After hearing my friends crow about how awesome Gotham Girls roller derby is to watch, I finally got a chance to catch a couple of matches last night up at Hunter College. Roller derby, a 50s era past-time that paired the excitement of sport and titillation of watching women battle it out, has been having a minor resurgence in New York, with packed audiences screaming their lungs out for their favorite teams from Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, and even as far off as New Jersey.
Last night’s action was a double-header, with the Brooklyn Bombshells taking on the the Long Island Roller Rebels, followed by Manhattan Mayhem against the New Jersey Dirty Dames. It was a thrilling night, from beginning to end, with the Bombshells and the Mayhem prevailing by huge point margins, but frankly the points being somewhat irrelevant in the overall fun and spectacle of it.
I can’t miss the championship match on November 17: Queens of Pain vs. Bronx Gridlock!
A few more pics after the jump…
Here’s the Manhattan Mayhem pumping each other up. You can see their imaginative skate names, including Roxy Balboa, Lil Miss Stuffit, Tankerbelle, and Bluebonnet Plague.
Gotta warm up good for this full-contact sport.
The nimble jammer Little Miss Stuffit gets a speed boost from her teammate.
New Jersey’s A-Bomb was a force to contend with as a jammer — fast out the gate and flying under your defensive radar before you knew it.
