[Monty] Book Reviews!

First up: Five Strides on the Banked Track: The life and times of the Roller Derby, by Frank Deford. In 1971, Frank Deford was a highly-respected sportswriter working for "Sports Illustrated". He still works there, although his constant appearances on ESPN shows that consist of nothing by sportswriters shouting at each other have kind of dragged down his prestige. This book was written at one of the high points of Roller Derby, when it was being run by Jerry Seltzer, the son of Derby Inventer Leo Seltzer.

It's kind of interesting that all the roller derby books, no matter when they were written, start with "It's a big revival for roller derby! Remember twenty years ago when it was popular?" In this case, roller derby had been invented by Leo, then had violence added to it at the recommendation of Damon Runyon, been crippled by WWII, and then found success on television. Then it faded away until Jerry brought it back to life.

In 1971, there were basically two roller derby teams in the country: "Bay Area" and "Other". Most of the year was spent nationally televising games from the Bay Area, in which the Bombers would beat up the other team. Then, when they went on the road, the Bay Bombers would effectively be the "home team" everywhere they went, while the other team usually got named someplace close to the place they were playing. Like, if they were in Boston, the other team would be from Providence or something; just far enough away that everyone could boo them.

This is a fine record of one of derby's heydays and it has all the Ann Calvello and Joanie Weston anecdotes you could possibly want. Calvello was awesome; apparently she'd regularly dye her hair green and her skin red. I think she was born a Tough Old Broad. And there are great pictures in here, like this one of Joe E. Brown, Damon Runyon, and Leo Seltzer. It's good, but it's not really about the current Roller Derby.

Rollergirl: Totally True Tales from the Track, by Melissa "Melicious" Joulwan is about modern Derby, and I loved it. Half the time it's telling me things I was wondering about, like the way the modern Flat Track boom actually started, and it's telling me in vivid, interesting detail. And the other half the time, it's saying things I violently agree with. I shall provide you with an example!

When the author (Melicious, of the Texas Rollergirls) goes to her first roller derby bout, she is struck by this:

Dour, "I'm too cool to let you know I'm having a good time" expressions were nowhere to be found. Roller Derby was pure, unadulterated fun -- and no one was afraid to show it.

This is almost exactly how I felt at my first Derby experience. Seattle can be an awfully hipper-than-thou place sometimes, so it was awesome to find something that was so much fun that everybody was forced to drop the irony and just enjoy themselves. When I went to my first bout, I was struck by how everyone in the place was cheering and throwing up devil horns and generally enjoying themselves instead of sitting on their hands and saying "Oh yes, I quite approve of this activity, what-what!" while sipping espresso.

Anyway, it's really entertaining and informative. It ends with last year's Dust Devil Championships, and I was embarassed to find myself disappointed when Rat City lost to Arizona in the quarterfinals. It already happened! A year ago! Besides, I should be concentrating on rooting for Rat City in the present, as their 2007 Dust Devil semifinas bout against Texas is going to start in just a couple of minutes and I have to start frantically refreshing various roller derby blogs in an attempt to find out the current score.