The best ten dollars you can spend in Birmingham
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August 26 marked a very important day as I crossed over the threshold from those who haven't see live roller derby action to those who have. Birmingham's Tragic City Rollers took on the newly-formed Panama City, Fla. team, in competion dubbed "Manhandle the Panhandle", beating them soundly by more than 100 points.
I watched California roller derby as a kid on television during the dawn of paid cable and the women, amazons typically all with striped knee socks, were Wonder Woman like. The Birmingham team didn't fail to live up to those recollections. The viciousness of the sport is breathtaking with elbows to the chin, while in motion and plenty of face first spills to the floor and into the crowd. The only element of the competition more impressive was the stamina of TCR's team, most of who recovered in mere seconds from some nasty collisions.
The game is a little confusing to understand at first, but the rules are clearly laid out in the program provided at the door and after a few rounds, it starts to make sense.
The next boat, against the Nashville Roller Girls is Sept. 23 at Funtime Skate Center in Fultondale. It's a quick drive from downtown Birmingham and worth ever cent and amount of parking hassle. The adrenaline/estrogen permeates the atmosphere in a most addictive way.
Viva la TCR!
Check them out here on myspace. More photos of the Panama City bout are here.
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August 26 marked a very important day as I crossed over the threshold from those who haven't see live roller derby action to those who have. Birmingham's Tragic City Rollers took on the newly-formed Panama City, Fla. team, in competion dubbed "Manhandle the Panhandle", beating them soundly by more than 100 points.
I watched California roller derby as a kid on television during the dawn of paid cable and the women, amazons typically all with striped knee socks, were Wonder Woman like. The Birmingham team didn't fail to live up to those recollections. The viciousness of the sport is breathtaking with elbows to the chin, while in motion and plenty of face first spills to the floor and into the crowd. The only element of the competition more impressive was the stamina of TCR's team, most of who recovered in mere seconds from some nasty collisions.
The game is a little confusing to understand at first, but the rules are clearly laid out in the program provided at the door and after a few rounds, it starts to make sense.
The next boat, against the Nashville Roller Girls is Sept. 23 at Funtime Skate Center in Fultondale. It's a quick drive from downtown Birmingham and worth ever cent and amount of parking hassle. The adrenaline/estrogen permeates the atmosphere in a most addictive way.
Viva la TCR!
Check them out here on myspace. More photos of the Panama City bout are here.
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