B.A.D. @RollerCon

RollerCon is a convention celebrating all things roller derby. It's in Las Vegas Wednesday-Sunday July 29th through August 2nd, at the Imperial Palace.

The main event at this "meeting of the wheels" is a WFTDA match-up between the Bay Area Derby Girls and the Boston Massacre. It's Friday July 31 at noon, inside the Las Vegas Sports Center. Tickets for the bout are $12 and you can purchase them by clicking here.

http://rollercon.net

Mad Rollin Dolls, Madison, WI...Charity begins at home for these ladies...

Click here to see what these roller derby gals have contributed to their community!

Roller Man...and What He Does.... ;)

Man looks to amend city's roller skate ordinance after citation

By Paige Pritchard
July 22, 2009 | 12:01 a.m. CDT

COLUMBIA, MO — After being issued a summons to appear in court for roller skating downtown, Evan Jones is looking to change this city ordinance.

As a former roller derby referee and an active member of the Midwest Men’s Roller Derby, Jones uses his roller skates to get around town.

"When in town, I like to get away from the car and get out on my eight wheels," Jones said.

Section 14.5 of Columbia’s code of ordinances states that no one may roller skate, skateboard or ride toy vehicles or other similar devises on the roads, alleys or sidewalks within the Special Business District east of Fifth Street.

But Jones was not aware of the ordinance and was stopped on two different occasions by the same Columbia Police Department officer. After stopping Jones for the second time, the officer issued a citation summoning Jones to court. The officer confiscated his skates and told him that they would be held indefinitely by the city for evidence. Jones said he then walked part of the way home in his socks.

“It was unpleasant, also a little dangerous,” Jones said. “A friend drove by and offered me a pair of shoes, which I used to walk back in.”

Jones said that not having his skates kept him from training for a roller derby exhibition and asked if any readers could donate a pair for the competition.

“The bottom line right now is getting some skates,” Jones said.

But he's concerned about more than losing his skates. As a supporter of alternative transportation, he wonders why an ordinance that prohibits roller skating in certain areas of Columbia even exists. He said that he wants to start taking action to encourage a policy change in the ordinance.

Jones hopes to give a public statement at the next City Council meeting. He has also written a petition requesting the amendment or repeal of the ordinance and plans to present the signatures to the council.

“Skating is a large hobby for me,” Jones said. “I was very surprised to hear it was a law. I’m concerned there isn’t a legal way to get around besides walking, biking or driving.”

Officer Jeff Westbrook said they do not write many summons for the ordinance. Officers usually issue a verbal warning, but because Jones kept skating after being warned, he was issued a citation.

Westbrook said the ordinance is in place because of complaints the police department has received from business owners and shoppers who have collided with skaters.

"We're focusing on the downtown area because of such complaints," Westbrook said. "We're focusing on safety in the area, but not specifically on roller skating."

Jones contacted First Ward Councilman Paul Sturtz and the PedNet Coalition with his concerns.

“I would think that roller skaters have the same rights that bicyclists have,” Sturtz said. “If we don’t want roller skaters on the sidewalks, we should let them be on the streets.”

Robert Johnson, educational coordinator for PedNet, said that he was unaware of the ordinance until he looked it up after receiving Jones’ e-mail and plans to look into the subject further.

Both Sturtz and Sixth Ward City Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe said they would look into reviewing the ordinance, as it might be outdated.

“It’s an issue that I hadn’t contemplated, but I am willing to discuss it further,” Hoppe said. “I would agree that we would have to look at it and see what a reasonable adjustment would be.”

Roller Derby poster by Rhys Cooper

Rhys Cooper has created a killer Roller Derby poster for the Victorian Roller Derby League in his home country of Australia. If you are interested shoot John at Beyond The Pale Posters an email.

Not sure what size and just guessing I would say its offset printed also.

Posted by INSIDE THE ROCK POSTER FRAME
From: http://insidetherockposterframe.blogspot.com

Whip It! trailer....w00t!

DNN Releases July 2009 Power Rankings

From www.derbynewsnetwork.com

by Derby News Network - July 6, 2009 - 1:34am

DNN's Power Rankings are officially a half-year old with today's July release, and got put to the most severe stress test so far over the last month, with 25 bouts involving at least one Power Ranked team. Fortunately for our shreds of credibility, they survived mostly intact with 22 hits and 3 misses. Two of those misses involved Carolina at ECE, as they narrowly upset Boston in a one point thriller and were beaten by Detroit by 35; the other miss was Arch Rival, who surprised Duke City by 15 points (much more about that later.) Overall, though, that brings the 2009 Power Rankings record to 65 hits and 12 misses for an accuracy percentage of 84 percent.

We'd like to be proud of that record, but we were entirely too busy trying to decipher the ramifications of a whole lot of very narrow hits in the last couple of weeks of June. This month features the most movement of any Power Rankings release thus far.

One ramification that we're pretty sure about is that derby is reaching a level of parity it has never seen before; in the early days of interleague play (you know, like, three years ago) it was pretty much a given that the older, more established team would win and win big. We're extremely pleased to see that we're entering a phase where most teams on these rankings could reasonably be expected to have a competitive and exciting game with anybody ranked within 5 to 10 spots of them, and that most bouts between teams ranked fewer than 5 spots apart are probably toss-ups.

Which is great from a fan and player's perspective, but not so super for anybody attempting to do rankings! Read on to see our attempts at putting it all in order ...

Slideshow of still from Whip It!

[From USA Today and http://themovingpicture.net]

Click here to view

July 9th, 2009 by James Cook

USA Today has debuted the first official image from Whip It, Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut. The comedy opens in October and stars Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore, Zoe Bell, Julieete Lewis, Eve, Jimmy Fallon and Daniel Stern. Shauna Cross adapted the film from her own novel.

Page stars as Bliss, a rebellious Texas teen who throws in her small town beauty pageant crown for the rowdy world of roller derby. Harden plays Bliss’ disapproving mother, while Wiig and Lewis play roller-derby stars.

Click below for the full gallery.

The best of 2009 from the Bay City Bombers Roller Derby

Video: Roller Derby Girl Fight 2010