Vice Squad, Truckstop Waitresses to meet for league title
'A sport like no other'
By Kevin W. Smith
KSMITH@AZSTARNET.COM
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.14.2006
The Arizona Wildcats football team plays at home on Saturday.
Throwing, catching, punting — getting sleepy yet?
If so, some local girls have an alternative.
"You can't compare us to any other sport," said Zoe O'Reilly, 27. "We're a sport like no other."
O'Reilly goes by the alias "Whiskey Mick" when she plays for the team Vice Squad in Tucson Roller Derby, which will be holding its third season championship bout Saturday night.
If the past is any indication, the match promises to be one of the most thrilling nights yet of local derby action.
The opponents, Vice Squad and the Furious Truckstop Waitresses, are familiar rivals. Last year, Vice Squad, in its inaugural year, defeated the Furious Truckstop Waitresses — previously undefeated for two straight seasons.
This year, reigning champ Vice Squad again has its back to the wall, having dropped both games played against the Furious Truckstop Waitresses this season. But the team's heart has not stopped pounding.
"Those pink dresses need to be taken down a few notches," O'Reilly said, referring to the Waitresses' team color.
If not for wheeled girls body-checking one another into walls, live music or the gonzo-announcing, the all-female roller derby should appeal to those who enjoy competitors passionately playing without the motivation of fame or cash in the near future, O'Reilly said. Tucson Roller Derby is a player-run, nonprofit, grass-roots organization.
It's also one of the richest in the country talentwise, as proven at February's national tournament, titled the Dust Devil, which was held in Tucson with 20 other teams from around the United States.
In that tournament, Tucson Roller Derby's travel team, the Saddletramps, made up of the top players in the league, finished second overall to the Texas Roller Girls from Austin — considered the birthplace of modern roller derby.
"I'm still in Tucson because of Tucson Roller Derby," said Vice Squad's Anya "Hard Anya" Petersen, 26.
Petersen will play her final game as a member of Vice Squad Saturday, before she moves to another city that will also allow her to play derby.
Meanwhile, Saturday will mark the debut of J. Taylor, 30, as a member of the Furious Truckstop Waitresses.
"I'm excited. Nervous, of course, but excited," she said.
Both Vice Squad and the Furious Truckstop Waitresses have been grinding it out in practices, working on strategies and sharpening trash talk for the championship.
"We're taking that trophy home," said the Furious Truck Stop Waitresses' Berenice "Betty Anarchy" Ellingsworth.
"Pink is the new suck," O'Reilly said.
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