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Rolling into the millenium
Posted: Tuesday December 22, 1998 05:49 PM
The incredible revival in the popularity of professional wrestling, which is now
drawing more than 10 million viewers to its Monday night TV shows, Raw
and Nitro, has prompted the imminent return -- are you ready for this? --
of Roller
Derby.
You see, as in fashion, nothing in sport ever goes away. It just -- like the
Roller Derby -- goes around in circles. The Derby has thrice been a sensation --
in the Depression, after the war, then in the 1970s. Each time the fad died
out, it was written off for good. But here we are with Roller Derby, now
re-christened RollerJam, which is, we are told, "super-charged for the
millennium."
Yes, even as you read my breathless report, the first new Derby-cum-Jam matches
are being taped in Orlando, ready to debut in January on cable. For those of you
who have a hole in your heart because your NBA team is not playing, here are the
RollerJam teams you can choose from to be your new sports favorite: the Illinois
Inferno, the Texas Storm, the Nevada High Rollers, the California Quakes, the
New York Enforcers, the Florida Sun
Dogs.
Now, besides a cable deal, a new league needs two things. One is a commissioner
and the other is players. It was easier getting the commissioner. His name is
Jerry Seltzer, the son of Leo Seltzer, who personally invented the Derby in the
1930s. Jerry Seltzer was himself responsible for the last reincarnation of his
father's sport, and like any good commissioner, he has all the answers. Like no
other commissioner, Seltzer also has his tongue in his
cheek.
Somebody asked Commissioner Seltzer the other day if the Derby was an
illegitimate sport. With a straight face, he replied that he would never let the
Derby sink to the entertainment level of the NBA, with the likes of Dennis
Rodman. But, is not the Derby too violent? Commissioner Seltzer replied: how
could it be thus if it does not have Latrell Sprewell on one of its
teams?
Obtaining Roller Derby players has been more difficult, inasmuch as the visual
history of the Derby has been interrupted. Specifically, none of the young
Derby candidates have the foggiest idea what the Derby is. They have to sit
around and watch old kinescopes to learn how to do what they're supposed to be
doing. It's sort of like the Generation X employees at Williamsburg learning how
to do 17th-century crafts that have been forgotten over
time.
But since the RollerJam rookies have all grown up skating with the in-line
models, technology has, ipso facto, made them faster than any of the
legendary Derby heroes of the past -- the fabled Tuffy Brasuhn and Ken Monte,
rough-tough Charlie O'Donnell, the villainous Ann Calvallo and the sainted
Joanie
Weston.
In fact, it is bittersweet, but interest in reviving the Derby began when Ms.
Weston died last year, and the obituaries of this magnificent, forgotten female
athlete reminded people of her fond and foolish sport -- one of the few that
historically gave equal opportunity to women.
So-called legitimate sport has become so crass, so distant, so ugly, that I
think, ironically, it is wrestling and now Roller Derby that seem to offer charm
and humor and friendliness that appeals to fans who feel alienated by today's
big-time athletes. Sometimes what is real comes across as so false, while what
is arranged can appear more
genuine.
Go, Sun
Dogs!
These commentaries, which appear each Wednesday on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, are posted weekly by CNN/SI.
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