The 2 for 1: Tank’s Thoughts on the Western Regionals, South Central Regionals, and Beyond.

Last week was a busy week for me as I took a trip to New York City to see my friend and fellow announcer, Corndog get married. Combine that with a full time job and a class at Ohio State University; I didn’t have time to write a Western Regional review. I decided this week to take a cue from Caesar and Kool Aid and do this article a little more off the cuff.

Western Regional Thoughts

• I ended up going 11-6 on my predictions, getting 2 of the 3 teams correct for the WFTDA Championships.
• For the most part, I had the Western Regionals on all weekend long. At one point, while driving to pick up dinner at Chipotle, I hooked my cell phone up to my car’s sound system so I could listen to the Bay Area/Denver game while my girlfriend watched it on Ustream. Thank god for technology….and burritos. Mmmmmmm burritos.
• Speaking of the video, Blaze Media and Sacred City set a new bar for what roller derby video production should look like. The free stream was featured prominently on Ustream’s front page all weekend long, drawing attention from none derby fans who were able to easily find roller derby which if you aren’t in the know is very difficult to do. Giving new fans an easy way to access games is one of the things that is currently missing that will grow the sport.
• The HD stream was even better. 10 dollars a day is a steal for tournament games, especially when you have friends coming over to watch the game. I invited 8 friends over on Sunday night and with each of us throwing in a few bucks had a great party with pizza, drinks, and some of the best roller derby we had ever seen.
• Tucson and Duke City both looked rough at Westerns. Unless both leagues step it up in 2011, they both risk not making it next year.
• Jet City suffered what I call the “internet darling curse”, where a young team is built up by Internet and doesn’t live up to the hype. Jet City is going to need to get some scrimmages in against the other Pacific Northwest teams to build for next year. I would also like to see them play Brew City, Dallas, Montreal, and Carolina to see where they are at.
• On the other hand Sacred really surprised me. They are young in the tournament scene but they have some talent. If they continue to work with BAD, they could go very far, very quickly.
• Speaking of surprises, what happened to Denver? Last year’s 3rd place team in the world won’t be making the WFTDA Championships this year. Denver got into a lot of penalty trouble and seemed to be playing very loose as opposed together as a team. The Dolls were not winning the jam to jam match ups. When they could get a power jam for their jammer; no one does the slow game better. The game has evolved in the past year and Denver needs to change to be able to keep up with the other teams in their region in 2011.
• Rat City is on the right path, but it’s going to take some time to get where they need to go. Rat is back playing on the upper echelon of the sport, but they are going to need to keep training to make it to the WFTDA Championships next year. That said, I am very impressed by their strategy, if they keep on this trajectory they will be in the Championships next year, and I want to give a shout out to former Cleveland Steamers’ captain Primp Daddy for her record setting jam. It’s very cool to see good things happen for good people.
• Rose City in the West is stuck under the same glass ceiling as Boston in the East. Both are top-level teams that can beat a majority of the WFTDA but has trouble taking on the top tier teams. Rose City has got to add more tools to their toolbox as once BAD would not allow them to form their 3 woman wall in the front, it was all but over. Will 2011 finally be Rose City’s year?
• How can you not cheer for BAD? After a very bland 2009, BAD rebuilt, reinvented, and returned to the top of the roller derby world. They didn’t do it the easy way either as BAD played harder and harder opponents as the year went on, calumniating in wins over Denver and Rose City. I said before this tournament, Burlybot was not a household name, now she is. Look for them to make noise in Chicago, as this Cinderella hasn’t hung up her dancing shoes yet.
• Well, the dragon has finally been slayed; after 22 straight wins, Oly suffers their first loss. They looked stunned in the 2nd half of their game against Rocky Mountain and it just wasn’t their night. The scary thing is, this loss was a good thing for Oly. This entire team is stacked with athletes, who are motivated by competition. They are going to be training til their wheels fall off in preparation for the WFTDA Championships as you learn more from a loss then you do from a win. Everyone is talking about Rocky Mountain and Gotham as the teams that will take home the Hydra, while I am saying don’t sleep on Oly.
• Rocky Mountain might be a team of cyborgs. Like Glenn Beck, I can’t prove this or back it with fact, but I am going to throw that out there anyways. They won what was easily the hardest tournament this season. RMRG decimated the 3rd place team by almost 100 points and gave Oly their first loss. They are riding a large wave of momentum into the WFTDA Championships.
• Amanda Jamitinya in black face was something I was not expecting and was very shocking to say the least. After everything that has been said online about this issue, I feel like I am beating a dead horse. Lets be honest though, make up is rarely a good idea.
• The announcers were ok. I am not a big fan of announcers doing more then 2 games a day because you start to hear the same things and catch phrases recycled over and over and over again. There are a lot of good announcers, spread the mic time around. I however am not saying that everyone should be allowed to announce online.
• I could listen to Randy Pan announce paint drying and be entertained.
• I liked the half time call in shows for the tournament. It gave the online announcers a chance to relax between periods and is akin to the half time shows you see in professional sports.
• Overall Westerns lived up to the hype and beyond. I hope that in the future this kind of action becomes the norm instead of the exception.

South Central Regional Thoughts

• My South Central bracket saw me going 14-3, which included picking 2 of the 3 seeds for the WFTDA Championship and Kansas City winning the entire tournament. Do not sleep on this team people or you will get burned.
• Every time I checked my phone another blow out was coming across the wire. It confuses me how these teams can be so far apart in terms of parity. If WFTDA sticks with their current 4 region model, they need to move a team or two in from the West and North Central to spread things out more evenly.
• Hopefully we get a review from our South Central staff members for a more indepth review.

The stage is now set for the WFTDA Championships in Chicago. I will have my preview and picks up in a few weeks as we here at RDIT check out Uproar on the Lakeshore.