I know many of you have come to rely upon this site for a comprehensive listing of upcoming interleague bouts and recent scores, so you may be wondering why those listings have vanished.  Don't be alarmed!  Over the past few weeks, I've joined forces with Justice Feelgood Marshall's superb Derby News Network site.  As a DNN staffer, I'll be contributing to the site's comprehensive derby news coverage, as well as helping Justice acheive his goal of collecting and listing every score for every bout -- not just interleague events, but also local-team intraleague contests. 

In support of that goal, I've been working with a small team of derby geeks to design, build, and test a database engine for reporting, tracking, and analyzing bout scores.  It's good to see this longtime goal of mine finally nearing fruition, and it's a great first step on the lengthy road to the real holy grail of derby data mangling:  skater-by-skater, jam-by-jam records of scoring, penalties, and assists.  You have to crawl before you walk, but it's good to finally be crawling.

This project, and a couple others, have drawn my focus away from another goal that's important to me -- completing my 2007 travelogue.  I've written about my adventures from January through early June, but that still leaves some of the biggest stories of the year untold:  my return visit to Seattle, RollerCon in Las Vegas, the WFTDA tournaments, the "international leg" of the journey, and more.  I want to get back to that soon.  It will definitely help if you nag me about it.

I'll now summarize this post for the non-readers in the audience:

• SCORES are at Derby News Network
  
• NEWS is also at Derby News Network
• TRAVELOGUE stays right here.

I'd like to take a minute this Thanksgiving holiday to recognize the over 100 people who made my adventures possible this year. Without you, I wouldn't have had the most interesting and exciting year of my life. In the lists below, I've tried to recognize you by skate name and league, but in the case of some contributors, I wasn't able to figure it out... please let me know if you'd like me to correct how I have you listed.

Thank you all!

First, the superheroes

These people deserve special recognition for providing large donations, frequent hosting, or other above-and-beyond assistance:

Chris and Julie Edrington
John Borcherding and Jennifer Bentz
Tokyo Rose
Davin Flateau
Ivanna S. Pankin and Trish the Dish, Sin City Rollergirls
Lexie Deluxe, Philly Roller Girls
Cupples Sk8, Rose City Rollers
A.T. Hellion, Atlanta Rollergirls
Henry Roll-ins, Big Easy Roller Girls
Moose Ondaluce, Tornado Alley Roller Girls
Savage, Carolina Rollergirls
Hambone and Ginger Snap, Gotham Girls Roller Derby
Don Bombshelter, Tucson Roller Derby

Hosting

In addition to those listed above, these people opened their homes to me:

Chica Loca, Sacred City Derby Girls
Killah Kelly and Spankenstein, Sac City Rollers
Mercy Xilling, Bay Area Derby Girls
Lisa Lawless, Bay Area Derby Girls
Razorslut, LA Derby Dolls
Laura Duncan
Muffin, Duke City Derby
Dahmernatrix, Duke City Derby
Malicious Mabel, Green Country Roller Girls
Clean Chuck, Green Country Roller Girls
Tornado Alley Roller Girls
Chip Queso, Texas Rollergirls
Claudia Van Damage, Houston Roller Derby
Good Golly Miss Mauly, River Valley Roller Girls
Saba Taj, Northwest Arkansas Roller Girls
Nox, Memphis Roller Derby
Strawberry Jam, Naptown Roller Girls
Helsa Wayton and The Shoveler, Windy City Rollers
Crackerjack, Mad Rollin' Dolls
Bob Noxious, Mad Rollin' Dolls
Athena Barbital, North Star Roller Girls
Mario Speedwagon, No Coast Derby Girls
Prince Charles, Tallahassee Roller Girls
Papa Hyman, Tallahassee Roller Girls
Ova Thrower, Charlotte Roller Girls
mommacherry, Rat City Rollergirls
Astro Glide, Rat City Rollergirls
Mad Madge, Rat City Rollergirls
Mercy Less, Charm City Roller Girls
Barracuda and Caesar, Ohio Roller Girls
Slugs Bunny and Weird Al Spankabiotch, Nashville Rollergirls
Rockaway Beatch, Palmetto State Rollergirls
Ziggy Starbust, Ohio Roller Girls
Mia Mayhem, Queen City Roller Girls
Staplehead, Hammer City Roller Girls
Iggy Slop, Detroit Derby Girls
Bruz-Her, Kansas City Roller Warriors

Donations

Last but certainly not least, my travels were funded in part through generous donations from:

Aly Sylum, Sacred City Derby Girls
Ana Bollucks, Gotham Girls Roller Derby
Arson Annie, Rat City Rollergirls
Bonnie D. Stroir, San Diego Derby Dolls
Boss Hogg, Bay Area Derby Girls
Bulldog, Rat City Rollergirls
Dayglo, DC Rollergirls
Devon Grace Brewer
Dirty Marty, Charm City Roller Girls
Donna Party, Windy City Rollers
E Blair
Edie Brickwall, Rat City Rollergirls
Frank Blau, Rat City Rollergirls
Frenzy Lohan, Charm City Roller Girls
Friction Vixen, Denver Roller Dolls
General Anesthesia, Rat City Rollergirls
Gregory Bevington
Hailey Hawkeye, Dominion Derby Girls
Hela Skelter
Howie Swerve, Charm City Roller Girls
Ida Slapter, Rat City Rollergirls
Jef Smith
Jon Kontio
Josie Cuervo, Dutchland Rollers
Julie Scheff
Kitty Kamikaze, Rat City Rollergirls
Lorna Boom, Rat City Rollergirls
Malice with Chains, Windy City Rollers
Mathemortician, Bay Area Derby Girls
Maxx Sundquist
Melissa Elouarzazi
Miss Fortune, Rat City Rollergirls
Mother Jugs, Dominion Derby Girls
Nadja Ramos
Nina Knockout, Philly Roller Girls
Nox, Memphis Roller Derby
Nuclear Bombshell, Cincinnati Rollergirls
Orange County Rollergirls
Papa-Razzi, Mad Rollin' Dolls
Rettig to Rumble, Rat City Rollergirls
Scorey Feldman, Windy City Rollers
Southbay, Bay Area Derby Girls
Statisfier, Philly Roller Girls
Talbot Shoemaker
Tart of Darkness, Palmetto State Rollergirls
The Original Donald, Gotham Girls Roller Derby
Trash 'n' Smash, Montreal Roller Derby
Violet Temper, Philly Roller Girls
Xcelerator's dad, Kansas City Roller Warriors
My dad
My grandmother

A few days after it aired, MavTV has now posted the webcast of the Providence Roller Derby vs. Ohio Roller Girls preliminary round from the Heartland Havoc.  The very large, very brown hat and I are in there briefly, explaining the difference between major and minor penalties.

Viewing instructions, in a nutshell:

1. Go to http://mavtv.com/pages/public_watch.asp
2. Channels at the bottom:  scroll right, click Men's Entertainment
3. On the right, scroll down to find the bout you want, then click on it to start

Any problems, try these troubleshooting steps:  select the bout from under "Just Added" instead of under "Schedule"; try using a different web browser (Firefox instead of IE or Safari); try setting a lower bitrate under "Settings" on the right; shut down any other internet-using programs on the computer.

Keeping up on interleague scores just keeps getting more challenging, so I'm asking for your help. If you've got 'em, please send me scores for any of the following bouts:

09/15 Morristown Madams @ Penn Jersey She Devils
09/22 FWDG Li'l Arsenic Annies @ Bleeding Heartland Rollergirls
09/22 San Joaquin Valley Vixens @ Smog City Roller Grrls
10/12 Wilmington City Ruff Rollers @ Garden State Rollergirls
10/20 Columbia Quad Squad Rollergirls @ Reedy River Rollergirls
10/20 Destruction Junction Derby Dames @ Bleeding Heartland Rollergirls
10/21 Garden State Rollergirls @ Coal City Rollers
11/03 FoCo Girls Gone Derby @ RMRG Red Ridin' Hoods

Thanks!

Want to help get the word out about the first regular national sportscast in modern roller derby? WFTDA has made it possible to embed a video promo onto your web site, myspace page, you name it. The end result turns out something like this:

The long wait for televised flat track derby sportscasting ends tonight, per this derby blogger news flash from the WFTDA:

Mav TV airs the first episode of Heartland Havoc tonight!

This week's episode will be the full- length first game of Heartland Havoc, Windy City vs. Atlanta! Episodes are an hour and a half long, and will air weekly, in order of the tournament games, at the following times:

Orig. airs will be Saturdays beginning 10/20, 10/27, 11/6, etc. at 11:00pm.

