Rocky Mountain High

Your 2010 WFTDA champions are Denver's Rocky Mountain Roller Girls, after an epic 147-146 win over the defending champion Oly Rollers of Olympia. In a wild final ten minutes, the lead changed four times, with the last change being in the final jam. That was a power jam, after the previous one ended with what will be remembered as possibly the most important penalty in roller derby history.

Wow. And we have yet another first time champ, too.

Still the Gator Ball

Florida traveled to Vanderbilt, and for a very brief time in the first quarter it looked like a good game. But the floodgates opened in the second, and the Gators ran up the score in a 55 to 14 rout - breaking a streak of of four consecutive changeovers for the mythical Silver Ball trophy. Next up, recent holder South Carolina gets another shot at the title as the Old Ball Coach revisits his long time chomping ground in Gainesville.

In other news, Michigan's disgraceful D was matched by its scarily effective O in a 67-65 triple overtime win over unlucky Illinois. Kansas scored the last 35 points of the game, all in the last quarter, to record the biggest comeback in school history in a 52-45 win over Colorado. And in "official" national title chase news, Boise State is well ahead of Hawaii, as expected. TCU is well ahead of Utah, in what looked a very close matchup. Oregon is gradually pulling away from an outmatched but very stubborn Washington team. Auburn pummeled Chattanooga - ho hum. And LSU and Bama are locked in a barnburner.

In roller derby, the semi finals are set at nationals in Chicago, and there are no surprises: Philadelphia vs. Olympia, and Gotham vs. Rocky Mountain. Those will be a couple of excellent games - follow the action at Derby News Network.

Championships decided yesterday

In Suzy Hotrod's last bout for Queens, she was heroic and brilliant as ever, but Bonnie Thunders was just incredible for Bronx, scoring a Gotham record 91 points and leading the Gridlock to their third title. After she dropped a 20-0 jam on Queens late in the first half, it was basically over with the lead at 36. Queens showed life from time to time after that, but Bronx still won 132-98. Well deserved revenge for that upset regular season defeat.

Georgia took the Silver Ball to the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party in Jacksonville, aka the Florida game, which seems to me to be the friendliest long term rivalry in college football. The Bulldogs spotted the Gators a big lead, roared back in the last quarter, but were ultimately doomed by a turnover in overtime. Florida's punter-turned-replacement-kicker Chas Henry nailed the 37 yarder to win and suddenly Urban Meyer is in charge of a national champion again. Even if he doesn't know it. Next up, a trip to Vanderbilt, where I bravely predict the streak of four successful challenges will end.

A sad day for Gotham

I am crushed to learn that Suzy Hotrod, without doubt the greatest star of the Gotham Girls Roller Derby, has finally chosen sanity of love life over the myriad attractions of the big city, and is leaving us to be in Philadelphia with her boyfriend. No doubt, she will skate for the Liberty Belles, who may have just become the 2011 WFTDA champions. Before that, though, there is the local final between Queens and Bronx, and the 2010 nationals in Chicago. Let's hope our hero goes out in style...

Weekend bullet points

In a packed weekend for me, a few observations and news items:

• St. Kilda and Collingwood continued a recent run of dramatic, tense Grand Finals (2005, 2006, 2009) by turning in a thrilling draw. Back next week for more...
  
• Gotham Girls Roller Derby regained the Eastern Region Championship, taking out the Derby in the Burbs tournament with a 30 point win over a fast finishing Philly team.
  
• My vote for best bout of the weekend, though, goes to Steel City's huge comeback win over Carolina to take 5th place. From 43 points down at half time, the ladies of Pittsburgh came out like a whole new team - super organized and disciplined - and won by 36. Amazing stuff.
  
• If you umpire a mostly social sport purely for the fun of it, you'll soon stop when the fun goes away. And believe me, the fun goes away very fast when people start sniping from the bench, openly questioning good decisions, and screaming in your face.
  
• Alabama retained the Silver Ball once more, although the underdog Razorbacks of Arkansas gave everything in their pursuit of the mythical trophy, barely falling short in a 24 to 20 game. Next week, previous holder Florida visits the Tide.
  
• Columbia ran away from visiting Towson, 24 to 10. Go Lions!
  
• Carmelo Anthony could be a Brooklyn Net soon. Stay tuned.

Skating Day

USA vs Canada hockey on TV, Philly vs Rat City roller derby on web. It's a good afternoon.

Just looking at the USA's team of alleged non-stars and grinders. Maybe so, but it's not like a team with Miller, Parise, Langenbrunner, and Kane is exactly short on talent. Sure, Canada is favored here, but this is hardly a mismatch. Enough with the 1980 comparisons. Please.

Up the Palace!

If the posts have been a bit nonexistent this week, it's because a) I am in the UK on vacation, and b) Andrew has been too lazy to post the fact that the Gotham Girls are now national champs after blitzing Chicago in the final in Portland, OR last weekend. Tsk.

So, what am I up to here in the UK? It's not all sports related, but it has allowed my obsession with retro soccer uniforms to flourish. Pictured is the logo from a very nice West Ham throwback I bought - the shirt they wore in the 1980 FA Cup Final, when Trevor Brooking's well placed header enabled the Hammers to upset highly favoured Arsenal 1-0. Meanwhile, I am searching for a similar Liverpool one that is the right size. I might have to give up and order that one online.

Liverpool is of course my main club, but among other English soccer teams with a place in my heart*, Crystal Palace is a special one. We lived in south London for three months when I was 11, and the Eagles were our local team. Those were heady days, with manager Terry Venables taking the team briefly to the top of the first division, acquiring the "team of the eighties" nickname and all the expectations that came along with it. Alas, it all fell apart - they ended the season 13th, and were relegated a year later.

It took the better part of a decade for the Eagles to live up to the hype, reaching the 1990 FA Cup Final, and it's been up and down since then, too. Nowadays Palace is mired deep in the second tier, but they are one of my teams all the same. So today I will attend my first Crystal Palace home game, at Selhurst Park, where they will take on marginally-higher-flying Bristol City.

Game time temperature promises to hover just above freezing, and I haven't gotten a long sleeved retro jersey to wear yet. Going shopping soon - wish me luck...

* the list includes Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham United, Crystal Palace, Ipswich Town, Everton, Preston North End, Fulham, Barnsley, and probably more

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Penn State won at Ohio State for the first time since 1978, severely denting the Buckeyes' chances of winning a third straight outright Big Ten title. Penn State remains on watch for Texas or Alabama to stumble and leave a gap open into the BCS title game. Once again: please, for the love of Red Grange, can we have a PLAYOFF? This is ridiculous.

Texas won a very tense matchup, 28 to 24, to take the Silver Ball from Oklahoma State. This reunites the Silver Ball and the #1 AP ranking for the first time since the middle of last season, I believe.

In another nervous affair, Columbia overcame a number of mistakes to defeat Dartmouth 21 to 13 at Baker Field. This snapped a 13 game losing streak, hardly the first such dismal run in Columbia's football history. Unfortunately, we missed this, but next week we'll be at Yale cheering the Lions on in a nearly empty 61,000 seat stadium. That should be a bunch of fun, if the weather is decent.

The Queens of Pain took advantage of an injury hit and penalty prone Bronx Gridlock to break Bronx's 7 bout league winning streak and regain the Gotham Girls Roller Derby title. The brooklyballparks.com staff was in the thick of the action, Andrew working on penalty tracking and David on lineups. Good luck to Andrew at next month's national championships!

It's a knockout

The Gotham Base Ball Club ventured south to play Newark on Saturday, and we had one of the great days in the history of the club.

Game 1 (1873 rules): Newark 4, Gotham 26
Game 2 (1864 rules): Newark 2, Gotham 13

And I was knocked out when fielding first base, in a collision with a base runner. So it was a day of fun an excitement all around.

In other baseball news, yes we heard about Pat Venditte, and yes, I know, we should have posted about him, but everyone else already did, so there was no point, really.

In other general sports news, the ever improving Gotham Girls Roller Derby defeated the all powerful Texas squad for the first time at the East Coast Extravaganza in Philadelphia. This propelled them to number one in my computer ratings, and likely in the next vote too.

Playing catch up

Wow, we have been lazy. So, to summarize news that has caught the eye in the last couple of weeks:

• Roger Clemens, like Barry Bonds before him, might be thrown under the bus by an ex-mistress
• The Gotham Base Ball Club opened the season with a glorious win over the Excelsior Club, highlighted by a superb 2-3 double play with the bases loaded and one out
• Larry Brown has inexplicably been hired by another team so he can "teach the kids" despite his pathological hatred of rookies
• The Baltimore Orioles are in first place
• Barry Zito is in the bullpen
• An incredible replica of Ebbets Field has been constructed in Second Life
• The Gotham Girls Roller Derby travel team soundly thrashed their rivals from Philly in an ugly penalty fest, with Andrew and David (aka Hewlett Smackard and Linear Aggression) working stats
• Alex Rodriguez is on the DL, a severe blow to those of us who want to see him overtake a certain someone as career home run king
• The various league commissioners will today (again) trash the idea of any kind of playoff for the college football championship
• Missouri still holds the Silver Ball

Hotrod can't quite beat Gridlock

Saturday night at City College saw the finale of the 2007 Gotham Girls Roller Derby season - the final between the 3-0 Bronx Gridlock and the 2-1 Queens of Pain. Queens, the two time defending champions, came into this one as an underdog, but one with a history of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Especially against the Bronx.

Last year, by a quirk of circumstance, the last two games of the round robin regular season were effectively semi finals. Both featured late comebacks, and both were decided by a single point. Queens beat the Bronx when Suzy Hotrod, truck driver, punk rock star, and elite derby girl, racked up five points from nowhere as time expired and broke hearts across Gridlock Nation. Queens went on to pummel Manhattan in the final, and the Bronx girls have not forgotten it.

Last season's new-team nerves were gone as the Gridlock swept through the regular season. Rookie Luna Impact, ace blocker Beonsláy, angry captain Ginger Snap and lethal Philly import Kandy Kakes helped super fast jammers Beatrix Slaughter, Bonnie Thunders, and Brigitte Barhot (voted hottest derby girl by the fans) total truly awesome numbers.

Drawing Queens in the final was a bonus. Early in the second half, led by the amazing Beatrix Slaughter, Bronx eased out to a 34 point lead, and it all seemed over. But a couple of great Queens jams, notably by Cheap Skate, brough the deficit back to 18.

The crowd started to stir, but again the Bronx pulled away, scoring 20 unanswered points to take a seemingly unassailable 38 point lead. Everyone could relax. And the Gridlock seemed to do so, at their peril. The Queens jammers chipped away at a less and less disciplined defence, bringing the margin back to 27. Then Scarlet Rage went 9-0, and the margin was 18 with time running out.

Then the spectre of Suzy Hotrod returned. With Barhot hitting the penalty box twice, and the Bronx defenders strung out all over the place, Suzy drew on hidden reserves of strength and speed to pull out an incredible 15 to 0 jam. The 1,110 strong CCNY crowd was on its feet, going crazy, as Queens was suddenly in reach with 1:33 remaining. But in a frenetic and confusing final jam, Brigitte Barhot came out of the box at just the right moment and redeemed herself, holding off Suzy Hotrod to see the Bronx to a 5 point win.

Tears were shed as the ecstatic Gridlock team embraced on the track. Queens congratulated them warmly, but you could see the look in the eyes of their stars. Next year, it's time for revenge.