danajohnhill.org | Hard Times Come Again No More

I can, at last, write a bit about the Gainesville Roller Rebels’ debut bout, which took place on Sunday, April 20 at Mandarin Skate Station in Jacksonville. 

First, the Jacksonville Roller Girls have been unbelievably good to the GRR.  They have coached the GRR girls and offered countless pointers, JRG girls have come down to Gainesville, even, to help out: Anita Hardone did a radio interview with Ms. Rebel a few weeks ago to promote the the first bout. 

So, it was beyond kind for the Jacksonville Roller Girls to allow the GRR girls to debut in the context of a mixed-team competition.  Occasionally, derby teams’ first competitions will be against an established teams B-squad.  The Jax Girls don’t have a B-squad, and in a head-to-head contest against the GRR girls a blowout would be certain.  So this competition featured two teams–Preps and Punks–made up of a mix of Jax and Gainesville girls.  Miriam was a Prep, and wore a collared shirt with a necklace.  The punks probably had it easier fashionwise, but each team did a good job. 

The morning began early with a practice, and a review of how the match would proceed.  There is a little stagecraft involved, primarily orchestrating the way the teams will skate out onto the rink, and this bout involved a shoolyard pick.  Once that portion of the practice was done we all went to get lunch, and then split into groups for leisure activities.  Miriam and I joined Black-Out Brady and Sidless Nancy and headed up to the beach, where her fiance’s sister and brother-in-law have a house and a million bicycles.  We formed an impromptu gang and ruled the streets and the beach.  It was a delight.

Getting back to the Mandarin Skate Station in the late afternoon, the GRR girls found that the Jax girls had given them gift bags.  It was such a kind thing to do.  Steve and Kathleen had come and were running the merchandise table.  Spectators were showing up and taking their suicide seats.  Once the bout started it went fast.  Roller Derby is a fast game, and the jammers have to move especially quickly.  There were some serious spills, but the girls got right back up and kept on skating.  It was awesome.  You can see the full gallery here.

Filed under: Recreation, Sports on April 30th, 2008 | No Comments »

Generally, I think, Fox News’ mistakes can be seen as having a tinge of malice or spite to them, like when they put the initial “D” (for Democrat) after the name of some scandal-tainted Republican.  This time, however, it was just a dumb goof: an intern or graphic artist or other control room personnel that typed in a name in Google Images and didn’t bother to take a second glance at it.  But it’s the funniest thing I have seen in ages:

Filed under: Politics, Television on April 30th, 2008 | No Comments »