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Manhattan and Queens ready to clash - Saturday, May 22

Repeat or Redemption? Manhattan and Queens Meet this Saturday

By Thomas Gerbasi

When the first whistle blows for the Gotham Girls Roller Derby bout between the Manhattan Mayhem and the Queens of Pain this Saturday night at Hunter College, the theme will be one familiar to sports fans – redemption.

For Queens, it’s an opportunity to get a little “get back” against the team that knocked them out of the GGRD championship game for the first time ever last June by a score of 120-73. In another first that night, Manhattan earned their first win in seven attempts against Queens en route to a berth in last year’s title bout, but it was there that the Mayhem hit their own low point as a 42-point halftime lead over the Bronx Gridlock turned into a 116-105 loss.

“That just killed me,” said Manhattan blocker GalXC of the championship game defeat. “That killed all of us. We were so ahead in the beginning, and then we lost the game by 11 points. It was such a close game, it was painful. I felt really bad for my captains and a couple of the girls who had left because that was their last chance to get the championship.”

So with their season opener just days away, the goal for Manhattan is clear – get back to the championship game and finish what they started in 2009. To do so, the Mayhem has adjusted to the loss of Surly Temple, GoGo BaiBai, Polly Gone, Julietta Vendetta, and Lucille Ballistic with seven new faces, including transfer Swede Hurt and rookies Angela Slamsbury, Anne Frankenstein, Jensurgency, Mayday Malone, Tip-Her Gore and Wheelhellmeana.

Above: GalXC celebrates the Mayhem's victory over Queens in 2009 (Photo: Tizoc Gomez)

“We have seven new players on the Manhattan Mayhem, all of which are awesome,” said GalXC. “We’ve been working hard together for the past few months, and we’re ready for this game.”

And when you add in a core group that includes captain Sweet Sherry Pie (2009’s Best Pivot), Vice Captain Fisti Cuffs (2009’s Best Blocker), and their fellow GGRD All-Star Em Dash, the Mayhem are without question a strong candidate to earn a championship rematch against the Gridlock.

Queens also saw some major changes in the last year, with rookies The Beirut Bombshell, Bunny McBones, Pittstop, Pippi Strongsocking and Puss 'N' Glutes stepping in to fill the void left by the departure of Dinah Party, Bluebonnet Plague, and Sarah Impalin. But just as with Manhattan, the core of the team remains the same, with six all-stars - Hyper Lynx, Steel Magnolia, Donna Matrix, Haulin’ Cass, and captains Ana Bollocks and Suzy Hotrod – taking to the track this weekend, and there has been no shortage of big hits in practice as they get ready to do it for real on Saturday.

Above: Sweet Sherry Pie and Suzy Hotrod do battle during the 2009 Queens/Manhattan matchup (photo: Tizoc Gomez)

"Personally, it's kind of nerve-wracking," said Hyper Lynx of the familiar bout-week jitters.  "We just want to go there, fight, and win.  We feel like we've trained as hard as we can, so the waiting game is the hardest part.  We can't wait for this Saturday, but there's still work to be done until Saturday."

So will we be seeing a repeat for the gals from Manhattan? GalXC certainly hopes so, and her squad has been putting in long hours to make sure the 2010 season gets off to winning start.

“We’ve been looking at everything to get ready, and my captains are constantly looking at the other teams and their strategies,” said the second year blocker, who has gotten a head start on her season while competing for the Wall St. Traitors. “We scrimmage different teams during the week as well, and we do that for a reason – just so we can see their strategies, their strong players, those who aren’t as strong, and we work out our own strategies according to that.”

If you’re talking strategy for Manhattan, you could say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, as last year’s bout saw the Mayhem break open a 49-49 halftime deadlock with a 71-24 second half led by jammer Em Dash, who scored 46 of her 58 points in the final 30 minutes.

Queens’ 74 total penalties didn’t help matters any in that last bout against Manhattan, something they’ll need to address as they look to rebound and pick up their first victory since their 2008 championship win over the Gridlock, which was followed by the retirements of jammers Cheapskate and Scarlett Rage.

Hyper Lynx admits that those key losses led to a rebuilding yer in 2009, but with the '05, '06 and '08 titles under their leather belts, it’s evident that the Queens of Pain know how to win, something two-time MVP Suzy Hotrod and 2006 Best Pivot winner Ana Bollocks are sure to impart to the newer members of the team heading into this important bout.

"We come half an hour early to all our team practices so we can do extra drills," said Queens' Hyper Lynx.  "We try to develop our rookies and our team as much as we can, and we are definitely going in to this game feeling that we've trained as hard as we can, and that whoever wins that night is the better team."

And after Saturday night, as far as championships go, all roads now lead through the Bronx.

“They’re the one team that has maintained a core group that has never left,” said GalXC of the Gridlock. “They work really well together and they’re also on the All-Star team together, so they’re just really, really tuned. They’re very tough to beat, but we’ll do our best this season to take them down a notch. We’ve never seen an orange banner up there, so it would have been so great to have won (last year). That was a very big disappointment, but we’re hoping to make a comeback this year. I think all our teams are evenly-matched this year, and I think this season will be really great.”

Thomas Gerbasi is the Editorial Director for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Senior Editor for BoxingScene.com  His work has also been published in ESPN.com, YahooSports.com, UFC Magazine, the Boston Herald, MSN Canada, Inked, the Village Voice, and Metro New York.  Gotham Girls Roller Derby welcomes Mr. Gerbasi as an editorial contributor.