Derby Review
Greg and I went to the roller derby last night. Greg enjoyed it, but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. In fact, I found the whole thing down right boring.
The game is split into two thirty minute halves, and each half contains an unspecified numbers of Jams. A Jam is a two minute play during which each team's Jammer (point scorer) tries to lap as many members of the opposite team as possible. They receive one point for each member of the opposite team they pass. There's more to it than that, but that's the gist.
Between each Jam the teams rotate players and are given thirty seconds to set up for the next Jam. Changing players every two minutes, sometimes less, kept the game from building any momentum. Just as I was getting excited about what was going on, the Jam would end and thirty seconds of shuffling would commence. Lame.
I also found the scoring system really hinky. I felt it gave an unfair advantage to whichever team was in the lead and prevented the trailing team from catching up. There were times when I was certain that one team or the other had scored, but when I looked at the scoreboard, discovered they hadn't. I had no clue what was going on even with the rule sheet sitting in my lap the whole time.
Finally, I didn't really like the crowd which was made almost entirely of hipsters from Williamsburg. They were all white, tattooed, pierced, and obviously well off. They seemed almost offended they had to sit in cramped, smelly, college court bleachers to watch the game.
While I'm glad we went, and I'm glad Greg had fun, it's not something I'd ever want to do again.
The game is split into two thirty minute halves, and each half contains an unspecified numbers of Jams. A Jam is a two minute play during which each team's Jammer (point scorer) tries to lap as many members of the opposite team as possible. They receive one point for each member of the opposite team they pass. There's more to it than that, but that's the gist.
Between each Jam the teams rotate players and are given thirty seconds to set up for the next Jam. Changing players every two minutes, sometimes less, kept the game from building any momentum. Just as I was getting excited about what was going on, the Jam would end and thirty seconds of shuffling would commence. Lame.
I also found the scoring system really hinky. I felt it gave an unfair advantage to whichever team was in the lead and prevented the trailing team from catching up. There were times when I was certain that one team or the other had scored, but when I looked at the scoreboard, discovered they hadn't. I had no clue what was going on even with the rule sheet sitting in my lap the whole time.
Finally, I didn't really like the crowd which was made almost entirely of hipsters from Williamsburg. They were all white, tattooed, pierced, and obviously well off. They seemed almost offended they had to sit in cramped, smelly, college court bleachers to watch the game.
While I'm glad we went, and I'm glad Greg had fun, it's not something I'd ever want to do again.