Another coverage question: Roller derby

It doesn't have anything to do with anything, particularly. Just an observation from looking at the rosters. Just another aspect of the acceptance of gays and lesbians, that an enterprise is marketing to that part of the market, much as the Dinah Shore (that's what it still is to me) and some WNBA teams are doing. Not a thing wrong with it. And also, many of the players go a route similar to the Village People as far as being in the character of a lesbian stereotype. Again, not a thing wrong with it.

What, precisely, was the purpose of your post, Billy?

 

JV football doesn't draw 7,000 people to a downtown arena in a major U.S. city, like the photo from Seattle posted on the previous page.

I disagree. I've been to about 3-4 of the local bouts here, and I've found it to be one of the easiest sports to learn. Only took me a few jams to understand what was going on and know what to watch for. (Which penalties are being called can definitely be confusing, I admit. But that's probably because I don't know any of the hand signals yet -- if they used hockey hand signals for elbowing and tripping and interference, I'd be able to pick it up better, I think.)

But the scoring? That's really, really simple. The running back (jammer) follows her offensive line (blockers) through the hole, skates around a lap, and then gets a point for every opponent she passes. And if she can lap everyone again, she gets another point for everyone she passes. They keep going until the jam is called off.

Watch the 2-minute YouTube video here for a primer: http://www.derbynewsnetwork.com/roller_derby_rules

The new version of derby is probably even more fun to watch than the old Wide World of Sports stuff in the '70s (and the barnstorming teams of the '40s.) It's a little bit of hockey and a little bit of football, with a little bit of pro wrestling glamour mixed in.

And a lot of fishnets.

 

Loved Roller Derby as a kid. Great entertainment. Wasn't a sport. Obviously the sport has changed.

 

If they look like Raquel Welch, run them on the front page every single day.

 

I love Baron's approach to coverage of women's sports. The hotties make the cut. Some page editors are using the same criteria.

Roller derby was reborn in Texas in the early 2000s, and many of the women who now play grew up playing basketball or soccer, games with rules where fair play was expected. So that forms the backbone of the new version of derby. It's all real, nothing scripted, and in that way is very different from the version that took hold in the '20s.

Some teams still wear fishnets and get campy, but a lot of the elite teams where Under Armor uniforms with their real names on the back. See Denver's Mile High Club. The World Cup players last summer were allowed to choose their derby names or real names to put on their jerseys. It's a debate right now among leagues.

Derby is huge in a lot of cities, and draws thousands to bouts. If you aren't covering it but cover sports that have smaller fan bases and fewer players, why is that? Because women have a sense of humor about the game? From reading this thread, seems like a few people are trying to find reasons not to cover it.

 

I would think though, that part of it is skepticism over the legitimacy of the sport. It may be a real sport, but when you say "roller derby", you think of catfights.

 

This is roller derby.

 

Imagine. If you will...that pro wrestling all of a sudden became real. How long would it take to be accepted by the media and shown on ESPN and in SI? That's what we are talking about here to an extent.
The "circus act" atmosphere and smell is slowly lifting from roller derby, but it's going to take a while.

 

By time time that atmosphere has even slightly begun to lift, the fad will be over.

 

I used to love those. My dad would always root for the bad guy. The way he explained it, the bad guy would give you your money's worth. He was right.