Gentle Snark
This Saturday, June 21, Seattle's own Rat City Rollergirls take on The Bay Area Derby Girls at Magnuson Park. B.A.D. Girls are a formidable opponent: their team play is rock-solid, and they roll fast. Hardly surprising. After all, they hail from San Francisco -- a city built upon a foundation of rock and roll.
By Geoff Carter | June 19, 2008
Gentle Snark
Tickets for the Rat City Rollergirls June 21 bout -- "The Big Gay Bout," in honor of Seattle's annual Gay Pride Parade -- are now on sale, that's what. You ought to get your tickets right now, because presale tickets to the last three bouts have all sold out within days ... and this bout, this big, gay bout, is going to be magic. If I could draw little stars and rainbows around that last word, I would. That's how magic it's going to be.
By Geoff Carter | May 19, 2008
Gentle Snark
Maybe you think that the Rollergirls aren't committed athletes. Maybe you think that one Rat City bout is much like another. Maybe you even think the Rat City girls have gone soft. To those arguments, I offer last Saturday night's bout -- when Grave Danger and Madison, Wis., team the Mad Rollin' Dolls skated a nail-biting match, a guy in a blonde fright wig chunked out the National Anthem on a bass guitar, the Buttrock Suites performed modern dance routines to Quiet Riot and Journey songs and star jammer Miss Fortune broke her collarbone.
By Geoff Carter | April 23, 2008
Gentle Snark
This year, you've chosen the Throttle Rockets as your favorite Rat City Rollergirls team -- and if I may say, it's a sound choice. As much as I fear and admire the Derby Liberation Front, Grave Danger and the Sockit Wenches, there's no denying that the team's got an energy about them this year -- a kind of force that surrounds them, and binds the galaxy together.
By Geoff Carter | April 4, 2008
Gentle Snark
Right off the bat I need to tell you that if you missed the first bout
of the Rat City Rollergirls' 2008 season, you needn't feel like a chump
... though I gotta tell ya, you kinda look like one to everyone who did go. Just look at us insufferable jerks, pointing at you and laughing. Ha ha ha ho ho ho, laughing and laughing, on into the night.
By Geoff Carter | March 24, 2008
Gentle Snark
They're back! On March 22, the four teams that make up the Rat City
Rollergirls will continue the business they left unfinished after last
year's championship bout. Grave Danger will try to cement its alpha-dog
standing by defeating DLF -- a team they've never beaten -- and the
Throttle Rockets will take on the Sockit Wenches in hopes of getting a
winning streak going. Will Seattle survive this brutal (but
family-friendly) gladitorial event?
By Geoff Carter | March 18, 2008
Gentle Snark
Who are the Rat City Rollergirls?
The Rat City Rollergirls -- RCRG for short -- are an all-female, all-volunteer flat-track roller derby league made up of four teams.
By Geoff Carter | February 4, 2008
Convergence Zone
Earlier this year we asked you, the fans of the Rat City Rollergirls -- you are a fan, right? -- to choose your favorite Rat City roller derby team. (Let me get this disclosure out of the way: My girlfriend is a former Rat City skater and now helps coach potential derby skaters.) There are four teams in the Seattle league: the Derby Liberation Front, renowned for their cohesive team play; the Throttle Rockets, a team of hard hitters; the Sockit Wenches, the team of fast skaters Pia Mess and Miss Fortune; and Grave Danger, a solid defensive squad.
By Geoff Carter | August 21, 2007
Convergence Zone
In this era of rising gas prices and ever-spreading gridlock, we need new ways to make the trip between points A and B. Here's one you may not have previously considered: roller skates.
By Geoff Carter | May 18, 2007
Convergence Zone
I'll step carefully here, because I don’t want a pack of irate rollergirls to beat me up. (Just one could do the job -- hell, half of one could do the job.) Last week, after Seattle's flat-track roller derby league the Rat City Rollergirls' opened its third season, we asked you to vote for your favorite Rat City team. There were four to choose from: The Sockit Wenches, last years' champions and a beautiful pack of speed demons; the Throttle Rockets, a hard-hitting squad of eight-wheeled Barbarellas; the Derby Liberation Front, a comely group of revolutionaries and and the Season 1 champs; and Grave Danger, those exquisite corpses and perennial underdogs. Danger placed third of four in 2005 play; last year, they came in fourth. The underworld howled in dismay.
By Geoff Carter | March 2, 2007
