238 lines
9.0 KiB
Markdown
238 lines
9.0 KiB
Markdown
Title: Why I Am Refusing To NSO Any Games with Clovis's Dirty Curry Prairie Dollz
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I have an ax to grind with the Clovis roller derby team.
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The M'Atom Bombs have played a lot of games in the last two years,
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have lost plenty of games at home and away,
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but I have never left feeling as angry as I am after the July 20, 2013 home game
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against Clovis.
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The Clovis team is dangerous,
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and they're only encouraging their mean-spirited fans.
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I got into derby because it was fun.
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Clovis is the opposite of fun.
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I am now refusing to participate in any game with the Clovis team.
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There are a few girls on the Clovis team who are fun to play with or against,
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and would fit in easily with any of the other fun teams the Bombs play.
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But there are people on the team who are abrasive and dangerous,
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and I don't feel the team is safe.
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I feel bad ragging on a team like this,
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but I'm clearly not alone in feeling this way,
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which is how I know this isn't my problem.
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It's Clovis's problem.
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Safety
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The Los Alamos M'Atom Bombs have been playing against other teams since early 2012.
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100% of the two games they have played against Clovis have resulted in a serious injury,
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needing long-term medical attention and resulting in a roster reduction at future games.
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0% of the dozens of games they have played against every other team
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(at least 8 teams) have resulted in a serious injury.
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In fairness, the Bombs have had one concussion in inter-league play,
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but it was caused by a player from their own team.
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I had already refused to NSO any game with the player named Big Red
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(formerly with Amarillo, now with Clovis),
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who caused the Bombs' first injury.
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Previously,
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the Los Alamos head ref
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had also stated they would not participate in any game with her.
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Going into the July game,
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I didn't know much about the Clovis team,
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other than they were excited about having Big Red join them.
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Given her reputation,
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I was expecting something bad to happen at the bout.
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I was not surprised when I called a timeout to let
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the first aid crew tend to a Los Alamos skater screaming out in pain.
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The Score
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I want to make it clear that I'm not mad about the score.
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At the end of the day, the score was 54 Clovis, 45 Los Alamos.
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Anyone who follows Roller Derby should be surprised by this very low score.
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But they should be less surprised when they hear there was only 22 minutes of
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very interrupted gameplay.
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We cancelled due to rain.
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I'm not mad about this score.
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It's not a game score, it's a snapshot of the score at 20 minutes into the first period,
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and it's a 9-point spread, which is ½ of a *low-scoring* power jam.
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But I don't even care if the Bombs win.
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They keep playing because they have fun,
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and other teams keep playing the Bombs because they're a fun team to play.
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Playing Clovis is not fun.
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Making The Most of Time
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-------------------
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We spent 22 minutes playing Roller Derby,
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20 minutes waiting for rain to stop,
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and 65 minutes in timeouts, official reviews, and bickering.
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We play outdoors, and have to cancel due to weather.
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Our very first home game got snowed out.
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So when a flash flood warning was issued 5 minutes before the game,
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we asked our fans to shout out "no rain".
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Clovis used their official review less than 10 minutes into the first period's clock.
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Less than 15 minutes in,
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I called an official timeout because all four referees were engaged in the middle of the track with the Clovis bench.
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Less than 20 minutes in,
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I called an official timeout because a Los Alamos skater was writhing on the ground in pain.
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The "no rain" chants didn't work. A little over 20 minutes into the first period's clock,
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we called a 20 minute delay to see if the rain would stop.
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It did stop, long enough for us to run about 1:20 of the second period,
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at which point we had to call an end to the game.
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The first period began at 6:40. It was called off due to rain at 7:35,
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with about 9:30 left on the period clock.
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If we had only had the 3 team timeouts,
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we could have finished the first period,
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halftime, and been 5 minutes in to the second period before it started raining.
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The second period was supposed to start at 7:45.
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I wasn't watching the clock at that point,
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but according to a friend, we didn't actually start until 8:15,
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30 minutes later.
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We spent those 30 minutes listening to players argue about
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whether or not we should play the remaining 9 minutes on the first period.
