THIS IS PATHETIC

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Larry - Rollergamesfan on October 31, 2008 at 6:07pm

Tim, on this point I completely agree with you. There needs to be a professional run promotion that trains like the NRDL did in the 50's and RollerGames did in the 70's. It is time for the youngsters to be trained and the sport to be professional again, not advertised on craig's list.

Larry

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Larry - Rollergamesfan on October 31, 2008 at 5:49pm

Alison I completely agree with you. Ever since Mr. Griffiths last attempt to pitch the RGI in early 2002, it has been a endless barrage of shady promoters and Hollywood guys way past their prime.
It is time to bring back smash mouth, high speed, exciting skating with a fun, but serious atmosphere.

Larry

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by alison on October 31, 2008 at 5:52pm

Thank you sir for replying. Who owns the teams in the bay area and LA.? I went to a game and left midway through when I saw sloppy uniforms and motor cycle helmets\. Then I was in LA over the weekend and saw on the Tbird site that the game will sell out. SO I grab a few girl friends and go and there were no more than maybe 50 people there ....What has happened????

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Larry - Rollergamesfan on October 31, 2008 at 6:04pm

Actually for the last year I have been out of Roller Fandom, because I feel the same way. I came back to see some old friends and try to resurrect a DVD reissue program I was working on with RollerGames.

To answer your question, I don't know who runs the Bombers up north, there are so many. Dan Ferrarri's ARSD has a Bomber team, and the ARDL which was run by Tim Patten years ago, I don't know who runs it now; has a Bomber team.

Now we get to RollerGames International. Bob Sedillo licensed (he says owns) the RGI/T-Bird orginization from Bill Griffiths Sr. who is now in litigation with Sedillo. Also we have David Sams, who procurs this site, and will not tell me or anyone else, how much he is into this. His involvement seems to be pretty thick unti Mr. Griffiths has put his foot down, now it seems like this site has backed off on the RGI/T-Bird alliance.

As you can see it is a mess and it really tears me up. Promotors that just want to get any drip of cash in a slap dash way, that makes me sick.

To anyone reading, do not believe a Roller Sport promoter, unless it is Bill Griffiths Sr. or Pam Schaub.

Larry

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Chuck, a.k.a. "Mr. Neato" on October 31, 2008 at 7:19pm

Allison, I was at the game last weekend on the 25th as well. I left around halfway through the halftime break. I was rather upset that Bob Sedillo put on the envelope with my ticket "No Camera". Several people who asked where my camera was, were scratching or shaking their heads as if to say "how freakin stupid" that I couldn't take pictures.....especially when several skaters look forward to seeing my pics, and even people who don't skate and are in different parts of the country and they rely on my camera lens to show them what happened. I sat below E.G. Miller, and just above cory Atkinson...and was just behind and to the left of Danny Rose and Rory Markas, the announcers for the game.

Aside from my being upset over that issue, I have never been enthusiasic on the crowds that show up for the games now. I went to 3 games in Pomona (June 14 and 21, and July 19). I've been to 2 games in Antelope Valley, and of all these games I went to, the 3 games in Pomona each had no more than 100 people, if even that, in attendance, and the previous game in September in Antelope Valley had about 75 people at most, and this last time in A.V., between 30and 75 people at best. Promoting it shouldn't be difficult, as you can pay a few dollars an run an ad in the paper for 2 weeks. Everybody reads the news paper, there are other ways to promote it other than newspapers, like small radio spots, local access channels on cable, and other ways. Second thing that is important, LOCATION! If you are way out in the boonies, only the true, die hard fans are going to show up.....hence the 30-75 people last weekend. Even Cory Atkinson was extremely disappointed, as he posted on my blog, that the game was very slow and boring and felt he wasted a lot of his time.