Re-airs will be Sunday (lt. Sat. night) at 1:30am

Mon. at noon

Mon. at 5:00pm

Don't have Mav TV on your cable or satellite provider? (harass them
for it, but...)Watch online at MavTV.com - here:
http://www.mavtv.com/pages/public_watch.asp

-xxxooo Mercy Less, Duke City Derby, Marketing/PR Chair, WFTDA

All times are Eastern. MavTV will broadcast every bout from the 2007 WFTDA East Regional and Championship Tournaments, one per week, in the same order the bouts were played in. Yes, that was a preposition I ended that sentence with.

UPDATE: Here's the method that seems to work for watching the webcast on the MavTV web site:

1) Point your browser at http://mavtv.com/pages/public_watch.asp

2) Find the "Channels" selection at the bottom of the page. Click the right arrow until you find the "Men's Entertainment" channel, and click on it.

3) In the right-hand pane, click the "Just Added" tab, then scroll down in that pane until you find "MavTV Roller Derby". Click, then be patient through a network promo before the program starts.

4) If you want to view it fullscreen, you can double-click on the player. To return from fullscreen, hit the ESC button.

You'll probably find yourself holding your nose through some of the network promos that run during ad breaks, but looking past that, the actual presentation is really quite good! I expect it will only get better as the editing crew becomes more familiar with the material... they've clearly got solid raw footage to work with, and they're most definitely focused on roller derby as a sport during the program itself. Can't wait to see more!

Due to the late-September timing of the championship tournament, WFTDA wisely elected to delay their fall rankings ballot (nominally due in September) until after the tourney ended. The results are now in, and they definitely reflect the shakeups we saw at the Heartland Havoc and Texas Shootout!

I'm turning into a total Google Documents addict, so I pressed on to chart out the progression of league rankings over time.  The key drawback to this chart is that I can't invert the vertical axis, so the highest ranking teams appear at the bottom of the chart.  The legend does have the teams in the same order as the rightmost data column, which represents the current rankings, so hopefully you can make sense of it from there.

As many of you know, the Texas Shootout marked the end of my derby travel marathon. Over the course of nine months on the road, I:

• traveled 37,615 miles (1.5 times the circumference of the Earth!)
• journeyed through 35 states, one province, and the District of Columbia
• attended 61 bouts (including 19 regular bouts and 42 tournament bouts spread over four separate events)
• attended 21 practices
• was a guest at 22 meet and greet events, both large and small
• received contributions from 67 different donors totalling $2765

By any possible measure, this national derby tour has been a big success. I'm delighted with the opportunities I've had to make new friends, see different places, learn from many, share what I've learned with many others, and help this amazing sport and community thrive in ways small and large. I can think of at least three or four separate times that I've found myself saying, "This is the greatest day of my life"... only to find yet a better day met me further down the road.

Hitting the brakes

It's time to stop, though, for several reasons. Not least among them: exhaustion! It's just not possible to get fully rested after a few months of nomadic lifestyle. My friends, never underestimate the value of a real home of your own to fully relax in! While my many hosts have been remarkably welcoming and generous, it is not the same as a home of one's own.

Much to my surprise, I've found a home waiting for me where I never expected it. An offhand remark in my initial mission statement turned out to be prophetic -- I did in fact meet a derby girl who is crazy about me, and who I am equally crazy about, and I have in fact settled outside the northwest. I'm making my new home in Albuquerque, where I intend to stay for at least the winter... and from there, we'll see where it goes!

While I'm done traveling for the time being, this certainly doesn't mean the end of my efforts to further modern roller derby, or even the end of the "Have Derby, Will Travel" project. I'll continue posting interleague scores as I have all year. I have several months worth of travel still to document in forthcoming travelogue posts, which I'll get moving on again before long. Also, I'll do my best to keep filling the "Hurt Reynolds, Derby Therapist" role by fielding questions from rookie leagues all over the place.

What's next?

Information sharing tools. Lots of them. I'm still sifting through the insights I gained on the road, but one lesson is crystal clear: modern roller derby as it is today would simply not have been possible without the revolution in communication and information technology of the past decade. Having seen this, I also believe we've only taken the low-hanging fruit: mailing lists and forums for organizing ourselves and learning from each other, myspace and web sites for marketing.

I see so much more we can do. We need some good global document management, something better than files areas in yahoo groups. We need a robust mechanism for sharing best practices... sounds like a job for a wiki if I ever heard one. And, there's the global derby database project I keep alluding to. All of these are needs I can help meet... but I've definitely learned that it's too difficult to focus on an IT project from the road!

Now that I've settled into a home and decompressed for a couple weeks, I'm ready to get going on all these projects and more. Stay tuned!