I start?
A Texas Rollergirls shot glass for $6? A Kansas City Roller Warriors tank top for $15? Or something spicier, like those pink $12 underpants with the logo of the Bay Area Derby Girls, a pair of high heels on wheels?
No, I think we'll go with that $15 T-shirt from Gotham Girls Roller Derby, all the way from New York City. It shows a scowling Statue of Liberty wearing a set of brass knuckles around her clenched fist. Sort of puts the "grrr" in "girls."
POSTED 12:22 PM Friday
Close to the action
I'm keeping my health-insurance card handy. Today's opening bout between skaters from Austin and Atlanta was barely three minutes old before a three-skater pile-up skidded into the announcer's table two seats from me.
"These girls don't look big but they are tough as shoe leather, my friend," announcer Jeff Mann intoned, barely missing a beat as he salvaged his microphone. I figured that must be about the ultimate rollergirl compliment.
Leaving no doubt that they mean business, Texas won the opening round 70-1.
Seattle's Rat City Rollergirls don't skate until tonight, but most of them were on hand to see the first-round action. Sizing up the Texans, Seattle's "Femme Fatale," aka Cally Sisley, said, "I think we can take them, but it will be a challenge."
POSTED 7:43 AM Friday
Staying up late
So we stayed up until midnight Thursday, the night before competition, to scope out rollergirls arriving from across the country, and can conclusively state that black, with metal accents, is the official fashion theme.
So far, the tallest-hair award goes to Becky Fragua, 20, who skates under the name Cynder Block and sports a black Mohawk a good five-inches tall, although she said it falls a little when she's mixing it up in a roller bout. She's with the Duke City Derby team from Albuquerque, N.M., which made the six-hour drive here in a five-car caravan.
Block wears a circular black patch emblazoned with two messages. One says "I don't care about you." The other, just two words, can't be printed in a family-newspaper blog.
The plastic tile floor at Bladeworld offers more traction than the hardwood dance floor her team usually skates on. That will be good for helping them carve tight corners, she said, but its extra friction makes sliding falls more painful: "You tend to stick to it."
POSTED 7:40 AM Friday
Does your mother know you're here?
I'm a little worried about Samantha Pratt, 23, with Assassination City Roller Derby of Dallas, who wears cat ears and a cat tail into competition.
Not only has she been skating for just a year, but at 5' 1" and 102 pounds she's tiny compared to many of the women she'll be bumping up against.
"Sometimes it's an advantage because they don't see me coming," she explains. But she is a little cautious about taking on so many opponents she's never seen before. "I don't know if I hit them in the legs are they going to fall over — or are they just going to hit me back that much harder?"
POSTED 11:20 AM Thursday
Checking it out
First order of business when we get to Tucson today will be a stop at Bladeworld Indoor Sports Center, venue for the 2006 Dust Devil. Managers are keeping the arena open until midnight to give skaters arriving from across the country a first chance to check out the skating floor – and their competition.
Bladeworld, which holds some 1,100 spectators, is certain to be sold out for every session of the three-day competition, which kicks off 9 a.m. Friday.
Seattle's Rat City Rollergirls are scheduled to skate in the final pool of the day Friday, pitted against Portland's Rose City Rollers, the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls of Denver, Providence (Rhode Island) Roller Derby and the host, Tucson Roller Derby.
POSTED 5:55 PM Wednesday
Sister act
Two members of the Rat City Rollergirls' traveling team have literally skated since the day they could walk, which may not be surprising considering they grew up in a roller rink.
Cally Sisley, 23, who skates as "Femme Fatale," and Devon Tamaccio-Hendrick, 26, aka "D-Bomb," spent most of their childhood at Southgate Roller Rink, built by their great-grandfather more than 70 years ago.
The rink, where the Rat City Rollergirls held their initial turnouts, has since been damaged by fire and is up for sale.
Among the sisters' cheering squad in Tucson will be their mother, Francine Tamaccio, a Rollergirls coach, and another sister, Bryce Tamaccio, 19. Even though Bryce can't be a Rollergirl until she turns 21, word is she has already picked out her skate name: "Sheila Tackus."
POSTED 3:20 PM Wednesday
Texas: The team to beat?
We haven't seen any Las Vegas odds on the Dust Devil 2006, but the favorites have to include the Texas Rollergirls of Austin. Those are the ladies who gave birth to this brand of flat-track, all-female roller derby in 2003.
Not only do they have experience, but according to their Web site, any team that takes on the Texans had better be ready to handle "a ten-gallon drum of whoop ass."
And who in their right mind would mess with skaters who call themselves Lucille Brawl, Cat Tastrophe, Slim Kickins and Buckshot Betsy? (No relation, apparently, to "Birdshot" Dick Cheney who merely shot up Texas, but didn't skate there).
Jack Broom: 206-464-2222 or jbroom@seattletimes.com.