Help me enjoy the next 7 minutes of roller derby. Go!

April 13, 2013 9:50 PM

Watching the Bay Area Bombers live at my first roller derby match. Lots of fun but I don't have a clue what's going on. How is it scored? How much is fake, how much is real?
posted by ms_rasclark to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (11 answers total)

Best answer: I'm more familiar with flat-track derby which is played by slightly different rules than the SF Bay Bombers' banked-track derby, but the basics are the same. Each team has one "jammer" (who wears a star on her helmet) and four "blockers." The goal of the jammer is to break out of the pack, lap it, and earn points by passing the other teams' players. The goal of the blockers is the prevent this from happening. There are various rules about types of blocks, hits, and other plays that are legal or illegal; violating these can send a player to the penalty box for one minute.

The athletics is real (nothing is "staged") even if the players use entertaining names and cute uniforms. (I just got back a few minutes ago from a killer bout between the Jet City Roller Girls "Bombers" and the Rat City Roller Girls "Grave Danger" at Key Arena in Seattle. Wooo!)
posted by mbrubeck at 10:03 PM on April 13, 2013 [6 favorites]

Put your phone away and ask the person sitting next to you! Derby fans, at least in Portland, are crazy evangelical. And none of it is faked.
posted by chrchr at 10:20 PM on April 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

Roller derby isn't pro wrestling, it's all real, and all awesome.
posted by Sternmeyer at 11:20 PM on April 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: All real, all awesome. There is probably a ton of refs in the middle - there are two jammer refs who are watching the jammers (girls with stars on their helmets). Once through the pack, all the way around the track, and then the next time she goes through, she gets points for every other opposing teammate she passes. The lead jammer (the one who got through the pack first) can call off the jam if she is tired/hotly pursued by the other jammer (she might be striking her hips). Agreed, ask the person beside ya! Have fun!

*** Haha, yep, we all concur. Derby: All real, all awesome!
posted by NorthernAutumn at 11:23 PM on April 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

Yes, ask people near you! We started going to flat track derby here in the Bay Area a year or so ago and people are wicked nice and happy to explain. Come see flat track! Google Bay Area Derby Girls - next match is April 27 in Oakland. See you there!
posted by rtha at 11:37 PM on April 13, 2013

Response by poster: We had some very tired teens with us when we arrived, and by the time we left, everyone was wide awake and said they had a blast. There did seem to be a lot of drama, some gratuitous "violence", and seemingly purposeful evening up of the scores back and forth. Overall, a lot of fun.
posted by ms_rasclark at 11:41 PM on April 13, 2013

Best answer: OK, y'all are confusing modern flat track roller derby (yes, showy, but real athletics to be sure) with old style banked track derby, which is awfully similar to pro wrestling. Bay Bombers are the latter sort. Bay Area Derby Girls (my former league) and Silicon Valley Roller Girls are two local leagues of the former type.
posted by mollymayhem at 1:22 AM on April 14, 2013 [7 favorites]

Also, there are banked track leagues that came out of the modern derby revival, and play non-staged games, but the Bay Bombers are certainly not one of them.
posted by mollymayhem at 1:26 AM on April 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

Good point, mollymayhem - I notice that the SF Bay Bombers are part of a "traditional professional banked-track derby" league, so I'm not surprised it's quite different from the newer all-amateur leagues.
posted by mbrubeck at 7:24 AM on April 14, 2013

Best answer: Yeah, Bay Area Bombers = last bastion of the old fake derby. They use the word "professional" but eh....

Full dislosure: I'm biased, I play flat track on an upper echelon team. But next time, try out BAD Girls or even the banked amateur league (San Francisco Derby Dolls I think?), and I think you'll see something more athletic, less theatrical, and possibly more fun.
posted by pixiecrinkle at 2:00 PM on April 14, 2013

Roller Derby requires excellent physical conditioning and skill, but it's an exhibition, not a sporting event. It's like professional wrestling with less steroids and testosterone poisoning.
posted by KRS at 8:36 AM on April 15, 2013