derby girls

Finally....
I got a chance to see what the roller derby was all about. The derby concept seems so Portlandesque to me. Even though these ladies all wear the same colors and general uniform pieces, each girl has her own look accented by her choice in tights, tank top, helmet decoration, and of course panties. For this sport, panties are worn on the outside of all layers of clothing. When I wasn't trying to follow the team scoring strategy, I was checking out the costumes and identities of all the derby girls. A few of their names for your reading pleasure; Blood Clottia, Vominatrix, Scratcher in the eye, Firecrotch and my favorite Viagrrra Falls. I even went so far as to make up a little name for myself..... Don't Mess Tess.

Derby girl about to eat floor....

So those of you that have seen my competitive side know that I would love to give this sport a try. That was until I saw ***Smack-ya Sideways***. The first time I saw this large, slightly androgynous, amazing skater, football tackler of a derby girl, I realized that this probably wasn't my sport. I had the same feeling I did the first time I saw the bully in "The Christmas Story".... fear. We moved to the floor for the second half of the derby and I was terrified that we would be accidentally tackled by the Smack-ya lady. EEEKKK! Luckily that never happened. In the pic below, she is the skater in all black in the middle.
The sport itself is pretty cool. There are always 5 girls from each team on the floor at one time. Only one girl from each team can score. They are called the 'Jammer' and they wear a star on their helmet like the ladies in the following pic.

The goal is for the 'jammer' to get through the pack after starting in the back and lap the girls before the two minute period is up. The rink is pretty small, but this does not discourage the ladies from picking up a great deal of speed!
If you have a chance, attend one of these super-charged events. Good times.

I also encourage and almost demand that if you are in the Portland area that you check out my favorite local restaurant- Fire on the Mountain! Buffalo chicken wings and Rainier beer on tap... I love buffalo anything and at this joint you have your choice of over 10 different sauces.

Below, one of my favorites, buffalo chicken salad. Also in the top right hand corner of the picture- a fried pickle. Sounds disgusting, but tastes like a dream!