MARK THOMAS DEMING: DOCKYARD DERBY DAMES RECAP >>>

I had no idea...

Tough babes on skates â€" that’s what I expected.  And, yes, there were plenty of tough babes on skates in The Soccer Center last night for bout two of the 2009 Dockyard Derby Dames home season. But there was also a Celtic drum corps.  And calypso dancers. And a crazy speed-freak announcer. And a beer garden.  And a bunch of cowboy bouncers keeping things under wraps. And lots and lots of people.

This is what I love about Tacoma: Weird shit goes on. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on the place, just when you think you’ve got it figured out, you stumble upon something that blows it all to hell. You find some unknown enclave of fanatics. You meet some insane genius. You walk into a building you’ve driven past dozens of times and find a scene from a late-night TBS ‘70s B-flick. The gloomy, rickety old barn is shaking. You half-expect to find a dogfight, or maybe an old-school bare-knuckles match. But instead you find this: Tough babes on skates on a makeshift track. Wearing fishnets. Grunting. Slashing. Crashing. Then the bagpipes start. You see a beer and tray of nachos in your future.  Somehow â€" just like that â€" you too have become this.