Haven’t listened yet since I’m at work so you may have brought this up. If you did, ignore this comment.

Do you guys think it’s a coincidence that someone in Kansas City started the petition when they have been knocked out of tournaments 2 years in a row by slow pack teams (Duke City and Denver)? They haven’t been able to get back to their 2007 level of play so they’re blaming the new strategies. Sounds like sour grapes to me.

I agree that there’s no need to change WFTDA rules to eliminate slow play. The rules should allow maximum flexibility for play styles, and only make changes to what’s allowed if there are serious problems that abuse the rules or create serious safety issues.

That said, I would like to see an adjustment to 6.11 regarding cutting the track – specifically, coming back in bounds without bettering your position. I think this should be adjusted to deal with people skating backwards, and that a skater should never be required to re-enter play behind the location where they were blocked out of bounds. I think this is a case where the rules have been abused beyond the intended purpose.

As I commented in a previous note, I would support a rule change to penalize STOPPED or CLOCKWISE skating. It would help the discussion to distinguish these from “slow” play. They’re easier to define than “slow” play, and much harder to justify the need for.

i hit you guys up on facebook already but i want to say again, great job this week! totally agree with what angela said and i think that is a good compromise. as i commented back on episode 9 (about the wildcat in the NFL) any strategy can be beat. to ask for a rule change cause somebody figured out an excellent strategy is chicken shit! get off your lazy asses and start skating harder if you want to be the best. if you don’t want to be the best then why is your league a member of WFTDA. if you don’t like their rule set and think you can do better then start your own association and make rules that suit your needs, look how well it worked for the XFL!

Jet City Fan Club :
if you don’t like their rule set and think you can do better then start your own association and make rules that suit your needs, look how well it worked for the XFL!

You just won me over with this comment.

There is a way someone could maybe effectively dissuade an opponent from utilizing this strategy. While the jammers are out on the other side of the track, have the harder hitting skaters in your half of the pack take turns skating clockwise a bit, turning around, building up speed and hit the slow pack skaters. They’ll either learn to get a move on or they’ll get used to going flying.

Kind of like the hammer and nail approach, but you don’t even need someone assisting to slow them down. Your targets are blockers this time, and they are moving at a crawl on purpose.

I’m sure this reads like an armchair quarterback’s “perfect play,” but maybe it’d work a little?

People who want to “eliminate slow play” need to sit and think about how that would actually be accomplished. WFTDA’s rules philosophy really does not allow a referee much in the way of discretion.

Back in the days when the rules allowed for more discretion, it created a perception (true or not) that referees in certain parts of the derby world were calling things very differently than referees in other parts of the derby world.

To the point, how would you write a rule restricting the pack from moving “too slow.” How slow is too slow? Are we going to have another official out there with a radar gun clocking the pack speed?

I wouldn’t mind something along the lines of the suggestion on changing the track cutting rules a bit. But the devil is in the details.

Speaking of track cutting and perceived reffing variances… Early on when the track-cutting rules went into play, this was seen as being aimed at jammers. And the tactics based upon it were used mostly against jammers. It’s conceivable that some referees may not call this as often on blockers as they might on jammers? Or more likely that blockers don’t get this tactic used on them as often and are less schooled at avoiding cuts as jammers are. Just some theories.

Awesome Sauce :

Do you guys think it’s a coincidence that someone in Kansas City started the petition when they have been knocked out of tournaments 2 years in a row by slow pack teams (Duke City and Denver)? They haven’t been able to get back to their 2007 level of play so they’re blaming the new strategies. Sounds like sour grapes to me.

I think it’s a bit of a leap to assume that this is someone from KCRW who created this. There is another league in that town, you know… I’d suggest doing a little digging before you make accusations. I have no idea who created the group, I’m just sayin’…

@Grand Poobah
Well, it looks as though the creator is Randy Pace. I don’t know his affiliation but he is rocking the KCRW t-shirt.