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All told, the game ran 1 hour and 37 minutes, from 6:40 until 8:17.
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The teams only got 22 minutes of gameplay.
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Two 30-minute jams, a 20-minute halftime, and all 6 team timeouts
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would have taken
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1 hour and 29 minutes.
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Of course, nobody knew that the rain would coincide exactly
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with when halftime was scheduled.
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But we did waste a tremendous amount of time standing around arguing.
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Anyone suggesting either team was conspiring with the weather to keep us from playing is crazy.
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I'm not making that claim.
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But I think it's important to understand *why* we didn't get to play.
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League Relations
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----------------
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I edited the screen shot to show the conversation, which is:
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Fan: Madame Bombs would have been a better name.
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Clovis Roller Derby: I see what you did there ;-)
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Fan: I am full of ideas.
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If you don't get the joke, the Los Alamos "M'Atom Bombs" is a play on words:
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"Madam" is a polite formal address for a woman,
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which the team altered to pay homage to Los Alamos being the birthplace of the nuclear—or "atom"—bomb.
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This fan is suggesting the word be spelled "Madame",
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the title given to a Brothel (prostitution house) owner.
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The official team account then acknowledges the joke with a wink.
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I know things are different in Texas and eastern New Mexico,
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and people get very passionate about sports.
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But I have many professional associates in Amarillo and Lubbock,
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and they are all decent, courteous people, with a strong moral compass and sense of pride,
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so I know this isn't a cultural issue.
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Joking that the other team is made up of prostitutes doesn't engender good feelings,
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and doesn't reflect well on the community you've built.
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After Party
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The Los Alamos Derby Dames and Animas Roller Girls (Farmington) have an excellent relationship.
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They are the founding members of the "New Mexico Chupacabras" regional travel team,
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and regularly drive out to each others' games just to sit in the bleachers and cheer.
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At the very first Los Alamos / Farmington game, the after-party was in a dive bar
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(the only place in town still open after the game).
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The Bombs brought home-made chili in Crock pots, and bags of Fritos.
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It was awesome, and began a strong relationship between the two teams.
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For the July 20 after party,
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we were planning to open up the skating rink,
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play music with a DJ light show,
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and pay to have pizza delivered.
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It rained, and I had to break down the PA system and lights,
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but we still had free pizza and drinks for everyone.
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Apparently this wasn't good enough for Clovis,
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so after the pizza ran out,
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they had their own after party,
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and then got mad that we didn't come.
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We were busy breaking down and checking on the Bombs' injured skater in the emergency room.
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----
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Clovis was (justifiably) unhappy that they didn't get to skate much,
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so the Bombs offered to scrimmage with them during their morning practice the next day.
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Two Clovis skaters showed up.
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You ladies were great,
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and I'm glad I got the opportunity to hang out with you.
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Good luck with your team.
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I've gotten word that some of the other Clovis skaters stayed at the hotel instead.
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Even though the Bombs tried their best to be good hosts,
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the Clovis team and their fans decided the appropriate response
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was to ditch us and then complain on Facebook.
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In Closing
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The perfect injury rate
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and the team's decision to support fans bad-mouthing the Bombs
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combine to make me feel completely justified
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in not officiating any more games with Clovis.
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My life is too short to waste time dealing with nasty people.
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If you are a Clovis skater feeling embarrassed by the actions of a few team-mates,
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you need to decide how many boycotts you're willing to let them bring upon the team.
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I will probably not be the only official to do this.
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About Me
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I am the head NSO for Los Alamos.
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I volunteer for WFTDA and non-WFTDA leagues all around the area.
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I wrote the free LADD scoreboard software used by most of New Mexico,
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Southern Colorado, and spots in Utah, Arizona, California, Alberta,
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and more.
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I wrote the free woozle.org penalty timer app for Android,
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with almost 1000 active users.
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At 2013's Roller Con,
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I will be unveiling free plans for a build-it-yourself electronic scoreboard,
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and for a build-it-yourself derby-specific stopwatch.
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I'm also co-presenting, with Evil Lucian from Moab,
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best practices for small town derby teams to run a bout with limited staff.
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