by Power Drop
photos by Jim Duong

Tournament brackets were the order of the day in Memphis on April 5th. The University of Memphis Tigers were looking forward to a battle in the NCAA championship and Memphis Roller Derby was putting on two bouts to determine the same in their league. The worry was the basketball game would hurt the derby door. Not to worry, the faithful were in attendance and after Doc Derby announced the Tiger’s 78 to 63 victory during the first period of the first bout, the stragglers poured in. The Rock-n-Renegades of the Central Arkansas Roller Derby made the trip from Little Rock and wanted to report, “We love Memphis Roller Derby. They have always shown our team support and we like to return the love.”

The night kicked off with the Angels of Death taking on the Legion of Zoom in a game that was almost a replay of their February 2nd meeting. Once again, the Z-girls found themselves peering into the abyss of the AOD’s depth and did their best to grind it out. The Z-girls got knocked around soundly and play was briefly stopped a couple of times for Robin N Stealin and Rolls Royce to regain their feet. The EMTs said they were surprised that there hasn’t been a trip to the hospital caused by the recent change to the Fairground’s concrete rink. Brooken Bones of the AODs led all with 12 advantageous blocks followed closely by The Victator’s 11. Brooken also led the league with seven whips. The Legion did return licks with Kel Diabla posting nine advantageous blocks and Robin ‘n’ Stealin’ posting eight. Smashimi provided five whips. Rollanya Asse of the Angels got the sniper award and led all pivots for the evening with four jammer take outs.

Lil’ Cinner scored 84 points for the Angels; Cutthroat Cutie and Wheelie Wonka had impressive outings with 48 and 24 points respectively. Lil’ Cinner also had the highest scoring jam for the AODs with two jams of 15 points each. The final score was 174 to 27 and the Angels were the first to qualify for the finals. Jonjitsu, head coach of the AODs was unusually candid and said, “There are two types of derby players – the quick and the losers, and we are the quick.”

The second frame brought the PrissKilla Prezleys and the Women of Mass Destruction to the fore. The PKPs were only able to skate eight players; it was their turn for an uphill fight. Shawty and Bella Trixx tied for the PKP scoring leader with 12 each. The PKPs believe in sharing and the highest scoring jams were held by Susan 4a Bruisin’, Bella Trixx, and Shawty each with four points; Shawty doing it twice. Blownfuse held down two categories for the Prezleys with five whips and five advantageous blocks. La Sucia, blocker for the PKPs, was the only player to be ejected.

The Women of Mass Destruction have their jammers on a cyclic rotation and Saturday saw Ragin Caucasian score 36, Your Mom 21 and Akilles Wheel 27 – rolling in that order. Ragin Caucasian also had the highest scoring jam for the WMDs with ten. Bloody Elle provided eight advantageous blocks and three blocker take outs, as well as scoring 13 points as jammer for the Women of Mass Destruction. Too bad she missed pivot duties! The night ended with the WMDs taking this one 98 to 28 and feeling like they could whip the world. The Unabobber, the WMD’s head coach, is looking forward to the April 26th match with the AODs and told all, “The championship will be all about hitting. It’s all about stopping the jammers, and we are going to do just that. Be afraid.”

The brackets are complete; no more speculation needed and although there were no upsets, the pageant was fun to behold. The WMDs are planning for an upset and the AODs never give anyone any slack, least of all to the WMDs – the finals are sure to be a war.