By Bona Contention and Jamburglar

The Race City Rebels tasted their first-ever tournament action on May 8 at the 2010 Spring Roll Tournament, hosted by the Fort Wayne Derby Girls.  Six men’s leagues from across the nation – including the Dallas Deception (Dallas), Harm City Homicide (Baltimore), Puget Sound Outcasts (Tacoma), St. Louis GateKeepers, and Twin City Terrors (Minneapolis-St. Paul) – joined the Rebels in Fort Wayne to vie for the men’s championship trophy.  The Rebels went into the tournament with a short roster, missing injured skaters Dexter and Jamburglar. Skaters Eye-Roll 20’s and Trauma Maker hit the track for their first bouts and will likely be back for more action on the track. Three bouts in one day for our boys made for some great derby! Here are just a few highlights…

The Rebels were off to a great start in their first bout against the Outcasts. Rebel blockers even did a great job slowing down Quadzilla (later named the tournament’s jammer MVP) in early action, keeping the score relatively close. Ron Scaremy showed his skating skills by knocking the opposing jammer out at turn four and pulling a sweet reversal. Our boys soon found themselves visiting the penalty box at an alarming rate, opening the door for an all-out Outcast assault in the form of a 20-point jam, followed by a 14-point jam. The Outcasts continued to take advantage of Rebel penalties the rest of the bout and were able to widen their lead with heavy hitting from Radilliac and Ryrod, along with jamming attacks from Hollywood Chuck Bury and Quadzilla. Final Score:  Rebels 29, Outcasts 110

Coming off the loss to Puget Sound, the Rebels’ already-short roster became even shorter with Sir Nix-a-Lot and Westside Slam sidelined due to injuries. Big n’ Plenty and Plowboy stepped up as jammers, with Ron Scaremy staying in nearly every jam as blocker or jammer. Harm City, one of the older teams in men’s roller derby, was led by the bench coaches of two highly-regarded WFTDA teams, Virginia Slim of Charm City, and Quad Almighty of Cincinnati Rollergirls. The Rebels knew they were in for an uphill battle the boys from Baltimore. Scoring started off slowly for both teams until the Rebels once again began taking up residency in the penalty box. With lightning-fast jammer Meek, and track nuisance blocker Big n’ Plenty temporarily out of their way due to some questionable majors, Harm City started racking up unanswered points. Final Score: Rebels 33, Harm City 86

Going into their third and final bout of the tournament, the Rebels were down to just seven players.  Skaters Angus Beef and Carl Marxman, of Twin City Terrors’ St. Pauli Boys, were kind enough to fill in the Rebel roster. Marxman so enjoyed skating with our guys that he was later seen sporting a personalized RCR shirt!  Buzz Lightbeer gave an outstanding performance, earning lead status every time he was jammer. In fact, Buzz was able to make lead jammer nearly every time he jammed all day.  This final bout was overall more “civilized” – perhaps an oxymoron when referring to roller derby – with fewer trips to the penalty box for both sides. Buzz and Meek led the way for Race City, but not enough to catch the Terrors.  Final Score: Rebels 35, Terrors 82

The Rebels have a lot to be proud of coasting away from their inaugural tournament experience.  They fought hard and pulled together as a team.  Despite their losses, most of Race City and many Circle City Socialites stuck around to cheer on what has to be considered our “brother” team, the St. Louis Gatekeepers, in the highly-anticipated men’s championship against the Puget Sound Outcasts. The GateKeepers were, without a doubt, the most talked-about team at Spring Roll, having defeated more senior teams such as the Dallas Deception on their way to their face-off with the Outcasts.  In what has been described as some of the best men’s derby action witnessed in years, the GateKeepers, with only six months of bouting under their belts, fell to Puget Sound by one point after a highly controversial final call. Puget Sound Outcasts score the first-ever Spring Roll Men’s Championship. Final Score: GateKeepers 120, Outcasts 121