The Hardest Hit

Tougher than the rest: Charm City's Holden Grudges matches muscle with Texecutioner CrackerJack (Photo courtesy of Bill Smotrilla http://www.flickr.com/people/smopho/)

There's no getting around it: This has been a tough season for the Texas Rollergirls travel team the Texecutioners, and Sunday's rock 'em, sock 'em defeat at the hands of Charm City's CCRG All-Stars didn't make it any easier.

It was almost a rematch from the prior weekend, when intraleague champs the Hotrod Honeys traveled to Baltimore and easily bested their b-team Female Trouble. In the opening moments, it really seemed like the Texies would repeat the experience on home turf, taking lead jammer status in the first six jams and cruising to a 31-0 lead. However Charm City had a trick up their sleeve: Strollerderby.

They are a strong team, with great blockers and a severely under-rated jammer roster, but their willingness to engage in the legal but controversial tactic of slowing the pack to a grind was just as effective as many teams' speed game.

After grinding out nine points in the next three jams, an explosive 19 point dash by Lady Quebeaum brought Charm within striking distance, 32-28. That pattern seemed to define the rest of the period: Bar rookie Luce Bandit (who was vital to the Texies' strategy, racking up 31 points in only three jams) Texas was prepared to grind out threes and fours, while Charm would stall before Just Carol and Allie B. Back could throw double-digit points at the board.

The balance still seemed to be staying Texas' way through the 78-65 half time scoreline and it seemed to remain that way when the teams returned to the track. Charm would creep up or plow their way through, but then get knocked back down again. It was tough going, and sometimes chaotic, with the strollerderby leaving skaters sometimes literally chest to chest (a bizarre sight in a sport where the fundamental rule is "turn left.") The momentum changed when Texas suffered the curse of the penalty box. Jamming unopposed, Baltimore's Holden Grudges closed the gap from 117-97 to a knife-edge 117-116.

Texas, still grinding out the twos and fours, started to push forward again to a 127-120 lead, but that damned penalty box swallowed them again. The Charming Flo Shizzle carved through the pack so easily that it took a while for the score board to catch up. Suddenly Baltimore, who had trailed for the entire bout, were ahead 127-144.

Yet if Texas fans know anything, it's that the Texecutioners are the comeback queens. With mere seconds on the clock and a 19 point deficit, TXRG veteran Bloody Mary took to the track with the home town hopes on her shoulders. If ever there was a time that the line needed to hold, this was it: And for 90 astonishing seconds, she poured every last ounce of sweat onto the track. Holden was caught in the pack, unable to answer, while Bloody started multiple scoring passes. Yet the magic couldn't last: As the scorekeepers scrabbled to keep up with the back and forth, Charm broke through for a quick pass. When the final score came up on the board, there was near silence: 146-154, Charm wins.

The capacity crowd was gutted. The Texies are on the longest losing streak in their history, and a rare home defeat was all the harder to take. Yet no-one would have wanted to miss it. This was one of those games that, bar the heartbreak for the local fans, was the kind of nail biter every sports fan hopes to catch. That a travel team bout (normally a lower priority for fans than the home team nights) was sold out was a sign of a growing audience. Plus, seeing peewee league the Austin Derby Brats and the adult Rec-N-Rollerderby perform pre-game exhibitions showed that Roller Derby is still expanding in the town that kickstarted the modern revolution.

If there was one real issue for the night, it may have been the officiating. Now this is no "Texas would have won if only X, Y, Z" gripefest, because blaming the ref is always an easy cop-out and Charm City earned their win. But when both teams and the audience have good reason to be annoyed with some – not all, but some – of the refs, it's time to discuss the issue.

With a ten minute time out called after the first jam because of a ref having a skate malfunction, something has to be said. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big advocate for Team Zebra. They take on a hard and thankless task, and they are all volunteers. There are some great refs in Roller Derby and there were some great refs on the night. Yet there were missed majors, incomprehensible hand gestures and erratic rulings on the 20 foot pack rule.

The consensus is that, just like the basic skater proficiency test is an all-important part of being a Women's Flat Track Derby Association league, refs need to be skilled and those skills need to be more standardized. The association's accreditation program is spreading fast, but for the good of the sport it needs to be a core component of every league's thinking.

But what was important about the night was all summed up not in a final score, or a single call. It was that final, magical jam, with a visibly exhausted Bloody Mary leaving everything, everything on the track. Those closing moments may be what Roller Derby is really about.