Roller Derby, Baby!!!!!

This experience was not on my bucket list….not even on my radar!!!  But, it really should have been! 

I met up with an old friend who I haven’t seen in about 10 years (I’ll call her T) to go see another old friend who I haven’t seen in about 12 years (I’ll call her J).  Man, I feel oooolllldddd!!!!  So, me and T meet up in Long Beach to have dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp, on Aquarium Way, before we went to go see our very first Roller Derby bout.  This was my first time eating at a Bubba Gump and I have to say that the people that worked at this restaurant were really friendly and extremely accommodating.  I loved our waitress, a cute and perky little sweetheart who really took care of us.  I don’t know if they do this at every one of their restaurants, but we won all of the toothpicks and mints we could handle by being brilliant at her Forrest Gump quiz!!  ;)  By the way, what was the best part of the army for Forrest?  T got that one right!  I loved the drink we ordered, I can’t remember the name but it was a great recommendation by our waitress.  I ordered the snapper in lobster butter sauce and it was surprisingly creamy and super yummy!!

Now comes the “fun” part.  Trying to figure out where this roller derby was being held.  If you are not familiar with Long Beach and the port area, I HIGHLY recommend taking someone who is familiar with you or mapquesting the hell out of the area.  I’m pretty sure we ended up on every street in Long Beach trying to figure out where we were going!  We went to the Long Beach Roller Derby which is held in the dome by the Queen Mary.  Thankfully, we started following the right people and made our way to the dome.

Woohooo!!!!! Roller Derby Baby!  What’s a better way to spend a Friday night than getting an alcoholic beverage and watching a bunch of beautiful women in cute uniforms roller skate in a rink knocking each other around?!?!  T and I had such a fun time stomping on the bleachers, screaming loudly and clapping our hands for the Bixby Rollerettes!  Of course, neither of us knew the rules, or what we were cheering for exactly but that was part of the excitement.  The team we were rooting for was wearing blue and when we saw a member of theirs break from the pack, it was exciting!  And all of the ladies that were blocking and fighting and pushing in the pack, well heck!! That was exciting too!  And our friend J who was coaching the team (because she is, as she put it, broken.  Healing from a broken leg) was encouraging our stomping and clapping and shouting as she was coaching the team from the center of the ring. 

I wouldn’t say this is a California thing to do, but I am so happy to have gone to my first roller derby bout and truly enjoyed it!  I say that everyone should find out if there is a league in your area and Google the rules and go!!!!!