Derbymania
Click to viewOK, for those who didn't make it the other night, it was the premeire of the Albany All Stars Roller Derby League at the Armory. This was the first offical home bout, although we had a scrimmage and away game last year. I was announcing, as my alterego Moe Cheezmo, and you can sort of hear my garbled voice in the background (I assure you, my mouth didn't open once the entire time I was speaking, Mr Heckler). It was incredible. 2000+ house, not quite packed to the rafters, but very full, very exciting. The bout came down to the last jam, which got everyone going. The girls looked great, and skated well, and we had no major injuries.
At the beginning, after Ida Feltersnatch (my co announcer) and I had everyone stand for the national anthem, we stood looking out over the floor to see everyone turning to face us. A couple thousand people standing, hands over hearts, looking at the two of us. I whispered to Ida, "I hope to God there is a flag behind us, or this is the weirdest thing to ever happen to me." Ida: "Just turn around slowly, and pretend we already know its there."
I'm so glad there was a flag there, but I don't understand how we missed the damn thing.