Merry Christmas!

Photo by SmoPho on Flickr.

That is if your version of a merry Christmas starts with an elbow in your crotch.

I tried to find a more flattering picture of myself from the San Antonio Roller Derby mashup bout I skated in last Sunday, but the only thing I found was that I need to lose about 30 pounds before March.  Boobies!

So Merry Christmas, indeed!

It's Officially Over

So I went to the 2008 HRD Awards. I got nothing except for somebody making a snarky comment about how I should have shown up as Linus with a dirt cloud around me (a reference to my bad attitude since July from someone who's partly to blame for that perceived bad attitude..."that's bullshit" beotch). And people still wonder why I'm quitting. HA! I thank God every day that I have the balls to stand up and say enough.

I don't think I'd even continue playing derby if someone was paying me, because I'd still have to deal with women with bigger egos than I pretend to have. Scary.

I may have been born to derby, but I've come to realize there are better things in life. :)

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.

The Good, The Bad, The Derby

I've had ups and downs in derby this week.

I fumed for a couple of days over something that has annoyed me for two years: people that come at a jammer with a good block, but not good enough to take the jammer out, so they use their momentum to fall in front of the jammer and try to break her ankle by wrapping their legs around it. Not a good feeling for the jammer. Referees should call a low block or tripping, but good luck with that.

After recently conversing with a couple of other skaters about whether or not a backwards whip could be used effectively in an actual jam, I pulled one off last night. I threw an off-balance block, went into an eagle, and decided to just turn around and face my jammer who I knew was right behind me. I had two teammates ahead of me in the pack, so I knew I could give my jammer a whip and she would be protected from the one opposing blocker that was ahead of us. I reached out for her, and she grabbed my hand and propelled herself around the rest of the pack. Now that's a good feeling for a blocker. Wasn't 100%, but it got the job done.

Can't wait to show Pikes Peak how Houston rolls on February 9, 2008.

HRD News Flash!

Bosses succeed in handing the horse's head to the HRD 2006 undefeated champion Sirens! Details later...after the Brawlers' loss by 100 points sinks in.

They made me proud!

Houston Roller Derby took on the Dallas Derby Devils and walked away winners.  After the huge loss that was handed to the HaRD Knocks at the Governor's Cup in September, I was a bit nervous about the Southern Brawl.  HRD came out on fire (or aFlame), and before they could untangle themselves from the third row, DDD was down 18-1.  Of course, DDD gave as well as they got, and it made for an exciting night of derby.

Oh, and the Sirens won, too.  Yawn.

I can't put if off any longer

It's been posted on houstonrollerderby.com, so I guess I should talk about it.  The inaugural season is over, and it ended just as everyone expected.  If my season had not ended about 60 minutes sooner than it should have, maybe the outcome would have been different, but alas, the Sirens won the 2006 championship.

I'm not going to dwell on it...I'm looking forward to our next event where HRD takes on the Dallas Derby Devils.  You might recall that a couple of weeks ago, the Devils travel team smoked the HRD travel team in Austin.  We were missing some key players, and I expect a much better showing on October 1st.  Stay tuned for more information...we need to pack the Verizon Wireless Theater so our chances of using the venue next year will improve.

The Last Bout of the Regular Season

Here's the promotional material:



Although we haven't officially made the annoucement and most likely won't until after Bout 6, this should be a preview of the championship in September. Hopefully, the Brawlers will gel like we did in Bout 5 and give the Sirens some good competition.

Here's the article you've been waiting for...

Good Bad Girls ran in the early Sunday edition of the Houston Chronicle on May 27, 2006. Most of the quotes in there came out of Catazon's mouth. It's a great article, but they didn't include a picture of me. Mistilla made the front page of the early edition. Isn't that special?

MySpace post on the same topic:
It's all about me...
Good Bad Girls ran in the early Sunday edition of the Houston Chronicle. Most of the quotes in there came out of Catazon's mouth. I'm "way too cool" to complain about the pictures, though...

Burlesque Brawlers vs. Psych Ward Sirens

The Brawlers are no longer undefeated, and Catazon can no longer say that she won't start a fight.

Final score: Brawlers - 56, Sirens - 90.

That's all I have to say about that for now.