The Glade 4.0

Fack...

Well it seems I will miss you this time around. My wife has plans on going to the UP. If it isn't a plot to murder me by tossing me off that **** bridge, I am sure there will be pictures at some point.

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Raell Kromwell

Roller Derby was just on Somebody's Gotta Do It with Mike Rowe.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Indeed. I forgot to record the episode, but I think it's on demand. I need to look it up.

If I remember the promos right, it was with one of Southern California's banked track leagues. I primarily deal with flat track derby, which is orders of magnitude more popular because it's an easier bout style to produce -- building, storing, and hauling a banked track around is a huge PITA unless you can support a dedicated practice/game space, which is too expensive for the vast majority of derby leagues.

The modern revival of roller derby started in Texas with banked track leagues, but flat track is what took it out beyond a handful of major metro areas to six continents.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Yup. That was a decent look into most leagues' "boot camps" for fresh meat, albeit at a grossly accelerated pace. And talking to the skaters definitely covered the broad strokes of derby culture and community, and why they do what they do. Kudos to the editors for that.

And as I said in Müs' Facebook feed, banked track liability insurance definitely has different stipulations than flat track; there's no way WFTDA insurance would have let him scrimmage that day.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Bumping this in case anybody wants to watch the WFTDA finals this weekend. Sunday's games will be streaming online on ESPN3; most cable/satellite packages with ESPN will have access.

The top seeds are Gotham Girls Roller Derby (NYC, NY), Rose City Rollers (Portland, OR) London Rollergirls (London, UK), and Victorian Roller Derby League (Melbourne, AUS). Teams looking for upsets earlier in the weekend to play Sunday include ones hailing from Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, Austin, St. Louis, Jacksonville, and St. Paul, which is hosting the finals, even.

Also playing on Sunday will be the division 2 finals and 3rd-place game, which will feature the Nashville Rollergirls, Demolition City Roller Derby (Evansville, IN), Sacred City Derby Girls (Sacremento, CA), and the Kansas City Roller Warriors.

Lots of great talent spread all across the country and beyond, so tune in and find your home team!

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

That was a hell of a championship game. Double-digit lead changes, a final minutes rally by the underdog and a very savvy play by the defending champs in the last jam to give them a reasonable chance to fight back.

And Gotham Girls Roller Derby saw their first defeat in sanctioned play in FIVE YEARS. Way to go, Rose City Rollers. That's a game for the ages.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

And an ESPN Article for good measure.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Woo.

Tomorrow, I get to cross the border to work my first derby games in a foreign country!

Okay, so it's Canada, so it only counts as foreign if Trump wins. But still, it's an excuse to put the flag on my shirt...

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Don't forget your passport.

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Raell Kromwell

Yup.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Oops. Forgot to update here...

In case you missed Sportscenter a week and a half ago, here's the write-up and Sportscenter clip for the WFTDA Championships on ESPN.

You can still hit up the ESPN 3 archives to watch the full coverage of the Division 1 and 2 championship games.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Just going to point out that WFTDA Playoff season is rapidly approaching. The Division 2 playoffs and champs are going to be in one weekend this year, played on two tracks in Pittsburgh August 18-20. Division 1 playoffs are split between Seattle, Dallas, and in the first non-North American playoff to date, Malmö, Sweden, all taking place in September. The top 4 teams from the three D1s will go to Philadelphia, November 3-5 to play for the Championship and bring home the Hydra. (Elmo, Foamy, and Oonagh, take note! I know you're in the Philly area...)

I'll be penalty box timing at Pittsburgh, and scoreboard operating in Malmö (so if you get the WFTDA.tv pass to stream it, I'll be responsible for the input that gets piped to the overlay).

Information for brackets, tickets, and streaming passes (and last year's WFTDA.tv archives) can all be found at the WFTDA Tournament Central site.

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

So after three years of tournament travel, I've been invited to officiate the WFTDA International Championships this November in Philadelphia. Kind of a big deal in the derby world. For reference, I'll be one of 63 officials working the tournament (in three crews), which will feature the 12 teams that finished the 3 qualifying playoff tournament in the top 4. I'll be working the penalty box, which is one of my favorite positions.

As always, if you want to watch and aren't local to Philly, you can stream it online through WFTDA.tv for, I think, $20 for the weekend, which will include 16 of the 17 games Friday, November 3rd through Sunday, November 5th.

But Kaffis, you ask, what about that seventeenth game? I'm glad you asked. Because for the first year ever, instead of streaming in the US, the Championship game will be broadcast live on ESPN2, at 6pm EST on Sunday the 5th. This will be the third year the WFTDA has partnered with ESPN (the prior two have resulted in streaming the medal games on one of ESPN's streaming-only channels), and I can't recommend it enough. The WFTDA/ESPN partnership has worked hard to make the joint presentation a high-production-value, informative entry point into the sport.

And, of course, if you can make it out to Temple University, the action will be live all weekend at the Liacouras Center. Ticketing information can be found on the WFTDA site.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades