I had two plans this weekend. First and foremost assist the Portland, OR Axles of Annihilation to victory over Tacoma, WA’s Wave of Mutilation. And, when not at the track, enjoy the 2010 Eastern Regional Tournament. I’ve accomplished one of these.

Following Thunda on the Tundra and Derby in Burbs I’ve formed the opinion that the WFTDA’s Big 5 are not only an inadequate tournament structure but may also be harmful for the promotion of roller derby as a whole. This morning I switched off the Easterns live stream while sitting through the 12th blow-out bout of the weekend. Twelfth. And what was there to fill my Sunday morning audio-visual void? The Giants facing off against the Titans.

Here’s a bit of insight into how my brain processes sports: Professional American football is lame. Balanced and even competition is vital. Spectating blowouts is only fun in horse racing and poker. Poker is not a sport.

I’m a derby fan and addict so if you can make me flip the channel, something’s up. But what about the casual observer or potential fan? Are the uneven match-ups and hands-down blowouts really the best representation of modern roller derby? The WFTDA Big 5 tournament series is supposed to represent the best the sport has to offer. If the regional tournaments are a representative sample of derby’s best… derby’s got a long way to go to becoming a competitive- and spectator-enjoyable- sport.

There are options in entertainment sports. This weekend there are a total 17 bouts at Easterns and 16 NFL games. On the WFTDA side I’ve witnessed 12 blowouts.* NFL fans, on the other hand, have seen 5 close games and at most 3 with an insurmountable point spread** and the games will continue through Monday. So which fans are witnessing a better competitive sport this weekend? What’s the better choice for a sport to watch if you’re into good competition?

In our Saturday night bout the Axles defeated the Wave in what could be considered a blow out (a daunting 86 point spread). Blow outs aren’t fun at any level- they’re hard to stomach for the trailing team, they’re less intense for the fans, and the whole event has a hard time keeping the excitement up. But it’s not an uncommon occurrence in unranked, exhibition play between non-wftda teams (Dockyard is an up-and-coming apprentice) and our bout wasn’t representing the WFTDA’s top skill. Blowouts are bound to happen- especially in bush league play. But they have no place at the annual tournament level.

To an outsider modern roller derby is plenty difficult to understand with its speed, copious rules/penalties, and lack of unique scoring device to follow (read: ball); but anyone can do the math and understand the difference between a close & competitive game and a hopeless blow out. While a 30 point spread in derby is still a close game, something a basketball fan wouldn’t believe, anyone can see these 100+ point score differentials we’ve witnessed at the regional tournaments are not balanced or fun to watch games- especially when the scores are stacked up next to your real edge-of-your-seat nail biters like Cincinnati/Madison or Carolina/Montreal.

With 75% of the bouts ending in blowout victories, the regional tournaments haven’t been the enjoyable weekends of derby I’d hoped for and with outcomes like these it’s hard for me to impress upon non-fans the truly awesome, competitive nature of this sport. If the WFTDA hopes to promote their sport as a viable competition of athletes they will have to stop setting up and promoting landslide matches in their tournaments.

My solution? That’s a coversation for another day- don’t worry, it’s coming.

*Derby in the Burbs scores at DNN
**NFL 2010 week 3 scores at ESPN

Images courtesy of Speed Bump