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Show oul Lmes i Roller derby not what it . j used to be ; By TOM HARALDSEN t ' Sports Editor ? - In the 1960's, growing up as I did in the Bay Area, one of my favorite pasttimes was curling up in front of the tube and tuning in KTVU, Channel 2 of Oakland, to watch roller derby. Each Saturday and Sunday afternoon , the Bay Area Bombers took the rink at Kezar Pavilion, tackling the dreaded foes from New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Bombers were wonderful, won-derful, and had a huge following. Their star was Joanie Weston, the Grand Lady of roller derby, a tall, husky blonde that looked like a cross between Susan Anton and Dan Blocker. The Bombers seldom lost, and when they did, they always got revenge the next time those teams met. Roller derby taught me such useful terms as "jammer" and "pack," words that aren't used, with good reason, in any other sport. Sure, it looked phony and fixed at times, but who cared? Roller derby was a chance to vent our frustrations, yell at the enemies, and cheer on the Bombers who inevitably scored on the match's final "jam" to come home winners. In recent years, the derby disappeared, taken over by another theatrical sport wrestling. It seems even more phony now that I'm older, but the types of crowds these wrestling matches gather are about the same as the folks who jammed Kezar Pavilion 20 years ago. It was only three weeks ago, when I received my press packet for last weekend's return of roller derby to the Salt Palace, that I first learned the sport was back. And so, as the L.A. T-Birds rolled into town, literally, to take on the Detroit Devils, I was taken back to my youth, on the plains of the San Francisco Peninsula. The sport has obviously changed, however. This time instead of Joanie Weston, the star was Darlene Langlois de la Chapelle (imagine how long her business cards are), a tall, leggy blonde who looked too pretty to be in this sport of animals. The 21-year-old Chapelle, who was bom in France and swears that really is her name, is quite the athlete. She represents clearly what the sport has become an entertainment geared for the upper and middle classes, not just the beer-drinking blue collar types who jammed Kezar Pavilion for years. The T-Birds make trips around the nation now, trying to revitalize the sport. Results from their Salt Lake City visit were mixed, with only adequate crowds in attendance. It was just nice knowing that the sport hasn't completely died. Besides, they sent me a press kit with some great pictures of this model turned skater Darlene... Still, it's not like it used to be, when my high school girlfriend and I plopped down in front of the TV set on Saturday afternoons, after-noons, ate popcorn and watched Joanie baby knock the daylights day-lights out of opponents. Joanie's retired, the girlfriend's married mar-ried and overweight , and the Bombers are only a memory , albeit a good one, of the way it used to be. By the way, for those of you who don't know it, we're now two days away from tax filing deadlines. I used to think that the only time the average child was as good as gold was April 15. Now, without those exemptions, I'm sure of it! This year, I feel like Joanie Weston just knocked me over the railing. |