WHEELIN' IN THE YEARS; '90S ROLLERJAM PUTS AGGRESSIVE SKATERS BACK ON TRACK.Byline: Phil Davis
Jaime Conemac is twirling Twirling is any of several artforms, hobbies, or sport and recreational activities accomplished by spinning or rotating the twirled object either for exercise, or in a rhythmic, or otherwise artful manner. and spinning and gliding on in-line skates - blond pigtails This article is about the hair style. For the connectors, see Optical fiber. Pigtails (also known as angel wings and bunches, or Twin Tail(ツインテール/TsuinTe-ru) in Japan. flying with carefree California-girl abandon - when a scowling scowl v. scowled, scowl·ing, scowls v.intr. To wrinkle or contract the brow as an expression of anger or disapproval. See Synonyms at frown. v.tr. vixen vixen female fox. in black tights rolls up and sends her hurtling headfirst head·first also head·fore·most adv. 1. With the head leading; headlong: went headfirst down the stairs. 2. Impetuously; brashly. into a post. ``Forehead meets upright. That wasn't too good,'' the 21-year-old San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. native said. ``I got a concussion.'' On Venice Beach, she might let this slide. But this is Roller Derby For the skate brand of the same name, see . Roller derby is an American-invented contact sport—and historically, a form of sports entertainment—based on formation roller skating around a track. . So Conemac smacks her foe and gets smacked back and the cameras zoom in nice and tight for a money shot: Chick fight! ``This is getting ugly,'' a cheerful announcer says as Conemac struggles to dump the raging brunette off her back. Check it out frame by frame on the World Wide Web at www.rollerjam.com. Welcome to Roller Derby: The Next Generation. They're calling it RollerJam this time around, but it's pretty much the same game: Groups of skaters race around a track trying to deck each other, with plenty of hair-pulling and helmet-slamming. But in this decade of profoundly short attention spans, RollerJam producers gave the sport a '90s makeover. The game moves faster with in-line skates and a steeper track; the uniforms are tighter; and most of the skaters are better looking than Roller Derby's doughy old guard. There's even a ``Bod Squad,'' a trio of blondes (including Conemac) whose uniform zippers are always set to maximum cleavage. Publicists call it ``Baywatch at 60 mph'' but it's more like Wrestlemania meets the Spice Girls The Spice Girls are an English all-female pop group, formed in London in 1994. The Spice Girls, consisting of: Geri Halliwell, Melanie Chisholm, Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown, and Victoria Beckham signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe", in 1996. . Most importantly Adv. 1. most importantly - above and beyond all other consideration; "above all, you must be independent" above all, most especially , this latest effort to resurrect Roller Derby is backed by the marketing muscle and money of CBS Cable An early cable network operated by CBS, Inc. dedicated to the lively arts (i.e. symphony, dance, theatre, opera, etc.). It debuted in October 1981[2] and ceased operations on December 17, 1982[3]. , which airs the games weekly on TNN TNN The National Network (formerly The Nashville Network) TNN The Nashville Network (now The National Network) TNN The Nerd Network (online gaming clan) . No one will say how much was spent. Answers range from ``several million'' to ``just write a bunch of dollar signs.'' So far, RollerJam is a hit - especially with teen-age boys. TNN is intrigued by this new demographic and has signed up for a second season of 26 episodes. There also are plans to take the show on the road to event-hungry arenas across the nation this fall. ``I'm a third-generation skater, and I've seen a lot of Roller Derbys come and go,'' said Sean Atkinson, son of '50s Derby legend Buddy Atkinson Jr. and captain of RollerJam's California Quakes. ``But when (co-producers) Stephen Land and Ross Bagwell got this thing together, they said it's going to be on a grand scale - and sure enough, they did it. ``This ain't your grandmother's Roller Derby, OK?'' Atkinson said. ``We're gonna crank it up a little bit, oh yeah.'' Roller Derby began as a walk-a-thon on wheels in 1937. Its popularity increased as slower skaters started blocking the faster ones. Two decades later, the game really hit its stride with the emergence of Joan Weston, the famed ``Blond Bomber,'' whose aggressive skating