The night was marked by questionable calls by the referees. Even audience members realized that a jammer in the penalty box at the start of a jam cannot score points until the second time she passes through the pack, although the Bosses were able to score points immediately upon coming out the penalty box...twice. Hmmm?
Then what may also be a questionable call in the final jam put the Bosses' jammer in the penalty box for the remainder of the period, allowing the Brawlers' jammer to score unmatched points. The Brawlers' blockers will all say that the call was fair, of course, because that particular jammer had been using her hands all night, but a lot of people think the Bosses were robbed. I personally think justice prevailed for the mistakes in the first half.
Hopefully, by the third bout, the referees will read over their rules a few more times and begin paying more attention to what is going on in the game. It will be a battle of the undefeateds, with the Brawlers going up against the Psych Ward Sirens. I think we all have our work cut out for us.
MySpace post on the same topic:
Brawlers Prevail...
despite questionable calls by the referees. The first half was marked by confusion over whether or not a jammer in the penalty box at the start of the jam can come on out and start scoring immediately. BTW, she can't, but somehow the Bosses did...twice. So the Brawlers were down a point at halftime when they should have been up by at least ten.
Then, with under two minutes left in the game and the Brawlers down by six, the Bosses' jammer was sent to the penalty box, leaving the Brawlers' jammer to score unmatched points. Patsy Crime successfully passed eight Bosses to put the Brawlers ahead by two! I'll never forget that feeling of watching the scoreboard and seeing 72-70 flash up, especially since I wasn't able to contribute much to the win although I jammed my ass off (back-to-back, as a matter of fact!).
It was truly a team effort for the Brawlers this bout, and much love and respect is sent to the Bosses as truly magnificent opponents. On to the Sirens May 20th...
(comment from MySpace)
ReplyDeleteI am glad I got the real story. I too was confused with the ending, thinking Flame-N-Rage scored some points on the last jam. Before the bout I was telling my friends that I thought the match would be one-sided. The Brawlers easily won the first week, while the Bosses lost to what I thought a lesser team. When the Bosses came out strong I found myself rooting a bit for the underdog. Add the charisma of Flame-N-Rage, and especially Death by Chocolate, I was blown away. DBC knows how to work the crowd when she is in the lead jammer, looking at the crowd and rotating her fist like it's Hulkamania time. They stepped it up a few notches, and made you do the same. Patsy showed her true stripes as the wily veteran in the last jam, while Flame-N-Rage got knocked hard into the crowd, just to hop up, get in front of that blocker to get knocked hard again by the one in front. Flame-N-Rage must be a dirty player, as she was frequently in the penalty box. I met her and her folks at the bout.
The Brawlers are still my favorite team, but I got caught up in the underdog run of Boss-a-mania. You did awesome as well, even when behind, you were always right behind the opponents jammer. Like Dyna-Mite with TXRD, the other derby girls take pride in actually knocking you down.
Totally awesome!
Kyle
(comment from MySpace)
ReplyDeleteHopefully our bouts will continue to improve as we all learn more and we won't have this problem again. As much as the Brawlers tried to reason with the ref team, I think they may have some clue now. If a jammer can come out of the penalty box and just start scoring at will, then I need to get me some more penalties!!!
I'm at a disadvantage on what was really going on out there in the trenches since I did not block as much as I usually do. I really had to concentrate on scoring points since yes, DBC and Flame are both fast and can score easily. I hope that doesn't happen again, because I do love blocking and delivering some awesome hits.
Thanks for being true to the Brawlers! We will really need the support on May 20th. It should be an exciting bout.