Merby versus Derby!

EVERETT – They say that in our country, all men and women are created equal.

But not on this day. Last Saturday, the men of the Puget Sound Outcast Derby decided to challenge a female mix team, featuring skaters from the Rat City Rollergirls (Seattle), the Dockyard Derby Dames (Tacoma), the Rainy City Roller Dolls (Centralia), the Fort Lewis Bettie Brigade and the High Desert Darlins (Hermiston, Ore.).

On this day, there could be only one.

OK…so it really wasn’t that serious; please excuse my pension for the melodramatic. There were only two refs and no scorekeepers or NSOs. But it was still fun. Basically, the scrimmage was set up to allow PSOD to warm up before they hit the East Coast, where they’ll b taking on a host of other teams in search of merby supremacy!

The Skate Deck in Everett hosted the event, which I had never ben to before. However, based on carpet alone, I fell in love with the Drome away from Drome.

With carpet like this, how could you not have fun?

Actually, the similarities didn’t stop there. From neon overhead to hardwood underneath, I really enjoyed the atmosphere the Skate Deck provides.

As for the action, I’ll try to put together as complete as I can the teams that skated, although this was my first merby experience, so there’s several I didn’t know. I also didn’t know a handful of the ladies, so I’ll do my best.

On the merby side was RCRD coach RyRod, Trampires coach Hollywood Chuck Bury, Rat City coach Quadzilla, as well as The Duke of Delridge, Sass Squatch, G. No-Evil, Buster Fuzz and the Grimm Streeper. That leaves three I didn’t know, but apparently a couple of them were fairly new too.

On the derby side was MyTai Smashya and Rusty O’Tulle of Dockyard’s Trampires; Vitamin V and Streeperella from Dockyard’s Hellbound Homewreckers; Clobbern’ Mame, Wile E. Peyote and Swede Hurt of Rat City’s Sockit Wenches; Toot A. Lou from RCRD; Suicide Red from Ft. Lewis; and everyone’s favorite roving skater, Whomping Willow (this time reppin’ the High Desert Darlins; interesting side note…all five times I’ve seen Willow skate it’s been with a different team). I think I might have missed one skater on this side, but going back through my pics can’t tell for sure. Sorry in advance if I did! Feel free to fill in any blanks for me.

Again, since this was wasn’t anything official, I just wanted to kind of take it all in, especially since I’d never really see men skate competitively (save for a scrimmage in my early going). Some of the men were significantly larger than their female counterparts. I couldn’t help but wonder if this physical edge would also lend an advantage on the floor.

G. No-Evil tries to catch a jammin' MyTai Smashya.

This really wasn’t the case. Again, no scores were kept and everything stayed in a friendly, yet competitive, mood. But, both teams were right at each other throughout, with big hits doled out from both sides of the sexes.

Quadzilla has RyRod whipped.

Ultimately, in the first half, I thought derby may have been slightly up, but it was impossible to say for sure, since both teams had some very nice jams.

What was even more exciting about this bout was the mini-match-ups it created. Like RyRod going up against Toots (and Chuck and Quadzilla similarly going up against some of their skaters). You could tell, at least in the case of RyRod and Toots, that both wanted to win any kind of one-on-one moment.

Oh, the rivalry! Pivot RyRod sits on jammer Toots.

At the ‘half,’ using the term loosely, the teams mixed it up, so both were coed. That allowed everyone to mix up the style of play a little bit, especially for some of the skaters not used to skating with women from other leagues, not to mention the men. Again, both sides were pretty evenly set-up; no one team ever took lopsided control.

Hollywood Chuck Bury and Swede Hurt try to make a Rusty O'Tulle sandwich.

It was also nice to see the more competitive side of some skaters, like Sass, who I had only seen ref prior to this one.

Throw in the fact that I got to cheer with the Rainy City supporters and I was a happy derby camper.

Don't ask me why our water looked like beer.

Hopefully the event did prove a nice warm-up for the fellas, who are heading easterly to defend their reputation among merby’s finest. It was also nice to see the guys, many of whom are coaches, physically demonstrate the very strategies and tactics they so often articulate to their skaters.

Merby + one. Can you spot the ringer?

So again, good fun all around. It’s always a pleasure to see new skaters and familiar faces in new capacities. Afterward, we headed to the pizza joint next door and proceeded to build our buzz with Willow and Duke, Streeperella and the Grimm Streeper, MyTai and Vitamin V (we being myself, mt.tilicum, chun lethal and slaughter-kinney). It was a great laugh-filled time, probably a little louder than most Everett Alfy’s-goers were expecting. But thanks to each of them for providing some fun before our two-hour trek back down I-5.

Short Track

Don’t forget to register for the Rainy City Roller Dolls golf tournament!

This weekend marks the Rainy City Roller Dolls golf fund-raiser at the Tahoma Valley Golf & Country Club in Yelm.

First, recapping: The four-man scramble will feature a shotgun start with action starting at 2 p.m. The cost for the event is $40 and includes 18 holes at Tahoma Valley, a cart rental and a post-round drink ticket. The event also includes a raffle featuring an assortment of prizes, as well as longest-drive and closest-to-the-pin challenges.

Tahoma Valley Golf & Country Club is located at 15425 Mossman St. SW in Yelm. Golfers must pay and register prior to the tournament. For more information or to register, contact Julie Miller (Lucyville SlugHer) at (360) 451-6941.

In perpetration for this event, I went with mt.tilicum to the small 9-hole course near Tumwater Airport. While I was hitting straight and (relatively) deep on my drives (which remember, means driving with a 4-iron), my short game and approach were horrendously out-of-sync. I can tell I need to hit the range once or twice more, but overall, was happy with where I was considering I hadn’t played an actual course of any kind since twilighting Bellingham’s Lake Padden back in 2004.

But get ahold of Lucyville and join us! It’s gonna be pretty sweet (and it comes with a drink ticket!?!? Come on!?!?!?!)!

Also, I’m still looking for potential recap-ers. Let me know if you’re interested for the Aug. 29 bout between the Rainy City Roller Dolls and the Trampires!

Word.

Thurston!