Inland Empire Derby Divas

When I started my Empoprises blogs, I also started some auxiliary services that were tied to the blogs. When I started these services, I decided that I would use them as two-way forms of communication - a way to push my highly enlightening stuff out to the non-adoring public, and a way to gather information from others.

When I started the Empoprise-IE FriendFeed Room yesterday, I didn't realize that I'd get the latter type of information so quickly.

But then, FriendFeed user Russellreno shared a link to a Flickr set entitled "ARG - Denim Demons vs Inland Empire Derby Divas. Here's the caption for the set:

Mama Gore brought her Derby Divas to Atlanta to battle her daughter Demi Gore and the Denim Demons.

So, who are the Inland Empire Derby Divas? Their site is here. The site even tells you - well, provided you're female - how to become a Diva. Note: if you build your skills to the appropriate level and become a Diva, you have to use caution in choosing your roller derby name.

And here's a video from the IEDD vs. Atlanta match - is it a match, or an event, or a game, or what?



And yes, Mama Gore is a mama. Again from the Atlanta whateveryoucallit, written earlier this month:

[T]his Saturday, in what will be a first in modern roller derby history, a mother and daughter will face each other on the track when Demi Gore and the Denim Demons of the Atlanta Rollergirls league take on Mama Gore and the Inland Empire Derby Divas from California.

Instead of sitting down for a Mother's Day brunch, these two are more likely to be nursing pulled muscles and other assorted aches and pains.

"My Mother's Day present from her is I will be bruised and battered, and I will bruise and batter her back," said Mama Gore, known outside of roller derby as Sheryl Smith. "When we're on the track we're competitors, and it's going to be rough."

While Mom had been interested in roller derby for years, it was the daughter who took up the skates first.

After seeing her daughter compete in the Women's Flat Track Derby Association National Tournament in Tucson two years ago, mom decided she wanted in on the action.

"I went and watched all these women skate and play and have fun," Sheryl Smith said. "They were all athletes and crazy and edgy, and I thought, 'This looks like way too much fun for me to not do it.' "

Just a few weeks later, she saw a flier for a recruitment meeting and joined the upstart league....And with her 50th birthday just a week after this weekend's bout, she's the oldest member of her league and one of the oldest active players today.

That's one woman that I'd better not mess with. Especially since I can't skate worth a lick.