and good looks captured the hearts of baby-boomer teens. She drew sellout crowds at Madison Square Garden Current arenas in the National Hockey League Western Conference Eastern Conference and, at one point, was America's highest-paid female athlete, with a salary of $65,000. By 1963, Derby was on more than 100 TV stations in America and Canada. The game was immortalized in film in the Raquel Welch movie ``Kansas City Bomber.'' But the 1972 film also marked the beginning of the end for Roller Derby. Rising gas costs and a distribution network on par with the pony express - a station used a tape, then passed it on to the next - drove the game out of the limelight in 1973. It lingered in local leagues but never made it back on the air. Weston's death at age 62 merited an obituary in The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times, but her clout as a cultural icon couldn't resurrect Roller Derby. Not in life, anyway. Land, producer of cable television series that include ``Hey, Dude'' on Nickelodeon and ``Club Dance'' on TNN, read Weston's obit and started thinking. ``I had this flood of emotions about the Blond Bomber. As a kid, I thought Roller Derby was so cool,'' Land said. ``The I started wondering: What happened? The more I checked it out, the more I realized this was a valid show.'' He ignored the chuckles and started working on a Derby makeover. He hired Derby old-timers such as Buddy Atkinson Jr., Weston's husband Nick Scopas, and Jerry Seltzer, whose father created Roller Derby in 1937, to build the World Skating League. Last year, scouts scoured the nation's skaters to fill the RollerJam ranks. Skating skills were preferred but not required. Ex-NFL draftee Tim Washington and homecoming queen Stacey Blitsch, both cast members in an American Gladiators Dinner Show in Orlando, had never touched a pair of skates when they tried out for RollerJam six months ago. They were telegenic tel·e·gen·ic adj. Having a physical appearance and exhibiting personal qualities that are deemed highly appealing to television viewers: "Do we insist on a telegenic President?" William F. . They made the cut. Conemac, a bank clerk, was chosen because a scout liked the way she looked and danced on in-line skates at Venice Beach. She's the show's stereotypical New Age California girl. ``I'm kind of the goofy one of the bunch,'' Conemac says. ``I like to dance. I spin around a lot. I think the last time I counted I could spin 10 times in a row. I get pretty dizzy, though. ``I love it,'' she giggles. ``It's, like, the time of my life.'' Scouts also tracked down Derby vets like Mark D'Amato, a Silver Lake bartender whose bald head, goatee, muscles and preference for the old quad skates made him a perfect fit as captain of the RollerJam's ``evil'' New York Enforcers. D'Amato knows what his audience wants: cheap shots, fistfights and plenty of butt-kicking boasting. ``It's the extreme nature of things that people are really into,'' D'Amato said. ``You have to be intense these days to make people watch you.'' It's not all fake, though. ``We've embellished and in some cases manipulated, but most of what you see out there is real,'' Land explained. ``There's no way to script events like this. It's too fast. I'm looking at a list of about 20 injured skaters. That's real, unfortunately.'' RollerJam is only part of the Roller Derby TV revival. ``Roller Super Stars'' is a staple on the Classic Sports cable network. And Calvalcade of Sports Network Inc. recently announced it had acquired an ``action-packed'' 50 hours of ``valuable vintage Roller Derby film'' for broadcast on its planned 24-hour-a-day satellite sports network. They're all banking on a sort of cosmic convergence of new fads - in-line skating and extreme sports - and a wave of '70s nostalgia that has raised professional wrestling to new heights. TNN hopes to snare snare (snar) a wire loop for removing polyps and tumors by encircling them at the base and closing the loop. snare n. young and old with RollerJam. ``I think this show has very broad appeal,'' Land said. ``The kids like the action, the over-the-top personalities and the physicality of the game. And I think the nostalgia of Roller Derby appeals to an older audience.'' Who is watching? Men and boys, mostly. TNN says 1.8 million households tuned in for their Jan. 15 RollerJam opener on its Friday night debut and Saturday rebroadcast. That included an estimated 400,000 teen-agers, 84 percent of them male. Ratings stabilized at about 1.7 million viewers a week, according to CBS Cable research. Land considers the show a work in progress. The five-team league that's based at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando will add a sixth team, the Illinois Riot, when RollerJam begins taping a second season in August. Then there's the road show and possible merchandising deals for T-shirts and action figures. ``We are besieged be·siege tr.v. be·sieged, be·sieg·ing, be·sieg·es 1. To surround with hostile forces. 