Where are the refs? Ya’ll reading this?

Just to get a little mathematical quibble out of the way – I wouldn’t characterize 26 to 20 as nearly equal – that’s 26% higher for the High Rollers.

Really, I was making broad generalizations based on several games I’ve seen this year, and using that particular game to make a point. .

I agree that penalties aren’t the only issue at. play here, or in any other game. But a few years ago, we weren’t getting 20-25-30-point power jams that often, let alone 35-40-45-49-point jams. It’s all about taking advantage of these situations, and teams are doing it better than ever now.

Remember that HUGE power jam by Kitt Turbo at Nationals in 2008? That was 19 points. http://www.derbynewsnetwork.com/2008/11/2008_wftda_nationals_complete_recaps

True, 2008 is a lifetime ago in roller derby.

Or are teams just exploiting power jams better now, in conjunction with the new rule set? Is it an effect of the new rule set? I don’t know. That’s why I like talking about it on the internet. I also like talking about it over beers, but I can’t drink beer right now. Maybe I should be talking about this over fizzy waters. Mmm, fizzy water.

Hey, I think we agree with each other!

I can’t wait to see some more Rinxter stats and games to see if scores get higher. They have been creeping up, just comparing those 2008 Nationals scores to 2013 Champs scores: http://wftda.com/tournaments/2012/championships/schedule

I think I am ‘Eddie the key grip’ of roller derby.

What I saw during this weekend’s games was that regardless of the amount of penalties there was always one team who could manipulate that situation to their advantage. During the WOJ/Victoria game both teams had exactly equal amount of time in the box, though Victoria gave Wheels 10 power jams. WOJ was really good at holding back the jammer when they were in a powerless jam and even prevented the Victoria jammer from ever getting out of the pack a few times. Even with Victoria doing a sausage and WOJ being down a blocker or two the Wheels blockers were able to hold the Victoria jammer, even hitting them out and forcing them back 20 or more feet. The large score difference during the GNR/HR game was due to the HR not being able to take advantage of their power jams. GNR kept strong walls and HR allowed their jammers to fend for themselves unsuccessfully. High Rollers also only got lead jammer 15 times total where as GNR got lead 28 times and HR jammers went to the box a total of 8 times where GNR jammers only went 5. HR would man up on GNR but the GNR blockers were very good at recycling forward. HR needed more offense for their jammers this particular game but instead continued to try and hold 1 GNR skater back. GNR has obviously been working on walls and when 3 of them were on the HR jammer they were usually able to hold them back or knock them out of bounds forcing either a cut or the jammer to have to go back at least 20 feet. GNR also took full advantage of their power jams and used the sausage for nearly each of them.

I think the other issue is a team’s refusal to change up their strategy and line ups. You see this all the time at all levels of game play. A team continues to send out the same jammer who obviously isn’t able to get through the opposing teams walls. Instead the bench is convinced that eventually that jammer is going to have a breakthrough but it doesn’t come. Just because an amazing jammer is amazing doesn’t mean they can get through every wall or that they won’t have an off game. Give them a few tries then see which of your other jammers have more success. If said jammer gets butt hurt over not getting enough game play then they obviously can’t see that they are being ineffective and don’t care about what is best for their team. If taking the front at the start of the jam isn’t working change it up. 3-1 not doing it for you, change it up! The team that can adapt to getting stuck is the team that will overcome. I saw this happen with Victoria at the Big O. They would be down by nearly 60 points by the half and it seemed like a wash. Then they would change it up and buckle down and each time bring it back. The opposing team would keep with their original strategy as it worked just fine for the first half but Victoria figured out their weaknesses. It would have been better if Victoria had changed it up sooner, not allow the other team to pull so far ahead, but they still got the job done.

So I think that penalties certainly contribute to score spread but mostly because teams are training to take advantage of those moments. Teams need to be together and smart on the track. Skaters also need to be ok in different rolls and with potentially not going out every other jam. It comes down to what you want for your team. Do you want more time on the track or do you want your team to win a game? Also the bench staff needs to listen to their skaters or be able to see when a skater is having an off game.

True score spread doesn’t always determine how good a team is but it does show who is playing the smarter game that day.

Yeah, that was pretty much my weekend. I caught Victoria’s games against WoJ and Wasatch, and I was mostly just excited at what an achievenment it was for the VRDL to be competitive at that level.

Aside from this weekend, the only bouts I’ve watched under the new rule set have been local ones. Penalties certainly made a difference, but at VRDL’s home bouts it was, er, a different kind of difference – the second home bout of the year saw three skaters ejected for racking up seven majors. Apart from the WoJ/Victoria bout this weekend, I’ve only watched one bout that had a margin over 100 points. But even considering all that – power jams under this rule set certainly can turn a game around fast.

Anyway, the whole thing felt so pointless and frustrating that after one fall I scrambled off the side of the track and just sat there. Until Swish came over and said “This shit’s hard, but skating is better than not skating. Fuck the drill, let’s just get back on the track and have some fun doing whatever.” There’s no magical ending where this pep talk made me chill out enough to suddenly do transitions like a boss, but it turned the kind of session that made me want to give up into a Wednesday night that was a hell of a lot of fun.