I Was Right: My Recap and Thoughts of Derby in the Burbs: The WFTDA East Regional 2010.

My previous article was entitled I Was Wrong as Minnesota blew up my bracket like the Fourth of July. Last weekend though was a different story. I went 15-2 for the entire tournament, when I adjusted my picks on twitter for the 2 games I was wrong on. I also called the semi finals and the top 3 spots for the East Regional correctly. Its funny how when your wrong, your phone, email, and twitter blow up left and right, but when your right, well I got a thumbs up from Mike Chexx on Facebook. Eh, I’ll take it. Ok, enough about me, lets talk about what went down on the East Coast.

East Regional Tournament Rankings

1. Dutchland Rollers 0-3: Dutchland came into their first regional tournament and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. They beat Providence earlier in the year, but couldn’t do so here. After that it was two very rough games against Montreal and DC, which had the Rollers going home without a win. Where do they go from here? Do they book games against lesser teams to earn a bunch of wins to make the regionals again next year or do they play higher level teams that they might lose to, to improve their game? They are going to have to figure out which road to go down this off season.

2. DC Rollergirls 1-2: The DC Rollergirls leave one spot higher then they came in. They were blown out by Carolina and Steel City but found their footing against Dutchland. After seeing DC live this summer, I think they have the players to make it to the Eastern Regional again next year, but they need to sharpen their skills in the off season, because I don’t see them beating Montreal or anyone above them right now. 2011 is going to be a make or break year for DC.

3. Providence Roller Derby 1-3: Providence came in as the 8th seed and leaves in the same spot. PRD continues to be a mysterious team that is so hard to pick. Sometimes they are on and sometimes they are off (sometimes way off). Providence is in the same boat as DC, they have to figure out a way to keep ascending up the ranks and keep pace with the teams above them. They have kept a core group of skaters for the past few seasons now and I think the more games they play next season, the quicker their younger players will improve.

4. Montreal Roller Derby 2-2: There was a big buzz about Montreal before this tournament, but after it the New Skids are at least a year or more away from playing at the top level of the game. Montreal lost a nail biter to Carolina, but they are stuck on the outside looking in right now on the upper end of the region. I won’t be surprised if Montreal schedules a heavy load next year against higher ranked opponents so that they can prepare for Regionals next year. They have cemented themselves as a solid mid level team with the WFTDA voters so I don’t see them getting voted out of the 2011 Regionals if they have a bad W-L record against higher ranked teams since they proved this year they can decimate teams ranked below them.

5. ** Carolina Rollergirls 2-2**: Definitely the biggest surprise of the weekend was Carolina. They took down Montreal in one of the best games of the post season but they also gave up a huge 1st half lead to Steel City. If Carolina keeps improving they could get back into the hunt for a WFTDA Championships birth next year or was their game against Montreal just a big game? I will be interested to see where they go from here, as they are definitely a team to watch for 2011.

6. Steel City Derby Dames 2-1: Steel City finished where I thought they would; holding down the number five spot. They have talent, they have speed, and they have penalty trouble. They need to change 1 of those 3 things to get into the WFTDA Championship picture. Steel City regularly lost their jammers to the penalty box this weekend (especially in the 2nd half of their game against Carolina) and when your playing against the upper echelon teams that just cannot happen if you expect to win. If they can work to eliminate their track cuts, they could be in the top 3 next year.

7. Boston Derby Dames 1-2: Boston will be watching the WFTDA Championships from home this season and having to do a little soul searching to boot. This year Boston beat the teams they were suppose to beat, but by the same token, lost the games they were suppose to lose. The Dames have to find a way to break through the glass ceiling and become one of the top 10 teams in the world. To do this though is going to take a lot of mental preparation for 2011.

8. Charm City Roller Girls 2-1: After years of trying, Charm City finally makes the WFTDA Championships and they definitely earned it with 2 hard fought victories over Steel City and Boston. Charm City’s losses to the top teams in the West paid off as they were fully prepared for this tournament. Now the next chapter begins as they head to the WFTDA Championships. Until the brackets come out for Uproar on the Lakeshore, we won’t know officially who they are playing, but it would make sense that they would play a 2nd seed team, which will be a tough match up for them, no matter which region it is from.

9. Philly Rollergirls 2-1: Philly couldn’t repeat last year’s 1 point victory over Gotham to capture the East Regional Championship but second isn’t a bad place to be. Philly tore through Carolina and blew Boston out of the water on their way to their match up with Gotham. While Gotham eventually put some big jams together and took advantage of some power jam opportunities, Philly had many highlights as well in that match up. Philly is a dark horse candidate to be playing for a Hydra in Chicago.

10. Gotham Girls Roller Derby 3-0: What can you say about Gotham that hasn’t already been said? They are just going through teams this year. Gotham is playing on a level right now where very few teams can even begin to hang with them. Philly gave them a game, but the victory was never really in doubt. Gotham moves on and is only a few games away from playing for another Hydra. The question now becomes whom do they have to beat to get there?

Final Thoughts

• Blow outs are not fun to watch and this tournament was filled with them. If WFTDA needs further evidence to change from the regions system to something different, I present to them People’s Exhibit A: This year’s East Regional. Either that or move some of the East Region teams to different regions. Carolina would shake things up in the South Central if they were moved over.
• Lots of controversy has come out of the Montreal vs. Carolina game in terms of the rules and reffing. There is an old saying that goes “never put the fight in the judges’ hands”. Things happen in tight games and you aren’t always going to agree with the calls, but that being said, you can’t let it come down to that in the first place. The positive thing about all this? This was one of the best games of the post season bar none.
• To dovetail off this point, I would like to say I like the bulk of the officiating I am seeing in all the regional tournaments so far. As Caesar has pointed out flopping has started to work its way into the game and the men and women in the stripes are starting to look for it. Also big hits aren’t being called as major elbows or forearms nearly as much, which is a big step forward for the sport. Big hits are going to happen with athletes that are this fast and strong and more often then not, they are clean.
• Some people were upset about Gotham’s 314-14 drumming of Providence. My take is this; I could see your point if it was a game during the regular season but its not, it’s the playoffs. It’s one and done. Gotham showed no mercy and that’s the way you have to play in the post season. They were focused, they stayed focused, and due to them staying in that mind set for each and every game they come away as the number 1 seed in the East.
• I look for Gotham to make a lot of noise in Chicago but I don’t think it’s going to be an easy road for them to get into the Championship game. The road just gets harder and harder from here.
• I LOVED the graphics for each game where you could always see the score, clock, and jam clock. That mixed with graphics that told you who were playing jam to jam were great.
• The announcing was pretty good, but my one-gripe/pet peeve is when announcers go off on a story/inside joke and completing ignores the game for a lap or more. Even in blowouts, there is something to talk about during the jam, a player, a match up in the pack, what one team is doing with their pack and how the other should counter it, etc. Save the random anecdotes for official time outs as they can last for a long time and you need a little something to keep things interesting without any action going on.
• Overall I thought the audio and video was done very well.

I hope to get the West recap out sooner then I did this one, but its going to be a busy week for me as I am going to New York City on Friday for a wedding. I foresee pots upon pots of coffee in my future. Use the comments box below and share your thoughts with us, we want to hear from you. What did you think about Derby in the Burbs? What did you like? Didn’t like? Didn’t see coming? Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in a few days with my breakdown for the South Central Regional Amber Waves of Pain.