How it all started

In an IM conversation with boyfriend (who knows I am nuts about derby and I bought him skates for his birthday) today:

[him]:  WTF there's a movie about derby? Have you heard of Whip It?

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/whipit/

Hahahaha. That's so cute. :D

To be fair though, I haven't seen the movie, ever. (It apparently makes derby girls rage though, but meh.) However, it is what sucked me into derby in the first place.

Sponsored by Pro-Tec.
Also, uniform fail on the mouthguards and helmets.

I went to the Toronto International Film Festival the year it premiered and they turned downtown Dundas Square into a big flat track for an exhibition bout. That's kind of where I saw derby first and totally got sucked in. On the day, there was a big crowd there and I couldn't see what was going on, and I climbed up the back of the bleachers on the scaffolding to have a look, and they had two of the Toronto teams bouting and someone was explaining the rules and stuff as they went. It was amazeballs. And so I kind of hung there for the ENTIRE bout with my tiptoes on a piece of scaffolding, trying hard not to fall off. My arms were mega sore and my feet cramped like the dickens but it was worth it. And Drew Barrymore was there but she ignored everyone. Plus one of the people in the movie had my original derby name, which subsequently turned out to be one of the most popular derby names ever or something so... bah.

But yeah. Cutest discussion ever. Yay, memories.