Watching the Derby

Now I know that right at this moment my sports fanatic (and racing fanatic) friend Dan is chomping at the bit to tell me that that Preakness was this weekend, not the Derby. And he would be right. But hold your horses Dan. It isn't horse racing I'm talking about, it's Roller Derby.

I had a fantastic weekend filled with family. On Friday night my little sister, my parents, and Jeff and I went out to dinner at one of my favorite Thai places in town. It was incredibly tasty and my sister even agreed to split a mango and sticky rice dessert with me (a rare treat). Then we hung out and talked at my parent's house until late. While I was there the phone rang and it was my older sister. She wanted to know if we would go to the roller derby with her on Saturday. One of her coworkers was making her debut and she wanted to have a group there to support her. Of course we couldn't pass that up. I told her we'd pick up tickets and that we'd meet her there that night.

Saturday we had no where to be until 7 so Jeff and I bummed around town, shopped, ran errands, ate breakfast and dinner out. It was heavenly. During the day I had stopped in to see my older sister at her work, the beauty supply shop Ulta. While I was there she suggested that I get my eyebrows waxed (they needed it). And who should be doing my waxing but the same girl who would be in the derby that night. We talked about how nervous she was and I tried to reassure her. She looked like a roller derby girl.

That night we headed down to the events center and found a pretty decent crowd at the derby. I've never been before (heck I've never seen roller derby before) so I had little idea what to expect. With a beer in hand I settled in to watch. Roller derby for those who haven't gone has got to be one of the best places to people watch ever. I loved the costumes which went from risque to downright weird. The girls are often wearing very short shorts and fishnet stockings. I saw furry leg warmers, tutus, and one woman with feathers glued to her eyelashes. Then the match started. A roller derby match is broken up into jams, where a jammer tries to score by getting past the pack once and then making it through them again for points. Our girls racked up massive points quickly against an inexperienced team but it was pretty exciting. There were girls falling all over the place. My sister's coworker ended up being the first person in the penalty box but had a ball. There were body checks and fast skating and skimpy costumes everywhere. Even the participants names were hilarious. A great time.

After the derby we headed out for drinks with my sister, her fiance, one of her friends (along with her son), and my sister's coworker who was beaming from ear to ear. We stayed out way too late and I was exhausted by the time I finally stumbled into bed. Sunday I met some family for brunch and then Jeff and I headed home. I've been working on a presentation that I have to give on Wednesday which is why this is so late. But it was a wonderful weekend and I'm sure I'll be heading back to the roller derby again. I probably won't go every week but it's nice to know that we have a team, and that they're a lot of fun to watch.