My Laugh for the Day

For whatever reason, I'm "friends" with an old school derby league on Myspace. They send out some...interesting bulletins. Usually with...interesting Youtube clips:



I just about died laughing. What's with the non-skating girls who are punching each other? Who wants to see old people on skates punching each other? Is this appealing?! The added sound effects and shoddy editing don't sell the game the way they intended it to.

I don't think, anyway.

This clip, despite its ads at the beginning and end, is actually cool. I don't know who put it together, but they did a good job:



If Old School is going to try to compete with what's going on now in derbyland, they should stick with the approach the second clip takes. It's rad. The first clip makes them look desperate and totally uninformed as to what the attraction is to modern derby.

I still think the main attraction of modern derby is the bait-and-switch approach we take. We have these non-real names, non-professional uniforms, and no big funding to draw in the unusual fans who may or may not be into other sports. Then BAM! we switch it up by putting on a game that takes real athleticism to do. It messes with peoples' perceptions, and I love that. The camp isn't the main show, unlike the first clip I posted.

Speaking of derby, our first game of the 2009 season happens in a week. Fight Crew vs. Tough Cookies. Should be a good game. Let's see if I make it through without getting kicked out...we're switching to interleague rules this season, so I might get to skate an end-of-the-game lap for once!