It would be just like me to write a rare post and make a mistake in it.
I had mentioned our regret at not noticing Brokeback Jac's performance in the Dames' February bout. As Jac informed us in person at the recent Lumber Jills vs. Riot match, she didn't skate in the February bout. She did, in fact, skate last November as Jac the Whipper. Consider me corrected. And only slightly intimidated. Ok, a lot intimidated.
We recently encountered our beloved Dames in Plattsburgh and were lucky enough to meet a few new skaters, including Track Infection and Jac herself.
It never surprises me to discover derby skaters are seriously cool cats off the track. It does rattle me now and then when they turn out to be ridiculously nice people. We're so used to seeing them girded for battle and knocking the shit out of women far tougher than I that a double-take is in order when we find out they're not so scary off-track. Except Star Slayer. She scares the shit outta me with or without pads, pregnant or not.
We've seen the Dames work on some risky strategies this year and do quite well implementing them. During this weekend's matches, we saw both the Brawlers and Fancy jammers get very physical right off the line. I've never seen this strategy employed outside a few extraordinary circumstances. The Dames made it work fairly well.
One of my favorite derby memories was seeing Slayer flatten an opposing jammer at the first whistle of the game. It was several years ago and I believe the Dames ultimately lost that match, but that jammer was gun shy for the next hour.
...Johnny Bash
