I Make Myself Sick

When I think of all the sacrifices I have made for derby in the past three years, my stomach tends to trouble me. Currently, I'm making myself sick by conducting the league's third annual Fan Favorites survey. This year's survey is churning up the bile because I am paying for it out of my own pocket, I am seeing the responses on a daily basis, and I am fielding random complaints. I did all the same things last year, without the major derby burnout I am experiencing this year. I had no idea this silly little popularity contest would have the potential to be the straw that breaks the camel's back. To circumvent, allow me to vent...

To the people who showed up at Verizon at 7:00 pm on Sunday and were not let in: You should thank Verizon that they didn't let you catch the anticlimactic end of a bout you are going to see again in September and you already saw last year (who would have thought that hitting the same girls over and over again would cause burnout?). May I suggest next time (September 14, 2008..hint, hint), you buy a ticket online through the Thursday before the bout?

To the person who dislikes obscene gestures: I did not enjoy the gesturing on Sunday either, although for an entirely different reason. Sometimes sports bring out the best in us; sometimes sports bring out the worst in us; sometimes a lot of things go on behind the scenes that affect us either way. I hope our fans (and our league) can focus on the good things. I'll try to do the same (see, I'm already feeling better from venting).

To the survey takers who have cookies deactivated or deleted: You should make sure your first answers are the ones you truly want, because I delete any responses from duplicate IP addresses. If you are a derby girl, you should be ashamed of voting for yourself or your team as a favorite more than once.

I have so much more I could say, but for now, I've done my derby duty and advertised the survey as well as our next bout. I don't know how much the venting helped, but it might tide me over enough to get through a HaRD Knocks workout in the morning without screaming or crying.