Editors' Linkblog

"You will not get to be these things, of course, until your body earns them. First scrimmage, pick your way to the line on the track—there are bodies all around you, the parts of them the closest all bulging and intimate: the parts, on a crowded bus, that you’d normally strain to avoid. You try, because it seems logical, facing the direction in which you’ll be skating, but feet snake between yours at awkward angles. It is a Jenga puzzle, Twister, your struts already hopelessly tangled.

The Huffington Post published Tim Young's list of 10 things he learned about roller derby from the Texas Rollergirls.

Estro Jen of Long Beach Junior Derby was voted Best High School Sports Coach in the Long Beach Post's recent contest. Congratulations!

"Life in Egypt can get pretty restrictive sometimes and it's nice to have a place to go, where you can leave it all on the court and be who you want and act how you want," says NoFeartiti. "Your teammates ask you to be aggressive and race around the track. That's really freeing and brings out certain aspects of your personality that you probably haven't thought about before." From a piece in The National about Egypt's CaiRollers.

The Sun wrote a feature, including profiles of some of the London Rollergirls and other local leagues.

NBC41 in Georgia featured the Middle Georgia Derby Demons' Cherry Blossom Brawl.

The Good Times has an excellent in-depth profile of the Santa Cruz Derby Girls, by Kim Luke, a former skater. The piece includes a great history and the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Roller Derby. An excerpt:

"3. Put First Things First. Prioritize, plan, and execute your week's tasks based on importance rather than urgency.

Translation: Shut up and skate.

InkedMag featured an interview with Suzy Hotrod, covering subjects such as how Suzy got into roller derby, whether it is actually a violent sport, and why she thinks there's so much ink on derby girls.

Anya Heels wrote a piece about her involvement in roller derby and the sport's intensifying athleticism and competitiveness for the Seattle Times.

With so much great coverage of the sport happening, we thought we'd highlight some of the biggest and/or best instances of roller derby in the media.

Miss Anthrope from Central Maine Derby writes about how derby saved her life (not just her soul) for the Bangor Daily News.

The Miami Herald profiles Danielle Shaffner and Miami's Vice City Rollers.

Perhaps I spoke too soon with that article last week--today, the Wall Street Journal published an article about the global reach of roller derby.

Big Banger of the Nashville Rollergirls expressed her displeasure with the financial shenanigans that are threatening Herbalife, described in this NPR show.

The Lingerie Football League is rebranding itself as the Legends Football League and actually (gasp!) letting its players wear real uniforms and protective gear now.

Apparently, people actually ARE interested in female athletics. At least, that's what I have to assume this means. Somehow, I can't imagine that the Lingerie Football League made a decision that wasn't motivated by the potential for profit.