2. To crowd around; hem in. 3. with people who want to do merchandising and licensing, to take it out on tour and broadcast it internationally,'' Land said. ``But we remain focused on making this a great TV property. Without a great TV show, the party is over. ``We're confident there is an exciting series here, but there are still a lot of rough edges,'' Land said. ``It's going in the right direction, though.'' Skater Atkinson translates to Rollerspeak: ``Did I hear second season? Oh yeah, that's what I like "That's What I Like" was a popular single by Jive Bunny & the Mastermixers. Father and son team Andy and John Pickles repeated the formula which had took their record Swing The Mood to number one a few months previously. to hear, baby!'' Wild on wheels The teams: There are five teams in the new World Skating League with unique, ready-made identities. The teams and their modus operandi [Latin, Method of working.] A term used by law enforcement authorities to describe the particular manner in which a crime is committed. The term modus operandi is most commonly used in criminal cases. It is sometimes referred to by its initials, M.O. are: the California Quakes, ``the fun team''; the New York Enforcers, ``the Evil Empire,'' who currently lead the league in wins; the Florida Sundogs, ``the golden boys and girls boys and girls mercurialisannua. of the WSL''; the Nevada Hot Dice, ``daring stunts and deadly tricks''; and the Texas Rustlers Rustlers are a range of burgers and hot sandwiches produced by Kepak Convenience Foods, based in Kirkham, Lancashire. The parent company, Kepak, is based in Dublin, Ireland. , the new kids on the block New Kids on the Block (later NKOTB) was a boy band that enjoyed enormous success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Assembled in Boston in 1984 by producer Maurice Starr, the members consisted of brothers Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny . The Rustlers hit the track in late March. A sixth team - the Illinois Riot - also is planned. The rules: Two teams of five skaters compete in six periods. Women and men each skate for three periods. Each team has three blockers and two ``Jammers,'' fast skaters who score a point for every opposing skater they pass in a 60-second ``Jam.'' Blockers can stop the Jammers from passing pretty much any way they want. A typical score: Enforcers: 22, Quakes: 18. Penalties: According to the rules, a skater can be banished for one Jam for a minor infraction Violation or infringement; breach of a statute, contract, or obligation. The term infraction is frequently used in reference to the violation of a particular statute for which the penalty is minor, such as a parking infraction. INFRACTION. or two Jams for a major infraction. Penalties include: holding, tripping, fighting, ``intentional roughness,'' and unsportsmanlike conduct (i.e. throwing a bench at another player). Players who get six penalties in a game are ``banished'' for the remainder of the show. - Phil Davis CAPTION(S): 4 Photos, Box Photo: (1--2--Color) spin masters Rough-and-tumble roller derby gets makeover with spandex outfits and extreme personalities Photos by Jim Hagans and Tony Esparza (3--Color) The California Quakes ``Bod Squad'' includes Stacey Blitsch, left, Jaime Conemac and Cindy Zimmermann. Says Conemac, who was chosen for her Venice Beach skating style: ``I like to dance. I spin around a lot. I think the last time I counted I could spin 10 times in a row. ... I love it. It's, like, the time of my life.'' Jim Hagans (4--Color) ``You have to be intense these days to make people watch you,'' says New York Enforcers captain Mark D'Amato - who is also a Silver Lake bartender. Theresa Montgomery Box: Wild on wheels (See text) 
jedidiah irvin fickes (Member): 6/14/2009 11:21 PM
i have a question? <br>is rollerjam stal alround or is it done forever?<br>why i ask is because i like truing on the tv and see it<br>hop to hear back |
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