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Walt Harris, the voice of the most popular period of pro wrestling in Northern California and best known nationally as the host of the syndicated Roller Derby shows, passed away last night at the age of 97... Harris was the sole announcer for National All Star Wrestling and Big Time Wrestling in the 1960s that aired on KTVU, Ch. 2 in San Francisco, and KCRA, Ch. 3, in Sacramento, and were syndicated at times in cities like Honolulu, Phoenix, and other West Coast markets. He had already been the Roller Derby announcer on that station for a few years and...

Longhorn-adorned Big Easy Rollergirls wielding plastic bats pursued throngs of racers bedecked in the same white clothing and red sashes traditionally worn by the San Fermín corredors in Pamplona, Spain. The scene, however, was the Warehouse District on Saturday morning.Rob Morgan, dressed as a matador and waving a red cloth, lured a beautiful rollerskating "bull" past him during El Encierro, aka Running of the Bulls, at the annual festival of San Fermin in Nueva Orleans. A sea of red and white figures packed Convention Center Boulevard. Some held Spanish flags.In addition to the local rollergirls, other roller derby leagues from...

In her everyday guise as suburban working mom, Joette Fisher gets up at 4:45 a.m., heads to work at a battery manufacturer in Reading, comes home to cook dinner for her kids, give them baths, and put them to bed. But shortly before 9 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday, this 5-foot-1, 39-year-old grandmother with long blond hair slips out the front door and off to the Boyertown area of Berks County, where she puts on her pads and her helmet - and becomes Divine Vengeance

Soooo I have recently started training with my local roller derby team, and I hope to pass the assessment and get picked up for the roster by next year. Should that happen, I will need an epic awesome roller derby girl name. And I'm comin' up snake-eyes, so I figured I'd come to the funniest brain trust there is. Criteria: the punnier, the better. Some examples of actual already-in-use names: Ann Archy Felony Griffith Melicious Lusty Nails Fleetwood Smack Wreck Tangle Sexy is good. Fierce is good. If we could work something conservative into it, that would be EPIC.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- They wear lipstick, tattoos and roller skates and go by tough names like "Kim Jong Kill," "Shiv & Let Die" and "Mary Tyler Roar." They race around in circles crashing into each other while the crowd cheers. Women's roller derby - a TV fixture in the 1960s and '70s - is back. Leagues such as the Minnesota RollerGirls have sprouted up around the country. Also, opening nationwide on Friday is the movie "Whip It," that's directed by Drew Barrymore and stars Ellen Page ("Juno") as a Texas teen who takes up the rough-and-tumble sport.

IF AMERICANS are hoping for the political equivalent of the roller derby between the Democrats' leading female voice, Hillary Clinton, and the Republicans' vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, they're likely to be disappointed. In her first campaign appearances after the conventions, in Tampa and Orlando, Clinton's response might have been: "Sarah who?" Palin's name passed her lips just twice in one speech, once in another, as she referred to the McCain-Palin ticket. "Tell us about Palin," a man yelled at the event in Tampa on Monday evening, echoing the unspoken thoughts of most. "I don't think this is what this election...

Celesta Danger In Texas women's Roller Derby, players, like the Honky Tonk Heartbreakers, are unpaid. AUSTIN, July 26 - Of course there are rules in Texas women's Roller Derby. One unwritten rule, more for the audience, goes, "Never, never, ever spill a beer." Another rule, also aimed particularly at the legions of male fans, says that if a Texas Rollergirl or TXRD Lonestar Rollergirl (there are two leagues, not on speaking terms) slips on beer or whatever and falls in your lap, "You can't take her home unless she says so." For the skaters, there are rules against fighting...