The Philly Roller Girls have announce the dates for the 2008 ECE. The event will be held June 21-22 at the Sportsplex in Feasterville, PA (a suburb north of Philly). Read here for a recap of the 2007 event to get an idea of what this is all about. And note that there will be no ice this time.

Note: The following is an exact transcript of the live blog posted for this bout during the 2007 WFTDA Eastern Region Tournament, aka Heartland Havoc. Click on "Read More" for the full post.

Tickets are now on sale for the 2007 WFTDA Eastern Regional Tournament, aka Heartland Havoc. The tournament will be held at Battelle Hall in the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, OH, August 17-19. Prices are $25/day or $50 for the whole event. Get tickets online here. More info here.

The top four teams from this tournament will go on to compete in the National Championship Tournament in Austin, TX in September. Click here to see the lineup.

East Coast Extravaganza, Philadelphia

Detroit 124, Charm City 107

Just one day after holding back a determined assault from the Grand Raggidy Roller Girls at Philly's East Coast Derby Extravaganza, the Mobtown Maulers found themselves on the opposite end of a very similar game, falling 124-107 to the Detroit Derby Girls. Detroit had also played on the ECE's opening day, going down 192-49 against the Carolina Roller Girls. The Maulers both gained and lost a player from the previous day's matchup against Grand Raggidy -- key jammer Betty Beatdown made it into town, but key blocker Sizzle-Leen was ill and unable to play.

Charm City 95, Grand Raggidy 75

In the second bout of Philly's East Coast Extravaganza invitational, the Charm City Roller Girls' Mobtown Maulers added another first to their increasingly impressive rookie season, defeating the Grand Raggidy Roller Girls 95-75 to become the first Division III league to defeat a Division II league in a WFTDA-sanctioned bout. The Maulers came into the game with a considerable hurdle to overcome, with both their second and third highest-scoring jammers not on the roster. Betty Beatdown was unavailable to come to the bout, and Lady Quebeaum had suffered a season-ending broken leg just six days previous at practice. In their place were Maulers alternates Sizzle-Leen and Roxy Toxic -- it was Sizzle's third game as a Mauler, and Roxy's second.

The Philly Roller Girls' Liberty Belles - 144
Boston Derby Dames' Boston Massacre - 112
Feb. 10 2007

Update - discussion and photos can be found here and here (this second one has links to photos, too).

Physically Fit Magazine seems to think you can keep your girlish figure while kicking ass in skates. The article has a little derby history and some discussion of what derby has become. Oh, and some fitness stuff, too. "Tennis was the only other sport I remember where women could compete and make money," said Billy Bogash, now 88, who was a Roller Derby skater from the first days in 1935 to 1958. "If
a woman wanted to be a professional athlete, Roller Derby was one of their few choices."