What I was just thinking is how fabulous the world could be again if only men's roller derby resurfaced as a gay contact sport, and the jammers and blockers skated shirtless and looked something like Ashley Ryder.
I try not to think of roller derby if I can. Pure frustration! Far too much clothing.
It's said that the men's side seems to have evaporated. At least all I've seen or heard about is the women's game. Another sport where the women overshadow the men is beach volleyball. And the focus of televised bodybuilding, on the rare occasions it appears, is on the women. I remember the very brief GOD when networks aired the Olympia and there was actually mixed pairs. I loved that!
You can tell that straight men are clearly in charge of programming on TV.
I went looking for roller derby stuff. It's still out there, but struggling. They had to found a Men's Roller Derby Association in 2007.
An Image Search found found a few ranks of photos, but then had to ignore the "men's" part to show results. Then you just scrolled down on women's and down and down.
And what happened to the type of guy in the sport". They used to be burly, hard-scrabble types: truck drivers, factory workers, construction workers, and the kind of men you found in boxing and wrestling rings in those days. Now the dominate type seems to be skateboarders and punks.. Hey, if it was just a more diverse talent pool, I could see it. But it looks like wholesale substitution not addition.
This is a stroke of genius, Joe! I haven't thought about roller derby for years. What an excellent idea.
ReplyDeleteI try not to think of roller derby if I can. Pure frustration! Far too much clothing.
ReplyDeleteIt's said that the men's side seems to have evaporated. At least all I've seen or heard about is the women's game. Another sport where the women overshadow the men is beach volleyball. And the focus of televised bodybuilding, on the rare occasions it appears, is on the women. I remember the very brief GOD when networks aired the Olympia and there was actually mixed pairs. I loved that!
You can tell that straight men are clearly in charge of programming on TV.
I went looking for roller derby stuff. It's still out there, but struggling. They had to found a Men's Roller Derby Association in 2007.
ReplyDeleteAn Image Search found found a few ranks of photos, but then had to ignore the "men's" part to show results. Then you just scrolled down on women's and down and down.
And what happened to the type of guy in the sport". They used to be burly, hard-scrabble types: truck drivers, factory workers, construction workers, and the kind of men you found in boxing and wrestling rings in those days. Now the dominate type seems to be skateboarders and punks.. Hey, if it was just a more diverse talent pool, I could see it. But it looks like wholesale substitution not addition.