Narf Gets Nostalgic about Skates.
Deep into a past era known in some circles as the 80's the Narf got his first taste of wheel-feet sports. (I'm not sure if that is the official classification.) I don't remember exactly when I saw this flick and I don't remember all the details. What I do remember clearly is a gang of rebellious youth on roller skates battling like minded teens in an all out smashin' crashin' battle. I don't know if the game had a specific name but it was undoubtedly a sport loosely based on Roller Derby. I did not know that at the time. I simply knew that I liked it.
Now lets fast forward a few years to the 70's. I'm sure you nit pickers out there are going to be all "Narfboy, The 70's come before the 80's" and to you I say pfffftttt. This chronology is based not on time and space and when things happened to the rest of the world. This is my misspent childhood here so were going to do it in the order I experienced it. I admit that Rollerball was released to the planet before Solarbabies but I didn't see this gem until I was a bit older. Like it's predecessor(hehe), Rollerball featured people on skates kicking the crap out of each other in the name of Sport. I liked it. I also like the ridiculousness of some chick blowing up a tree with a flare gun but that isn't really important to our story.
Like most kids that were brought up in the 80's I did a little roller rink action. I also skated around a bit out in the concrete jungle and you'll be amused to know that the only time I have ever broken a bone(other than perhaps a toe or two while stalking ice cream in the middle of the night)was while on skates. Those of you who grew up on “in-line” skates will never know the joy of the “hop Step”. If you will look closely at a pair of rollerskates you will see that the front wheels are separated from the back ones by a couple of inches. Rollerblades bridge this gap with wheels. Rollerskates bridge this gap with your face if you don’t get over stuff with the hop step. Basically when you come to a crack or big seam in the sidewalk or parking lot you hop and step(sort of) to get over it otherwise your wheels catch on it and bad things happen to you. Bad things happened to my wrist when I missed one time. What does this have to do with the Lansing Derby Vixens, you might ask? Well…. Nothing really. I just thought it would be fun to do a little backtracking and I think that if I had not enjoyed these two flicks and also enjoyed skating as a youth, I would never have gotten around to seeing a live derby bout. I still skate of course but I use the ol’ inline ones now.
Okey Dokey, lets fast forward to the very recent past and tie all this together.
As most of you are aware, there is this little internet gathering place known affectionately as FaceBook. As I was poking around a couple of days ago I stumbled across an ad for a Roller Derby bout. My curiosity peaked. I contacted the good people who were hosting the event and asked if I could bring my camera.(This is always a good idea. Some venues/events don't allow photography and you should always check ahead of time so you don't have to leave your expensive gear in the car and maybe lose it and a window.) The kind/gracious/awesome/super cute/etc. Lansing Derby Girls of course said yes and so I packed my toys and off I went to the show! It turns out that there is much less blood and death in Roller Derby than in the movies and the rules are a bit different too. If you asked me on pain of death how score is kept in these bouts things would get messy. I suggest you attend one of these as soon as possible and ask one of the ladies to break it down for you. My buddy Pete and I spent a good part of the event debating it and I'm sure we are both still a bit confused. Pete was kind enough to be my transportation to the bout. As many of you know, I have a tendency to get in car kabooms. This time around, my wheels have been in the shop for almost 2 weeks and riding the bus for an hour to get to the Derby would have sucked. (If you're curious, read the car stories blog installment.) Well, in summation, Pete and I saw an incredible match and had an awesome time. The Vixens won while putting on an incredible show and their opponents "The Mid Michigan Derby Girls" played hard and strong. I will be attending more of these.
Now without further ado, there are Pictures and Video! Click to see for yourself how awesome this was.
Click BLUE for my FB Album.
Click GREEN for my Youtube Video.
Now without further ado, there are Pictures and Video! Click to see for yourself how awesome this was.
Click BLUE for my FB Album.
Click GREEN for my Youtube Video.