I used to go to the old Olympic Auditorium in the mid 80's, and they usually had a good attendance each month when they played there. There had to be about 1000+ in attendance, until things dropped off. I thought Bill Griffiths, Sr. and Jr. did an excellent job promoting the games, and their attendance showed it. I try to give Bob Sedillo credit, as he is probably trying his best in promoting the games as best he can, but unfortunately, the fans aren't showing for it. It ain't easy. BTW...When they say it will sell out, I have serious reservations about that. As you saw at the last game in A.V., hardly anyone was there, and that is a shame. The skaters are going out there to put on a show, and they are busting their butts out there for very few people. Whether they are the veteran skaters or the younger skaters, they do a hell of a great job out there on track, and my hats off to them. I felt bad that I left early, but is was for the first reason I posted here. :-)

Chuck

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Grand Poobah on October 31, 2008 at 8:22pm

The T-Birds team and the RGI league seems to be owned by Bob Sedillo. He apparently licenses the name and trademarks from Bill Griffiths (witness the other post about the lawsuit). They use some skaters who skate in the other leagues.

There's another pro/scripted banked track league in L.A. that Lou Sanchez owns in L.A. called the National Roller Derby League. They seem to feature many if not most of the same skaters that skate for RGI, and some ARSD skaters as well.

Up in San Francisco there appears to be two pro/scripted franchises. ARSD is owned by Dan Ferrari, and of course features the Bombers and other teams. You would tend to see many of the same skaters on the various red shirt teams. This probably has something to do with the fact that they don't put names on the backs of the uniforms, and most of the uniforms not quite fitting. In other words, a few stars get the same numbers each game, the rest probably don't.

The other franchise up there is/was the Original Roller Derby League. It's hard to say if they've put on more than one or two games, and they appear to only have a MySpace profile. A flyer indicates that they share a great number of skaters with the ARSD Bombers, and put on their games in Alameda. This one seems to be connected to a local pro-wrestling promotion.

If I had to make a best guess, ARSD currently doesn't have enough skaters to make up four or five distinct-enough-for-TV teams. You'll have announcers saying the skaters names. People have DVRs. It's harder to hide the fact that one of the red shirts skated for the Devils last week and is skating for the Pioneers this week.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Grand Poobah on November 11, 2008 at 10:53am

Those aren't motorcycle helmets. Those are some rather outdated roller derby helmets. Motorcycle helmets tend to be even heavier and cover more of the head. Good skating helmets would too.

They're probably going with those "brain buckets" because it lets people see more of the skater's head.

Consider that they don't have personalized uniforms (no names) and that the numbers are all very close together. To be honest with you, I think they'd be BETTER OFF having some more individuality in the uniforms. When I'm block tracking, I'll tend to ID individual skaters by their height, their hair, their build, their uniform twists and sometimes even the stickers on their helmets.

I'd hate to have to pick out my favorite skater from a mass of skaters with numbers that are all in the 30s and all of them are wearing the same antique helmet that isn't strapped on properly and identical XXL jerseys without a names on them.

If you're going to put this on TV, get uniforms with names on the back, and numbers on the arms as well as the helmets. Inside and outside cameras and the fans should be able to see a skater's number. And the referees, if they aren't just there for looks.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Chuck, a.k.a. "Mr. Neato" on November 11, 2008 at 2:16pm

Matt,

I'm not sure about the protecting the head part, as I don't know if there's any padding inside those helmets to protect anyone's head, but I think it is mostly to identify the jammers in the game. 2 skaters put on a helmet, and they are the ones identified to score the points for their respective teams. Considering the spills some skaters take, it would be good to have a helmet on their heards to help protect them from a hard fall. :-)

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Grand Poobah on November 11, 2008 at 3:53pm

There's loads of good helmets on the market that protect the player's heads (and brains). You want to choose helmets that are designed for multiple impacts. Single impact helmets (bike helmets) don't fit the bill.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by trish trash on November 11, 2008 at 4:01pm

and on top of that---- if the higher ups wanted to legitimize the game a lil more than good helmets would be a necessity! no one is really going to believe fakey derby is real when there are yamulkas for helmets. who would really risk being pushed around the track and going over the rails and stuff without protective gear. duh. oh and craigs list is a fine way to advertise. its FREE and well read. besides, training would eliminate the people that didn't have enough skill or talent.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tim Patten on November 11, 2008 at 4:13pm

Real safe helmets for EACH player would be one step forward.

Would the old school skaters pay for their own helmets like the roller girls and boys do?

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by trish trash on November 11, 2008 at 5:13pm

yesssssss. they would pay for their own me thinks... just like skates and pads.

▶ Reply to This

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next ›
• Page