 "Photo: Photography By Justin Kenward")
God bless America. This great country has spawned such amazing feats of human ingenuity such as the steam engine, the light bulb and roller derby.
Roller derby was invented in America in 1885. Although the sport has evolved over the years, the general philosophy has stayed the same.
Shannon King, photography major, also known as Shandalous, says,"No one knows each other's real names. Anything goes in Roller Derby."
A "bout" consists of two thirty minute periods and is broken into multiple jams. Five girls from each team line up on the track. Two "jammers," one from each team, identified by the star on their helmets, start ten feet behind the pack. A jam can last up to two minutes or can be called off early by the lead jammer. A referee blows the first whistle once to start the pack and then twice to start the jammers. The lead jammer scores each time they lap anyone on the opposing team.
At the end of each bout, the home team brings trophies for Most Valuable Player, Best Blocker and Best Jammer of both teams. The trophies are handcrafted by the home team and resemble a cross between Garbage Pail Kids meets Night of the Living Dead meets Monster Truck Barbie. They also have raffles to support the troops and fight breast cancer.
King skates for the Prison City Derby Dames out of Chino Hills. "We do it for the love of the sport. Any money we make from ticket sales goes right back to the team to pay for the rink and uniforms," King said.
This scantily clad group of bloodthirsty vixens obliterated their competition, South Coast Lagunatics, at their Oct. 23 home game in Corona. After the first half the score was Prison City 111- 27.
The derby bouts always have insanely entertaining half time shows that vary from professional ice skaters on roller skates to pillow fights. The Oct. 23 bout hosted a lucha libre mini-tournament. After thirty minutes of men throwing each other out of the ring, jumping off the ropes and slapping the snot out of each other, the women were back on the track.
Prison City held the Lagunatics at 27 points, until the 27 minutes into the second half when they finally picked up a couple more points. The final score of the bout was Prison City 242, Lagunatics 34.
The top scorers of the bout were team captain, Nutcase, and newcomers, Purrfect, and Apocaloops. Co-captain, Shotgun Dirty Dame, moved from blocker to jammer along with Great Dame and Amyzon to pick up extra points for Prison City and rub some salt in the fresh wounds of the Lagunatics.
"My best friends I met in roller derby. You know that if you have a flat tire or anything, regardless of what's going on your life, we will always be there for each other," says Ja'ass-is-mine, retired Prison City Derby Dame and avid fan.
The next home game for Prison City is going to be Saturday, Nov. 27 for the Annual Thankscrimmage-athon. Any students, with genitals of steel, interested can go to www.prisoncityderbydames.com for details of upcoming events.
is a member of the 
